diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
index 099626f..7840fde 100644
--- a/.release-please-manifest.json
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  ".": "1.8.0"
+  ".": "1.8.1"
 }
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f52b10b..7a9e341 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,13 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [1.8.1](https://github.com/AmbiqAI/heartkit/compare/v1.8.0...v1.8.1) (2026-10-01)
+
+
+### Documentation
+
+* make Astro content canonical and retire MkDocs adapter ([#48](https://github.com/AmbiqAI/heartkit/issues/48)) ([e431edf](https://github.com/AmbiqAI/heartkit/commit/e431edf3097fdafa04698a6db79de65ef6b618af))
+* migrate heartKIT to Astro and shared HELIA navigation ([#44](https://github.com/AmbiqAI/heartkit/issues/44)) ([64d522d](https://github.com/AmbiqAI/heartkit/commit/64d522deae3b22a65fdf9d7be460ddf11e50aeaa))
+
 ## [1.8.0](https://github.com/AmbiqAI/heartkit/compare/v1.7.0...v1.8.0) (2026-01-16)
 
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index e8650e7..c5c2307 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "heartkit"
-version = "1.8.0"
+version = "1.8.1"
 description = "AI driven heart monitoring kit for ultra low-power wearables."
 readme = "README.md"
 license = { text = "BSD-3-Clause" }