diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 7db2e12..a967fe9 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ on the way to cutting its first release, and this file starts there.
 
 ## Unreleased
 
+## 0.3.0 — 2026-07-21
+
 ### Fixed
 
 - Deleting a shipped release heading from `CHANGELOG.md` is caught on every PR
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index a5fea60..0d91a54 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-0.2.1-dev
+0.3.0
diff --git a/drills/0.3.0.md b/drills/0.3.0.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..96b9b52
--- /dev/null
+++ b/drills/0.3.0.md
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+# rig 0.3.0 — release drill
+
+**WAIVED. No drill was run for this release.**
+
+Waived by the maintainer (@danmt) on 2026-07-21. This file exists because the
+gate requires a *record*, not a passing result — so a skip is a line in a diff
+somebody reviewed, rather than a silence nobody notices.
+
+## Why
+
+The drill harness is not in a state to produce a trustworthy run, and rig is
+the sharpest case: **rig has no drill harness of its own at all.** Its legs —
+tenant guests minted via box and converged, the GitHub runner lifecycle against
+a fork, `rig coolify install` and the backup install failing to its credential
+boundary — have only ever been run by hand, reconstructed each time. box has a
+harness; rig and cast do not.
+
+A run improvised under those conditions produces numbers nobody should rely on,
+and `drills/` is worth nothing if it fills with records like that.
+
+Deferred deliberately, and tracked: #107.
+
+## What this release therefore does NOT prove
+
+Stated plainly so it is not rediscovered as a surprise:
+
+- **Convergence on real hardware** — that a machine reaches its role, and
+  reaches it *idempotently*, on a host that is not a container.
+- **The `--host yes` path end to end** — rig installing box and running its
+  `setup-host` on a bare machine, which is the bottom of the whole stack.
+- **The three BREAKING renames in this release under real use** — `--class` →
+  `--root-door` (#77), and the `-box` / `-server` role suffixes (#76). These are
+  hard cuts with no aliases; CI proves the parsing, not the lived upgrade.
+- **The combination users receive.** rig still resolves `BOX_REF` to `main`
+  (#103), so even a passing drill would have proven a pair that drifts the
+  moment box's main moves.
+
+## What CI did prove on this tree
+
+Not nothing, and worth recording so the gap is precise rather than total:
+
+| Job | Result |
+|---|---|
+| `db-integration` — a real PostgreSQL dump/restore round-trip | pass |
+| `scope` | pass |
+| `reconcile` | pass |
+| `test/cli.sh` | 566 passed, 0 failed |
+| `test/release.sh` | 134 passed, 0 failed |
+| `test/labels-reconcile.sh` | 72 passed, 0 failed |
+| CI shellcheck sweep (globstar + dotglob) | clean |
+
+The command surface and the DB round-trip are covered. Convergence on real
+hardware is not.
+
+## The commitment
+
+The next release carries a real drill record at `drills/<version>.md` — what
+ran, on what host, the pinned refs and SHAs, the numbers, and what failed. A
+failed drill is a valid record; another waiver is not. Tracked in #107.