diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
index d5d3f370..c84411f5 100644
--- a/.release-please-manifest.json
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  ".": "0.25.1"
+  ".": "0.26.0"
 }
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 36ebf99b..905f0819 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,33 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [0.26.0](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/compare/v0.25.1...v0.26.0) (2026-11-01)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* **decorators:** let async [@cache](https://github.com/cache) opt out of the miss-path distributed lock (LAB-7166) ([#667](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/667)) ([1e2295d](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/1e2295d5f0a6ed894805685caa30cdcae5b3efc0))
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* **metrics:** skip thread-state retirement once the interpreter is exiting (LAB-12087) ([#679](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/679)) ([42d7aea](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/42d7aea89d21f9c3a887cee57dd391a5ef35f9c4))
+* **monitoring:** make enable_prometheus_metrics=False stop recording (LAB-12038) ([#681](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/681)) ([3d81a93](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/3d81a9369bc0e25690f5a69270521eacfb0a25ef))
+* **perf:** name the cachekit, Python and CPU a terrain recording ran (LAB-11993) ([#687](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/687)) ([251a2fa](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/251a2fad4fe50aef1e5275f956d8a4b11cf33e7c))
+* **perf:** terrain canary records the L2 label without its padding (LAB-11993) ([#676](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/676)) ([4b2c65c](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/4b2c65cca5b2e832dcf9cce840669be16bb613f7))
+
+
+### Performance Improvements
+
+* **decorators:** a backed L1 hit skips the stats context and log kwargs (LAB-12115) ([#686](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/686)) ([9c1bd7f](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/9c1bd7f6fc2798683e69c4fdb88bf2a8b784acdb))
+* **decorators:** answer the L1-only hit in one lock-free call into the extension (LAB-12024) ([#673](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/673)) ([8b17e51](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/8b17e5109a00b3332252af40930c9cd966eb51e8))
+* **ir:** run the 2,600 Ir/op paths over 300,000 calls (LAB-12245) ([#697](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/697)) ([0e15cb6](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/0e15cb6495a491edfbafe14915da8280974d6367))
+* **l1:** skip the structure walk and object hook on a kept L1 entry (LAB-12023) ([#671](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/671)) ([7fbdfbe](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/7fbdfbee51268198fae736245653a44f8fd7b2c8))
+* **l1:** sweep expired entries from a deadline heap in short lock holds (LAB-12117) ([#683](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/683)) ([63cf745](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/63cf7452ec3c853a883826b0a25c71b2cc2a31b6))
+* **memcached:** pick the server natively, as pymemcache's rendezvous hash does (LAB-12116) ([#680](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/680)) ([a79cc90](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/a79cc90323f3a0685492efeba29e7fb0feaf778b))
+* **redis:** an uncontended async miss waits on 3 round trips, not 5 (LAB-12118) ([#682](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/682)) ([1ef1d05](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/1ef1d05eafa112d6cf5f73cce86fb7d2804ff119))
+* **serializers:** decode StandardSerializer reads in Rust, bounds and decode in one pass (LAB-12030) ([#674](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/674)) ([39b1bdf](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/39b1bdf6d1ca59256e1d36f98a4ff4b7dbc4f9fc))
+* **write-behind:** park an idle writer thread instead of starting one per miss (LAB-12005) ([#692](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/692)) ([96141b7](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/96141b7c6c5ccd15211815767f4e12e7ff44a3dc))
+
 ## [0.25.1](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/compare/v0.25.0...v0.25.1) (2026-10-30)
 
 
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 48729219..ccf778ab 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "cachekit-rs"
-version = "0.25.1"
+version = "0.26.0"
 dependencies = [
  "cachekit-core",
  "criterion 0.8.2",
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index f84f96bb..e8004360 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ build-backend = "maturin"
 
 [project]
 name = "cachekit"
-version = "0.25.1"
+version = "0.26.0"
 description = "Backend-agnostic caching for Python — intent-based decorators with circuit breaker, distributed locking, Prometheus metrics, and optional zero-knowledge AES-256-GCM encryption, on a Rust-powered core. Zero-config L1 in-memory; scales to Redis, Memcached, File, or CachekitIO."
 readme = "README.md"
 license = {text = "MIT"}
diff --git a/rust/Cargo.toml b/rust/Cargo.toml
index ffe674ff..1f5a57de 100644
--- a/rust/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rust/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "cachekit-rs"
-version = "0.25.1"
+version = "0.26.0"
 edition = "2021"
 authors = ["cachekit Contributors"]
 description = "High-performance storage engine for caching with compression and encryption"
diff --git a/src/cachekit/__init__.py b/src/cachekit/__init__.py
index c0a5dab7..d866f920 100644
--- a/src/cachekit/__init__.py
+++ b/src/cachekit/__init__.py
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ def custom_function():
 - ``api_key``: a cachekit.io API key, for example ``api_key = os.environ["CACHEKIT_API_KEY"]``.
 """
 
-__version__ = "0.25.1"
+__version__ = "0.26.0"
 
 from collections.abc import Callable
 from typing import Any, TypeVar
diff --git a/uv.lock b/uv.lock
index 988b68ee..896135ec 100644
--- a/uv.lock
+++ b/uv.lock
@@ -222,7 +222,7 @@ filecache = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "cachekit"
-version = "0.25.1"
+version = "0.26.0"
 source = { editable = "." }
 dependencies = [
     { name = "blake3" },