diff --git a/pkg-r/DESCRIPTION b/pkg-r/DESCRIPTION
index 00addacd..4dba23c3 100644
--- a/pkg-r/DESCRIPTION
+++ b/pkg-r/DESCRIPTION
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Package: querychat
 Title: Filter and Query Data Frames in 'shiny' Using an LLM Chat Interface
-Version: 0.3.0.9000
+Version: 0.4.0
 Authors@R: c(
     person("Garrick", "Aden-Buie", , "garrick@posit.co", role = c("aut", "cre"),
            comment = c(ORCID = "0000-0002-7111-0077")),
diff --git a/pkg-r/NEWS.md b/pkg-r/NEWS.md
index feb8decb..2759c6f4 100644
--- a/pkg-r/NEWS.md
+++ b/pkg-r/NEWS.md
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# querychat (development version)
+# querychat 0.4.0
 
 ## New features
 
diff --git a/pkg-r/cran-comments.md b/pkg-r/cran-comments.md
index 03e59733..1e2ec3c5 100644
--- a/pkg-r/cran-comments.md
+++ b/pkg-r/cran-comments.md
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 
 0 errors | 0 warnings | 1 note
 
-* This is a new release.
-* The DESCRIPTION file does not include references
-  because there are none for this package.
-* This is a re-submission of v0.2.0 with corrected links in the README.md file.
+* The CRAN incoming feasibility check flags https://platform.openai.com/
+  (linked from README.md) with status 403. The site blocks automated
+  requests; the link works in a browser.
diff --git a/pkg-r/tests/testthat/test-handoff_formats_sync.R b/pkg-r/tests/testthat/test-handoff_formats_sync.R
index 7cbbed72..dd62cf29 100644
--- a/pkg-r/tests/testthat/test-handoff_formats_sync.R
+++ b/pkg-r/tests/testthat/test-handoff_formats_sync.R
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@ test_that("packaged handoff-formats.yml matches the canonical shared copy", {
     "shared/handoff-formats.yml only exists in the source repo"
   )
 
-  packaged <- test_path("..", "..", "inst", "handoff-formats.yml")
+  # Resolve via system.file() so this works under R CMD check too, where
+  # tests run from <pkg>.Rcheck/tests/ and inst/ has been installed away
+  packaged <- system.file("handoff-formats.yml", package = "querychat")
 
   expect_identical(
     readBin(packaged, "raw", file.size(packaged)),