diff --git a/.github/scripts/release-notes.sh b/.github/scripts/release-notes.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..71378433
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/scripts/release-notes.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Renders the "What's Changed" section for a release tag as Markdown on stdout.
+# Usage: release-notes.sh <tag> [previous-tag]
+set -euo pipefail
+
+TAG="${1:?usage: release-notes.sh <tag> [previous-tag]}"
+PREV="${2-}"
+
+MAX_ENTRIES="${MAX_ENTRIES:-80}"
+MAX_LEN="${MAX_LEN:-140}"
+
+REPO_URL="${GITHUB_SERVER_URL:-https://github.com}/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY:-}"
+if [[ -z "${GITHUB_REPOSITORY:-}" ]]; then
+  origin=$(git config --get remote.origin.url || echo "")
+  origin="${origin%.git}"
+  REPO_URL="${origin:-https://github.com}"
+fi
+
+# Previous tag: newest release tag that is an ancestor of this one. A stable tag
+# compares against the last stable tag, so a v1.2.0 release still lists
+# everything its rc tags already covered.
+if [[ -z "$PREV" ]]; then
+  tag_sha=$(git rev-parse "${TAG}^{commit}")
+  while read -r candidate; do
+    [[ -n "$candidate" ]] || continue
+    [[ "$TAG" == *-* ]] || [[ "$candidate" != *-* ]] || continue
+    [[ "$(git rev-parse "${candidate}^{commit}")" != "$tag_sha" ]] || continue
+    PREV="$candidate"
+    break
+  done < <(git tag -l 'v*' --sort=-v:refname --merged "$TAG")
+fi
+
+if [[ -n "$PREV" ]]; then
+  RANGE="${PREV}..${TAG}"
+else
+  RANGE="$TAG"
+fi
+
+# Trim a subject to something readable, preferring a clause boundary over a
+# hard cut. Commit subjects in this repo are deliberately long and specific;
+# the full text is one click away behind the PR link.
+shorten() {
+  local s="$1" cut best candidate sep
+  s="${s//$'\n'/ }"
+  s="$(printf '%s' "$s" | tr -s '[:space:]' ' ')"
+  s="${s#"${s%%[![:space:]]*}"}"
+  s="${s%"${s##*[![:space:]]}"}"
+  if (( ${#s} <= MAX_LEN )); then
+    printf '%s' "$s"
+    return
+  fi
+  cut="${s:0:MAX_LEN}"
+  best=""
+  for sep in ', ' '; ' ': ' ' ('; do
+    candidate="${cut%"$sep"*}"
+    [[ "$candidate" != "$cut" ]] || continue
+    (( ${#candidate} >= 60 )) || continue
+    (( ${#candidate} > ${#best} )) && best="$candidate"
+  done
+  if [[ -z "$best" ]]; then
+    best="${cut% *}"
+    [[ "$best" != "$cut" ]] || best="$cut"
+  fi
+  best="${best%[,;:.\ ]}"
+  printf '%s…' "$best"
+}
+
+declare -A SECTION_LINES=()
+SECTION_ORDER=(Features Fixes Performance Security Documentation Maintenance Other)
+total=0
+shown=0
+
+while IFS=$'\t' read -r hash subject; do
+  [[ -n "$hash" ]] || continue
+  # Branch-sync merges carry no release-visible change of their own.
+  [[ "$subject" != Merge\ branch\ * ]] || continue
+  [[ "$subject" != Merge\ remote-tracking\ * ]] || continue
+
+  pr=""
+  title="$subject"
+  if [[ "$subject" =~ ^Merge\ pull\ request\ \#([0-9]+) ]]; then
+    pr="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
+    body_first=$(git log -1 --format=%b "$hash" | grep -m1 -v '^[[:space:]]*$' || true)
+    if [[ -n "$body_first" ]]; then
+      title="$body_first"
+    else
+      # No PR title in the merge body: fall back to the branch name.
+      title="${subject#*from }"
+      title="${title#*/}"
+      title="${title//-/ }"
+    fi
+  elif [[ "$subject" =~ \(#([0-9]+)\)$ ]]; then
+    pr="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
+    title="${subject% (#"${pr}")}"
+  fi
+
+  type="other"
+  if [[ "$title" =~ ^([a-zA-Z]+)(\([^\)]*\))?(!)?:[[:space:]]*(.*)$ ]]; then
+    type="${BASH_REMATCH[1],,}"
+    title="${BASH_REMATCH[4]}"
+  fi
+
+  case "$type" in
+    feat|feature) section="Features" ;;
+    fix|bugfix|hotfix) section="Fixes" ;;
+    perf) section="Performance" ;;
+    sec|security) section="Security" ;;
+    docs|doc) section="Documentation" ;;
+    refactor|chore|build|ci|test|tests|style|deps) section="Maintenance" ;;
+    *) section="Other" ;;
+  esac
+
+  total=$((total + 1))
+  (( shown < MAX_ENTRIES )) || continue
+  shown=$((shown + 1))
+
+  title="$(shorten "$title")"
+  [[ -z "$title" ]] && title="$subject"
+  title="${title^}"
+
+  if [[ -n "$pr" ]]; then
+    ref="([#${pr}](${REPO_URL}/pull/${pr}))"
+  else
+    ref="([\`$(git rev-parse --short "$hash")\`](${REPO_URL}/commit/${hash}))"
+  fi
+
+  SECTION_LINES[$section]+="- ${title} ${ref}"$'\n'
+done < <(git log --first-parent --format='%H%x09%s' "$RANGE")
+
+printf '## What'\''s Changed\n\n'
+
+if (( total == 0 )); then
+  printf 'No changes recorded for this release.\n'
+else
+  for section in "${SECTION_ORDER[@]}"; do
+    [[ -n "${SECTION_LINES[$section]:-}" ]] || continue
+    printf '### %s\n\n%s\n' "$section" "${SECTION_LINES[$section]}"
+  done
+  if (( total > shown )); then
+    printf '_...and %d more changes. See the full changelog below._\n\n' "$((total - shown))"
+  fi
+fi
+
+if [[ -n "$PREV" ]]; then
+  printf '**Full Changelog**: %s/compare/%s...%s\n' "$REPO_URL" "$PREV" "$TAG"
+else
+  printf '**Full Changelog**: %s/commits/%s\n' "$REPO_URL" "$TAG"
+fi
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 00a025e6..cbace67e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -221,53 +221,46 @@ jobs:
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
 
-      - name: Generate changelog
-        id: changelog
+      - name: Generate release notes
+        env:
+          GITHUB_SERVER_URL: ${{ github.server_url }}
+          GITHUB_REPOSITORY: ${{ github.repository }}
+          TAG: ${{ github.ref_name }}
         run: |
-          PREV_TAG=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 HEAD^ 2>/dev/null || echo "")
+          .github/scripts/release-notes.sh "$TAG" > /tmp/changelog.md
+          cat /tmp/changelog.md
 
-          if [[ -n "$PREV_TAG" ]]; then
-            echo "Generating changelog from $PREV_TAG to ${{ github.ref_name }}"
-            CHANGELOG=$(git log --pretty=format:"- %s (%h)" $PREV_TAG..${{ github.ref_name }} | head -50)
-          else
-            echo "No previous tag found, generating from beginning"
-            CHANGELOG=$(git log --pretty=format:"- %s (%h)" | head -50)
-          fi
+      - name: Assemble release body
+        run: |
+          {
+            cat /tmp/changelog.md
+            cat <<'EOF'
 
-          # Escape for GitHub Actions
-          CHANGELOG="${CHANGELOG//'%'/'%25'}"
-          CHANGELOG="${CHANGELOG//$'\n'/'%0A'}"
-          CHANGELOG="${CHANGELOG//$'\r'/'%0D'}"
+          ## Docker Images
 
-          echo "changelog=${CHANGELOG}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          All images are available at `ghcr.io/${{ github.repository_owner }}/warmbly`:
+
+          | Service | Image |
+          |---------|-------|
+          | Backend | `${{ env.IMAGE_PREFIX }}/backend:${{ github.ref_name }}` |
+          | Consumer | `${{ env.IMAGE_PREFIX }}/consumer:${{ github.ref_name }}` |
+          | Worker | `${{ env.IMAGE_PREFIX }}/worker:${{ github.ref_name }}` |
+          | Tracking | `${{ env.IMAGE_PREFIX }}/tracking:${{ github.ref_name }}` |
+          | Realtime | `${{ env.IMAGE_PREFIX }}/realtime:${{ github.ref_name }}` |
+          | Dashboard (web) | `${{ env.IMAGE_PREFIX }}/web:${{ github.ref_name }}` |
+          | Admin | `${{ env.IMAGE_PREFIX }}/admin:${{ github.ref_name }}` |
+
+          ## Deployment
+
+          This release will be automatically deployed to production.
+          EOF
+          } > /tmp/release-body.md
 
       - name: Create Release
         uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
         with:
           tag_name: ${{ github.ref_name }}
-          name: Release ${{ github.ref_name }}
-          body: |
-            ## What's Changed
-
-            ${{ steps.changelog.outputs.changelog }}
-
-            ## Docker Images
-
-            All images are available at `ghcr.io/${{ github.repository_owner }}/warmbly`:
-
-            | Service | Image |
-            |---------|-------|
-            | Backend | `${{ env.IMAGE_PREFIX }}/backend:${{ github.ref_name }}` |
-            | Consumer | `${{ env.IMAGE_PREFIX }}/consumer:${{ github.ref_name }}` |
-            | Worker | `${{ env.IMAGE_PREFIX }}/worker:${{ github.ref_name }}` |
-            | Tracking | `${{ env.IMAGE_PREFIX }}/tracking:${{ github.ref_name }}` |
-            | Realtime | `${{ env.IMAGE_PREFIX }}/realtime:${{ github.ref_name }}` |
-            | Dashboard (web) | `${{ env.IMAGE_PREFIX }}/web:${{ github.ref_name }}` |
-            | Admin | `${{ env.IMAGE_PREFIX }}/admin:${{ github.ref_name }}` |
-
-            ## Deployment
-
-            This release will be automatically deployed to production.
+          name: ${{ github.ref_name }}
+          body_path: /tmp/release-body.md
           draft: false
           prerelease: ${{ contains(github.ref_name, '-') }}
-          generate_release_notes: true