diff --git a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/release-pr.md b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/release-pr.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 44b3094c24..0000000000
--- a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE/release-pr.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-## Release 202Y-MM-DD
-
-**NB: this PR must be merged only by 'Create a merge commit'!**
-
-### Checklist when preparing for release
-- [ ] Read or refresh [the release flow guide](https://www.notion.so/neondatabase/Release-general-flow-61f2e39fd45d4d14a70c7749604bd70b)
-- [ ] Ask in the [cloud Slack channel](https://neondb.slack.com/archives/C033A2WE6BZ) that you are going to rollout the release. Any blockers?
-- [ ] Does this release contain any db migrations? Destructive ones? What is the rollback plan?
-
-<!-- List everything that should be done **before** release, any issues / setting changes / etc -->
-
-### Checklist after release
-- [ ] Make sure instructions from PRs included in this release and labeled `manual_release_instructions` are executed (either by you or by people who wrote them).
-- [ ] Based on the merged commits write release notes and open a PR into `website` repo ([example](https://github.com/neondatabase/website/pull/219/files))
-- [ ] Check [#dev-production-stream](https://neondb.slack.com/archives/C03F5SM1N02) Slack channel
-- [ ] Check [stuck projects page](https://console.neon.tech/admin/projects?sort=last_active&order=desc&stuck=true)
-- [ ] Check [recent operation failures](https://console.neon.tech/admin/operations?action=create_timeline%2Cstart_compute%2Cstop_compute%2Csuspend_compute%2Capply_config%2Cdelete_timeline%2Cdelete_tenant%2Ccreate_branch%2Ccheck_availability&sort=updated_at&order=desc&had_retries=some)
-- [ ] Check [cloud SLO dashboard](https://neonprod.grafana.net/d/_oWcBMJ7k/cloud-slos?orgId=1)
-- [ ] Check [compute startup metrics dashboard](https://neonprod.grafana.net/d/5OkYJEmVz/compute-startup-time)
-
-<!-- List everything that should be done **after** release, any admin UI configuration / Grafana dashboard / alert changes / setting changes / etc -->
diff --git a/.github/scripts/generate_image_maps.py b/.github/scripts/generate_image_maps.py
index 39ece5b38f..f67e07024c 100644
--- a/.github/scripts/generate_image_maps.py
+++ b/.github/scripts/generate_image_maps.py
@@ -1,14 +1,16 @@
 import itertools
 import json
 import os
+import sys
 
-build_tag = os.environ["BUILD_TAG"]
-branch = os.environ["BRANCH"]
-dev_acr = os.environ["DEV_ACR"]
-prod_acr = os.environ["PROD_ACR"]
-dev_aws = os.environ["DEV_AWS"]
-prod_aws = os.environ["PROD_AWS"]
-aws_region = os.environ["AWS_REGION"]
+source_tag = os.getenv("SOURCE_TAG")
+target_tag = os.getenv("TARGET_TAG")
+branch = os.getenv("BRANCH")
+dev_acr = os.getenv("DEV_ACR")
+prod_acr = os.getenv("PROD_ACR")
+dev_aws = os.getenv("DEV_AWS")
+prod_aws = os.getenv("PROD_AWS")
+aws_region = os.getenv("AWS_REGION")
 
 components = {
     "neon": ["neon"],
@@ -39,24 +41,23 @@ registries = {
 
 outputs: dict[str, dict[str, list[str]]] = {}
 
-target_tags = [build_tag, "latest"] if branch == "main" else [build_tag]
-target_stages = ["dev", "prod"] if branch.startswith("release") else ["dev"]
+target_tags = [target_tag, "latest"] if branch == "main" else [target_tag]
+target_stages = (
+    ["dev", "prod"] if branch in ["release", "release-proxy", "release-compute"] else ["dev"]
+)
 
 for component_name, component_images in components.items():
     for stage in target_stages:
-        outputs[f"{component_name}-{stage}"] = dict(
-            [
-                (
-                    f"docker.io/neondatabase/{component_image}:{build_tag}",
-                    [
-                        f"{combo[0]}/{component_image}:{combo[1]}"
-                        for combo in itertools.product(registries[stage], target_tags)
-                    ],
-                )
-                for component_image in component_images
+        outputs[f"{component_name}-{stage}"] = {
+            f"docker.io/neondatabase/{component_image}:{source_tag}": [
+                f"{registry}/{component_image}:{tag}"
+                for registry, tag in itertools.product(registries[stage], target_tags)
+                if not (registry == "docker.io/neondatabase" and tag == source_tag)
             ]
-        )
+            for component_image in component_images
+        }
 
-with open(os.environ["GITHUB_OUTPUT"], "a") as f:
+with open(os.getenv("GITHUB_OUTPUT", "/dev/null"), "a") as f:
     for key, value in outputs.items():
         f.write(f"{key}={json.dumps(value)}\n")
+        print(f"Image map for {key}:\n{json.dumps(value, indent=2)}\n\n", file=sys.stderr)
diff --git a/.github/scripts/lint-release-pr.sh b/.github/scripts/lint-release-pr.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..8e081000f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/scripts/lint-release-pr.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+DOCS_URL="https://docs.neon.build/overview/repositories/neon.html"
+
+message() {
+  if [[ -n "${GITHUB_PR_NUMBER:-}" ]]; then
+    gh pr comment --repo "${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}" "${GITHUB_PR_NUMBER}" --edit-last --body "$1" \
+      || gh pr comment --repo "${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}" "${GITHUB_PR_NUMBER}" --body "$1"
+  fi
+  echo "$1"
+}
+
+report_error() {
+  message "❌ $1
+  For more details, see the documentation: ${DOCS_URL}"
+
+  exit 1
+}
+
+case "$RELEASE_BRANCH" in
+  "release") COMPONENT="Storage" ;;
+  "release-proxy") COMPONENT="Proxy" ;;
+  "release-compute") COMPONENT="Compute" ;;
+  *)
+    report_error "Unknown release branch: ${RELEASE_BRANCH}"
+    ;;
+esac
+
+
+# Identify main and release branches
+MAIN_BRANCH="origin/main"
+REMOTE_RELEASE_BRANCH="origin/${RELEASE_BRANCH}"
+
+# Find merge base
+MERGE_BASE=$(git merge-base "${MAIN_BRANCH}" "${REMOTE_RELEASE_BRANCH}")
+echo "Merge base of ${MAIN_BRANCH} and ${RELEASE_BRANCH}: ${MERGE_BASE}"
+
+# Get the HEAD commit (last commit in PR, expected to be the merge commit)
+LAST_COMMIT=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
+
+MERGE_COMMIT_MESSAGE=$(git log -1 --format=%s "${LAST_COMMIT}")
+EXPECTED_MESSAGE_REGEX="^$COMPONENT release [0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}$"
+
+if ! [[ "${MERGE_COMMIT_MESSAGE}" =~ ${EXPECTED_MESSAGE_REGEX} ]]; then
+  report_error "Merge commit message does not match expected pattern: '<component> release YYYY-MM-DD'
+  Expected component: ${COMPONENT}
+  Found: '${MERGE_COMMIT_MESSAGE}'"
+fi
+echo "✅ Merge commit message is correctly formatted: '${MERGE_COMMIT_MESSAGE}'"
+
+LAST_COMMIT_PARENTS=$(git cat-file -p "${LAST_COMMIT}" | jq -sR '[capture("parent (?<parent>[0-9a-f]{40})"; "g") | .parent]')
+
+if [[ "$(echo "${LAST_COMMIT_PARENTS}" | jq 'length')" -ne 2 ]]; then
+  report_error "Last commit must be a merge commit with exactly two parents"
+fi
+
+EXPECTED_RELEASE_HEAD=$(git rev-parse "${REMOTE_RELEASE_BRANCH}")
+if echo "${LAST_COMMIT_PARENTS}" | jq -e --arg rel "${EXPECTED_RELEASE_HEAD}" 'index($rel) != null' > /dev/null; then
+  LINEAR_HEAD=$(echo "${LAST_COMMIT_PARENTS}" | jq -r '[.[] | select(. != $rel)][0]' --arg rel "${EXPECTED_RELEASE_HEAD}")
+else
+  report_error "Last commit must merge the release branch (${RELEASE_BRANCH})"
+fi
+echo "✅ Last commit correctly merges the previous commit and the release branch"
+echo "Top commit of linear history: ${LINEAR_HEAD}"
+
+MERGE_COMMIT_TREE=$(git rev-parse "${LAST_COMMIT}^{tree}")
+LINEAR_HEAD_TREE=$(git rev-parse "${LINEAR_HEAD}^{tree}")
+
+if [[ "${MERGE_COMMIT_TREE}" != "${LINEAR_HEAD_TREE}" ]]; then
+  report_error "Tree of merge commit (${MERGE_COMMIT_TREE}) does not match tree of linear history head (${LINEAR_HEAD_TREE})
+  This indicates that the merge of ${RELEASE_BRANCH} into this branch was not performed using the merge strategy 'ours'"
+fi
+echo "✅ Merge commit tree matches the linear history head"
+
+EXPECTED_PREVIOUS_COMMIT="${LINEAR_HEAD}"
+
+# Now traverse down the history, ensuring each commit has exactly one parent
+CURRENT_COMMIT="${EXPECTED_PREVIOUS_COMMIT}"
+while [[ "${CURRENT_COMMIT}" != "${MERGE_BASE}" && "${CURRENT_COMMIT}" != "${EXPECTED_RELEASE_HEAD}" ]]; do
+  CURRENT_COMMIT_PARENTS=$(git cat-file -p "${CURRENT_COMMIT}" | jq -sR '[capture("parent (?<parent>[0-9a-f]{40})"; "g") | .parent]')
+
+  if [[ "$(echo "${CURRENT_COMMIT_PARENTS}" | jq 'length')" -ne 1 ]]; then
+    report_error "Commit ${CURRENT_COMMIT} must have exactly one parent"
+  fi
+
+  NEXT_COMMIT=$(echo "${CURRENT_COMMIT_PARENTS}" | jq -r '.[0]')
+
+  if [[ "${NEXT_COMMIT}" == "${MERGE_BASE}" ]]; then
+    echo "✅ Reached merge base (${MERGE_BASE})"
+    PR_BASE="${MERGE_BASE}"
+  if [[ "${NEXT_COMMIT}" == "${EXPECTED_RELEASE_HEAD}" ]]; then
+    echo "✅ Reached release branch (${EXPECTED_RELEASE_HEAD})"
+    PR_BASE="${EXPECTED_RELEASE_HEAD}"
+  elif [[ -z "${NEXT_COMMIT}" ]]; then
+    report_error "Unexpected end of commit history before reaching merge base"
+  fi
+
+  # Move to the next commit in the chain
+  CURRENT_COMMIT="${NEXT_COMMIT}"
+done
+
+echo "✅ All commits are properly ordered and linear"
+echo "✅ Release PR structure is valid"
+
+echo
+
+message "Commits that are part of this release:
+$(git log --oneline "${PR_BASE}..${LINEAR_HEAD}")"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/_create-release-pr.yml b/.github/workflows/_create-release-pr.yml
index 3c130c8229..82acbc0f84 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/_create-release-pr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/_create-release-pr.yml
@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ on:
         description: 'Component name'
         required: true
         type: string
-      release-branch:
-        description: 'Release branch'
+      source-branch:
+        description: 'Source branch'
         required: true
         type: string
     secrets:
@@ -30,17 +30,24 @@ jobs:
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
       with:
-        ref: main
+        ref: ${{ inputs.source-branch }}
 
     - name: Set variables
       id: vars
       env:
         COMPONENT_NAME: ${{ inputs.component-name }}
-        RELEASE_BRANCH: ${{ inputs.release-branch }}
+        RELEASE_BRANCH: >-
+          ${{
+            false
+            || inputs.component-name == 'Storage' && 'release'
+            || inputs.component-name == 'Proxy' && 'release-proxy'
+            || inputs.component-name == 'Compute' && 'release-compute'
+          }}
       run: |
         today=$(date +'%Y-%m-%d')
         echo "title=${COMPONENT_NAME} release ${today}" | tee -a ${GITHUB_OUTPUT}
         echo "rc-branch=rc/${RELEASE_BRANCH}/${today}"  | tee -a ${GITHUB_OUTPUT}
+        echo "release-branch=${RELEASE_BRANCH}"         | tee -a ${GITHUB_OUTPUT}
 
     - name: Configure git
       run: |
@@ -49,31 +56,35 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: Create RC branch
       env:
+        RELEASE_BRANCH: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.release-branch }}
         RC_BRANCH: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.rc-branch }}
         TITLE: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.title }}
       run: |
-        git checkout -b "${RC_BRANCH}"
+        git switch -c "${RC_BRANCH}"
 
-        # create an empty commit to distinguish workflow runs
-        # from other possible releases from the same commit
-        git commit --allow-empty -m "${TITLE}"
+        # Manually create a merge commit on the current branch, keeping the
+        # tree and setting the parents to the current HEAD and the HEAD of the
+        # release branch. This commit is what we'll fast-forward the release
+        # branch to when merging the release branch.
+        # For details on why, look at
+        # https://docs.neon.build/overview/repositories/neon.html#background-on-commit-history-of-release-prs
+        current_tree=$(git rev-parse 'HEAD^{tree}')
+        release_head=$(git rev-parse "${RELEASE_BRANCH}")
+        current_head=$(git rev-parse HEAD)
+        merge_commit=$(git commit-tree -p "${current_head}" -p "${release_head}" -m "${TITLE}" "${current_tree}")
+
+        # Fast-forward the current branch to the newly created merge_commit
+        git merge --ff-only ${merge_commit}
 
         git push origin "${RC_BRANCH}"
 
-    - name: Create a PR into ${{ inputs.release-branch }}
+    - name: Create a PR into ${{ steps.vars.outputs.release-branch }}
       env:
         GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ci-access-token }}
         RC_BRANCH: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.rc-branch }}
-        RELEASE_BRANCH: ${{ inputs.release-branch }}
+        RELEASE_BRANCH: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.release-branch }}
         TITLE: ${{ steps.vars.outputs.title }}
       run: |
-        cat << EOF > body.md
-          ## ${TITLE}
-
-          **Please merge this Pull Request using 'Create a merge commit' button**
-        EOF
-
         gh pr create --title "${TITLE}" \
-                     --body-file "body.md" \
                      --head "${RC_BRANCH}" \
                      --base "${RELEASE_BRANCH}"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/_meta.yml b/.github/workflows/_meta.yml
index cae7fae6a4..c9e7b66efa 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/_meta.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/_meta.yml
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@ on:
       run-kind:
         description: "The kind of run we're currently in. Will be one of `push-main`, `storage-release`, `compute-release`, `proxy-release`, `storage-rc-pr`, `compute-rc-pr`,  `proxy-rc-pr`, `pr`, or `workflow-dispatch`"
         value: ${{ jobs.tags.outputs.run-kind }}
+      release-pr-run-id:
+        description: "Only available if `run-kind in [storage-release, proxy-release, compute-release]`. Contains the run ID of the `Build and Test` workflow, assuming one with the current commit can be found."
+        value: ${{ jobs.tags.outputs.release-pr-run-id }}
 
 permissions: {}
 
@@ -37,6 +40,7 @@ jobs:
       proxy: ${{ steps.previous-releases.outputs.proxy }}
       storage: ${{ steps.previous-releases.outputs.storage }}
       run-kind: ${{ steps.run-kind.outputs.run-kind }}
+      release-pr-run-id: ${{ steps.release-pr-run-id.outputs.release-pr-run-id }}
     permissions:
       contents: read
     steps:
@@ -113,3 +117,13 @@ jobs:
             "/repos/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}/releases" \
           | jq -f .github/scripts/previous-releases.jq -r \
           | tee -a "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
+
+      - name: Get the release PR run ID
+        id: release-pr-run-id
+        if: ${{ contains(fromJson('["storage-release", "compute-release", "proxy-release"]'), steps.run-kind.outputs.run-kind) }}
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          CURRENT_SHA: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha || github.sha }}
+        run: |
+          RELEASE_PR_RUN_ID=$(gh api "/repos/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}/actions/runs?head_sha=$CURRENT_SHA" | jq '[.workflow_runs[] | select(.name == "Build and Test") | select(.head_branch | test("^rc/release(-(proxy)|(compute))?/[0-9]{4}-[0-9]{2}-[0-9]{2}$"; "s"))] | first | .id // "Faied to find Build and Test run from  RC PR!" | halt_error(1)')
+          echo "release-pr-run-id=$RELEASE_PR_RUN_ID" | tee -a $GITHUB_OUTPUT
diff --git a/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yml b/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yml
index 1c0971a49d..e1ad972a61 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build_and_test.yml
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ jobs:
         (
           !github.event.pull_request.draft
           || contains( github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'run-e2e-tests-in-draft')
-          || contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "storage-release", "proxy-release", "compute-release"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind)
+          || needs.meta.outputs.run-kind == 'push-main'
         ) && !failure() && !cancelled()
       }}
     needs: [ check-permissions, push-neon-image-dev, push-compute-image-dev, meta ]
@@ -487,7 +487,7 @@ jobs:
 
   neon-image-arch:
     needs: [ check-permissions, build-build-tools-image, meta ]
-    if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "storage-release", "storage-rc-pr", "proxy-release", "proxy-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
+    if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "storage-rc-pr", "proxy-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
     strategy:
       matrix:
         arch: [ x64, arm64 ]
@@ -537,7 +537,7 @@ jobs:
 
   neon-image:
     needs: [ neon-image-arch, meta ]
-    if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "storage-release", "storage-rc-pr", "proxy-release", "proxy-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
+    if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "storage-rc-pr", "proxy-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     permissions:
       id-token: write # aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials
@@ -559,7 +559,7 @@ jobs:
 
   compute-node-image-arch:
     needs: [ check-permissions, build-build-tools-image, meta ]
-    if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "compute-release", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
+    if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
     permissions:
       id-token: write # aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials
       statuses: write
@@ -651,7 +651,7 @@ jobs:
 
   compute-node-image:
     needs: [ compute-node-image-arch, meta ]
-    if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "compute-release", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
+    if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
     permissions:
       id-token: write # aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials
       statuses: write
@@ -694,7 +694,7 @@ jobs:
 
   vm-compute-node-image-arch:
     needs: [ check-permissions, meta, compute-node-image ]
-    if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "compute-release", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
+    if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
     runs-on: ${{ fromJson(format('["self-hosted", "{0}"]', matrix.arch == 'arm64' && 'large-arm64' || 'large')) }}
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
@@ -747,7 +747,7 @@ jobs:
 
   vm-compute-node-image:
     needs: [ vm-compute-node-image-arch, meta ]
-    if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "compute-release", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
+    if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     strategy:
       matrix:
@@ -773,7 +773,12 @@ jobs:
   test-images:
     needs: [ check-permissions, meta, neon-image, compute-node-image ]
     # Depends on jobs that can get skipped
-    if: "!failure() && !cancelled()"
+    if: >-
+      ${{
+        !failure()
+        && !cancelled()
+        && contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "storage-rc-pr", "proxy-rc-pr", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind)
+      }}
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
@@ -800,7 +805,7 @@ jobs:
       # Ensure that we don't have bad versions.
       - name: Verify image versions
         shell: bash # ensure no set -e for better error messages
-        if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "storage-release", "storage-rc-pr", "proxy-release", "proxy-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
+        if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "storage-rc-pr", "proxy-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
         run: |
           pageserver_version=$(docker run --rm neondatabase/neon:${{ needs.meta.outputs.build-tag }} "/bin/sh" "-c" "/usr/local/bin/pageserver --version")
 
@@ -821,19 +826,19 @@ jobs:
         env:
           TAG: >-
             ${{
-              contains(fromJSON('["compute-release", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind)
+              needs.meta.outputs.run-kind == 'compute-rc-pr'
               && needs.meta.outputs.previous-storage-release
               || needs.meta.outputs.build-tag
             }}
           COMPUTE_TAG: >-
             ${{
-              contains(fromJSON('["storage-release", "storage-rc-pr", "proxy-release", "proxy-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind)
+              contains(fromJSON('["storage-rc-pr", "proxy-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind)
               && needs.meta.outputs.previous-compute-release
               || needs.meta.outputs.build-tag
             }}
           TEST_EXTENSIONS_TAG: >-
             ${{
-              contains(fromJSON('["storage-release", "storage-rc-pr", "proxy-release", "proxy-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind)
+              contains(fromJSON('["storage-rc-pr", "proxy-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind)
               && 'latest'
               || needs.meta.outputs.build-tag
             }}
@@ -885,7 +890,13 @@ jobs:
         id: generate
         run: python3 .github/scripts/generate_image_maps.py
         env:
-          BUILD_TAG: "${{ needs.meta.outputs.build-tag }}"
+          SOURCE_TAG: >-
+            ${{
+              contains(fromJson('["storage-release", "compute-release", "proxy-release"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind)
+              && needs.meta.outputs.release-pr-run-id
+              || needs.meta.outputs.build-tag
+            }}
+          TARGET_TAG: ${{ needs.meta.outputs.build-tag }}
           BRANCH: "${{ github.ref_name }}"
           DEV_ACR: "${{ vars.AZURE_DEV_REGISTRY_NAME }}"
           PROD_ACR: "${{ vars.AZURE_PROD_REGISTRY_NAME }}"
@@ -895,7 +906,7 @@ jobs:
 
   push-neon-image-dev:
     needs: [ meta, generate-image-maps, neon-image ]
-    if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "storage-release", "storage-rc-pr", "proxy-release", "proxy-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
+    if: ${{ !failure() && !cancelled() && contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "storage-release", "storage-rc-pr", "proxy-release", "proxy-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
     uses: ./.github/workflows/_push-to-container-registry.yml
     permissions:
       id-token: write  # Required for aws/azure login
@@ -913,7 +924,7 @@ jobs:
 
   push-compute-image-dev:
     needs: [ meta, generate-image-maps, vm-compute-node-image ]
-    if: ${{ contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "compute-release", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
+    if: ${{ !failure() && !cancelled() && contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "compute-release", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind) }}
     uses: ./.github/workflows/_push-to-container-registry.yml
     permissions:
       id-token: write  # Required for aws/azure login
@@ -1235,7 +1246,7 @@ jobs:
 
   # The job runs on `release` branch and copies compatibility data and Neon artifact from the last *release PR* to the latest directory
   promote-compatibility-data:
-    needs: [ deploy ]
+    needs: [ meta, deploy ]
     permissions:
       id-token: write # aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials
       statuses: write
@@ -1245,37 +1256,6 @@ jobs:
 
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     steps:
-      - name: Fetch GITHUB_RUN_ID and COMMIT_SHA for the last merged release PR
-        id: fetch-last-release-pr-info
-        env:
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-        run: |
-          branch_name_and_pr_number=$(gh pr list \
-            --repo "${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}" \
-            --base release \
-            --state merged \
-            --limit 10 \
-            --json mergeCommit,headRefName,number \
-            --jq ".[] | select(.mergeCommit.oid==\"${GITHUB_SHA}\") | { branch_name: .headRefName, pr_number: .number }")
-          branch_name=$(echo "${branch_name_and_pr_number}" | jq -r '.branch_name')
-          pr_number=$(echo "${branch_name_and_pr_number}" | jq -r '.pr_number')
-
-          run_id=$(gh run list \
-            --repo "${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}" \
-            --workflow build_and_test.yml \
-            --branch "${branch_name}" \
-            --json databaseId \
-            --limit 1 \
-            --jq '.[].databaseId')
-
-          last_commit_sha=$(gh pr view "${pr_number}" \
-            --repo "${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}" \
-            --json commits \
-            --jq '.commits[-1].oid')
-
-          echo "run-id=${run_id}" | tee -a ${GITHUB_OUTPUT}
-          echo "commit-sha=${last_commit_sha}" | tee -a ${GITHUB_OUTPUT}
-
       - uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
         with:
           aws-region: eu-central-1
@@ -1286,8 +1266,8 @@ jobs:
         env:
           BUCKET: neon-github-public-dev
           AWS_REGION: eu-central-1
-          COMMIT_SHA: ${{ steps.fetch-last-release-pr-info.outputs.commit-sha }}
-          RUN_ID: ${{ steps.fetch-last-release-pr-info.outputs.run-id }}
+          COMMIT_SHA: ${{ github.sha }}
+          RUN_ID: ${{ needs.meta.outputs.release-pr-run-id }}
         run: |
           old_prefix="artifacts/${COMMIT_SHA}/${RUN_ID}"
           new_prefix="artifacts/latest"
@@ -1376,5 +1356,5 @@ jobs:
           || needs.files-changed.result == 'skipped'
           || (needs.push-compute-image-dev.result == 'skipped' && contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "compute-release", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind))
           || (needs.push-neon-image-dev.result == 'skipped' && contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "storage-release", "storage-rc-pr", "proxy-release", "proxy-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind))
-          || needs.test-images.result == 'skipped'
+          || (needs.test-images.result == 'skipped' && contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "storage-rc-pr", "proxy-rc-pr", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind))
           || (needs.trigger-custom-extensions-build-and-wait.result == 'skipped' && contains(fromJSON('["push-main", "pr", "compute-release", "compute-rc-pr"]'), needs.meta.outputs.run-kind))
diff --git a/.github/workflows/fast-forward.yml b/.github/workflows/fast-forward.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bc63ff120d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/fast-forward.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+name: Fast forward merge
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    types: [labeled]
+    branches:
+      - release
+      - release-proxy
+      - release-compute
+
+jobs:
+  fast-forward:
+    if: ${{ github.event.label.name == 'fast-forward' }}
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Remove fast-forward label to PR
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CI_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          gh pr edit ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} --repo "${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}" --remove-label "fast-forward"
+
+      - name: Fast forwarding
+        uses: sequoia-pgp/fast-forward@ea7628bedcb0b0b96e94383ada458d812fca4979
+        # See https://docs.github.com/en/graphql/reference/enums#mergestatestatus
+        if: ${{ github.event.pull_request.mergeable_state  == 'clean' }}
+        with:
+          merge: true
+          comment: on-error
+          github_token: ${{ secrets.CI_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
+
+      - name: Comment if mergeable_state is not clean
+        if: ${{ github.event.pull_request.mergeable_state  != 'clean' }}
+        run: |
+          gh pr comment ${{ github.event.pull_request.number }} \
+            --repo "${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}" \
+            --body "Not trying to forward pull-request, because \`mergeable_state\` is \`${{ github.event.pull_request.mergeable_state }}\`, not \`clean\`."
diff --git a/.github/workflows/lint-release-pr.yml b/.github/workflows/lint-release-pr.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f12ddfe377
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/lint-release-pr.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+name: Lint Release PR
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+    branches:
+      - release
+      - release-proxy
+      - release-compute
+
+jobs:
+  lint-release-pr:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout PR branch
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0  # Fetch full history for git operations
+
+      - name: Run lint script
+        env:
+          RELEASE_BRANCH: ${{ github.base_ref }}
+        run: |
+          ./.github/scripts/lint-release-pr.sh
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pre-merge-checks.yml b/.github/workflows/pre-merge-checks.yml
index c47b3fe0de..1e81550314 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pre-merge-checks.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pre-merge-checks.yml
@@ -8,8 +8,6 @@ on:
       - .github/workflows/build-build-tools-image.yml
       - .github/workflows/pre-merge-checks.yml
   merge_group:
-    branches:
-      - main
 
 defaults:
   run:
@@ -19,11 +17,13 @@ defaults:
 permissions: {}
 
 jobs:
-  get-changed-files:
+  meta:
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
     outputs:
       python-changed: ${{ steps.python-src.outputs.any_changed }}
       rust-changed: ${{ steps.rust-src.outputs.any_changed }}
+      branch: ${{ steps.group-metadata.outputs.branch }}
+      pr-number: ${{ steps.group-metadata.outputs.pr-number }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
@@ -58,12 +58,20 @@ jobs:
           echo "${PYTHON_CHANGED_FILES}"
           echo "${RUST_CHANGED_FILES}"
 
+      - name: Merge group metadata
+        if: ${{ github.event_name == 'merge_group' }}
+        id: group-metadata
+        env:
+          MERGE_QUEUE_REF: ${{ github.event.merge_group.head_ref }}
+        run: |
+          echo $MERGE_QUEUE_REF | jq -Rr 'capture("refs/heads/gh-readonly-queue/(?<branch>.*)/pr-(?<pr_number>[0-9]+)-[0-9a-f]{40}") | ["branch=" + .branch, "pr-number=" + .pr_number] | .[]' | tee -a "${GITHUB_OUTPUT}"
+
   build-build-tools-image:
     if: |
       false
-      || needs.get-changed-files.outputs.python-changed == 'true'
-      || needs.get-changed-files.outputs.rust-changed == 'true'
-    needs: [ get-changed-files ]
+      || needs.meta.outputs.python-changed == 'true'
+      || needs.meta.outputs.rust-changed == 'true'
+    needs: [ meta ]
     uses: ./.github/workflows/build-build-tools-image.yml
     with:
       # Build only one combination to save time
@@ -72,8 +80,8 @@ jobs:
     secrets: inherit
 
   check-codestyle-python:
-    if: needs.get-changed-files.outputs.python-changed == 'true'
-    needs: [ get-changed-files, build-build-tools-image ]
+    if: needs.meta.outputs.python-changed == 'true'
+    needs: [ meta, build-build-tools-image ]
     uses: ./.github/workflows/_check-codestyle-python.yml
     with:
       # `-bookworm-x64` suffix should match the combination in `build-build-tools-image`
@@ -81,8 +89,8 @@ jobs:
     secrets: inherit
 
   check-codestyle-rust:
-    if: needs.get-changed-files.outputs.rust-changed == 'true'
-    needs: [ get-changed-files, build-build-tools-image ]
+    if: needs.meta.outputs.rust-changed == 'true'
+    needs: [ meta, build-build-tools-image ]
     uses: ./.github/workflows/_check-codestyle-rust.yml
     with:
       # `-bookworm-x64` suffix should match the combination in `build-build-tools-image`
@@ -101,7 +109,7 @@ jobs:
       statuses: write # for `github.repos.createCommitStatus(...)`
       contents: write
     needs:
-      - get-changed-files
+      - meta
       - check-codestyle-python
       - check-codestyle-rust
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
@@ -129,7 +137,20 @@ jobs:
         run: exit 1
         if: |
           false
-          || (needs.check-codestyle-python.result == 'skipped' && needs.get-changed-files.outputs.python-changed == 'true')
-          || (needs.check-codestyle-rust.result   == 'skipped' && needs.get-changed-files.outputs.rust-changed   == 'true')
+          || (github.event_name == 'merge_group' && needs.meta.outputs.branch != 'main')
+          || (needs.check-codestyle-python.result == 'skipped' && needs.meta.outputs.python-changed == 'true')
+          || (needs.check-codestyle-rust.result   == 'skipped' && needs.meta.outputs.rust-changed   == 'true')
           || contains(needs.*.result, 'failure')
           || contains(needs.*.result, 'cancelled')
+
+      - name: Add fast-forward label to PR to trigger fast-forward merge
+        if: >-
+          ${{
+            always()
+            && github.event_name == 'merge_group'
+            && contains(fromJson('["release", "release-proxy", "release-compute"]'), github.base_ref)
+          }}
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.CI_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
+        run: >-
+          gh pr edit ${{ needs.meta.outputs.pr-number }} --repo "${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}" --add-label "fast-forward"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 919846ce44..a88ddecd0a 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ jobs:
     uses: ./.github/workflows/_create-release-pr.yml
     with:
       component-name: 'Storage'
-      release-branch: 'release'
+      source-branch: ${{ github.ref_name }}
     secrets:
       ci-access-token: ${{ secrets.CI_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
 
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ jobs:
     uses: ./.github/workflows/_create-release-pr.yml
     with:
       component-name: 'Proxy'
-      release-branch: 'release-proxy'
+      source-branch: ${{ github.ref_name }}
     secrets:
       ci-access-token: ${{ secrets.CI_ACCESS_TOKEN }}
 
@@ -64,6 +64,6 @@ jobs:
     uses: ./.github/workflows/_create-release-pr.yml
     with:
       component-name: 'Compute'
-      release-branch: 'release-compute'
+      source-branch: ${{ github.ref_name }}
     secrets:
       ci-access-token: ${{ secrets.CI_ACCESS_TOKEN }}