diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 43c4f77..c97b11a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ follow [SemVer](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html) with the
 caveat that pre-1.0 minor bumps may include breaking changes
 (documented in the release notes).
 
-## Unreleased
+## v0.8.1 — npm distribution
 
 ADDED
   * **npm distribution.** Kimetsu now publishes to npm — `npm install -g kimetsu`
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 89101d2..486bca5 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1483,7 +1483,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "kimetsu-agent"
-version = "0.8.0"
+version = "0.8.1"
 dependencies = [
  "blake3",
  "kimetsu-brain",
@@ -1499,7 +1499,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "kimetsu-brain"
-version = "0.8.0"
+version = "0.8.1"
 dependencies = [
  "blake3",
  "fastembed",
@@ -1515,7 +1515,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "kimetsu-chat"
-version = "0.8.0"
+version = "0.8.1"
 dependencies = [
  "base64 0.22.1",
  "crossterm",
@@ -1530,7 +1530,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "kimetsu-cli"
-version = "0.8.0"
+version = "0.8.1"
 dependencies = [
  "clap",
  "kimetsu-agent",
@@ -1546,7 +1546,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "kimetsu-core"
-version = "0.8.0"
+version = "0.8.1"
 dependencies = [
  "serde",
  "serde_json",
@@ -1557,7 +1557,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "kimetsu-e2e"
-version = "0.8.0"
+version = "0.8.1"
 dependencies = [
  "kimetsu-agent",
  "kimetsu-brain",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 5ccfc9b..5d1a032 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ resolver = "3"
 # everything below except the per-crate `description`, `keywords`,
 # and `categories` which live in each `[package]` block since
 # crates.io enforces them per crate.
-version = "0.8.0"
+version = "0.8.1"
 edition = "2024"
 # Rust ecosystem dual-license (matches tokio, serde, fastembed-rs,
 # etc.). UNLICENSED would block crates.io entirely.