diff --git a/hack/ping-release-prs.sh b/hack/ping-release-prs.sh
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+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Copyright 2026 The cert-manager Authors.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+# ping-release-prs.sh
+#
+# For each PR number given, checks whether a ping referencing the specified
+# release has already been posted. If not, posts one. Also follows
+# closing-issue links and pings those reporters where not yet done.
+#
+# Cherry-pick PRs ("cherry-pick of #N" in the body) are resolved to the
+# original PR, so for a patch release you pass the release-branch PR numbers
+# from the release notes and the pings land on the original PR and its issues.
+#
+# Self-reported issues (where the issue reporter is the same as the PR author)
+# and issues reported by members of the repository's organization are skipped.
+#
+# Idempotent: safe to run multiple times; already-pinged PRs and issues are
+# skipped.
+#
+# Usage:
+#   ping-release-prs.sh --release v1.21.0-beta.0 PR1 PR2 ...
+#   ping-release-prs.sh --release v1.21.0-beta.0 --repo cert-manager/cert-manager PR1 PR2 ...
+#   ping-release-prs.sh --release v1.21.0-beta.0 --dry-run PR1 PR2 ...
+#
+# Requirements: gh (GitHub CLI), jq
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+RELEASE=""
+REPO="cert-manager/cert-manager"
+DRY_RUN=false
+
+usage() {
+  cat <<EOF
+Usage: $0 --release VERSION [--repo OWNER/REPO] [--dry-run] PR...
+
+  --release VERSION   Release tag to reference (e.g. v1.21.0-beta.0)
+  --repo OWNER/REPO   GitHub repository (default: cert-manager/cert-manager)
+  --dry-run           Print what would be posted without posting anything
+  --help              Show this help
+EOF
+  exit 1
+}
+
+while [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; do
+  case "$1" in
+    --release)  RELEASE="$2";  shift 2 ;;
+    --repo)     REPO="$2";     shift 2 ;;
+    --dry-run)  DRY_RUN=true;  shift   ;;
+    --help|-h)  usage ;;
+    *)          break ;;
+  esac
+done
+
+if [[ -z "$RELEASE" ]]; then
+  echo "Error: --release is required" >&2
+  usage
+fi
+
+if [[ $# -eq 0 ]]; then
+  echo "Error: at least one PR number is required" >&2
+  usage
+fi
+
+RELEASE_URL="https://github.com/${REPO}/releases/tag/${RELEASE}"
+ORG="${REPO%%/*}"
+
+# Fail early if the release does not exist, and pick the wording to match.
+if [[ "$(gh release view "$RELEASE" --repo "$REPO" --json isPrerelease --jq .isPrerelease)" == "true" ]]; then
+  RELEASE_KIND="pre-release"
+else
+  RELEASE_KIND="release"
+fi
+
+# is_org_member USER
+# Returns 0 (true) if USER is a member of the repository's organization.
+# Maintainers already know about the release, so they are not pinged.
+is_org_member() {
+  gh api "orgs/${ORG}/members/$1" --silent 2>/dev/null
+}
+
+# has_ping NUMBER
+# Returns 0 (true) if any comment on the issue/PR already contains the release URL.
+has_ping() {
+  local number="$1"
+  local count
+  count=$(gh api "repos/${REPO}/issues/${number}/comments?per_page=100" \
+    --jq "[.[] | select(.body | contains(\"${RELEASE_URL}\"))] | length")
+  [[ "$count" -gt 0 ]]
+}
+
+# post_comment NUMBER BODY
+post_comment() {
+  local number="$1"
+  local body="$2"
+  if "$DRY_RUN"; then
+    echo "    [DRY RUN] would post:"
+    echo "$body" | sed 's/^/      /'
+  else
+    local id
+    id=$(gh api "repos/${REPO}/issues/${number}/comments" \
+      -f body="$body" --jq '.id')
+    echo "    posted comment ${id}"
+  fi
+}
+
+for pr in "$@"; do
+  # Follow a cherry-pick PR to the PR it was picked from.
+  original=$(gh pr view "$pr" --repo "$REPO" --json body \
+    --jq '[.body | scan("(?i)cherry-pick of #([0-9]+)")[]] | first // empty')
+  if [[ -n "$original" ]]; then
+    echo "PR #${pr} is a cherry-pick of #${original}"
+    pr="$original"
+  fi
+  echo "PR #${pr}"
+
+  # Fetch PR author and linked closing issues in one call.
+  pr_data=$(gh pr view "$pr" --repo "$REPO" \
+    --json author,closingIssuesReferences \
+    --jq '{author: .author.login, is_bot: (.author.is_bot // false), issues: [.closingIssuesReferences[].number]}')
+
+  pr_author=$(echo "$pr_data" | jq -r '.author')
+  pr_is_bot=$(echo "$pr_data" | jq -r '.is_bot')
+
+  # Build the @mention for non-bot authors.
+  if [[ "$pr_is_bot" == "true" ]] || [[ "$pr_author" == *"[bot]"* ]]; then
+    pr_mention=""
+  else
+    pr_mention="@${pr_author} "
+  fi
+
+  # Ping the PR itself.
+  if has_ping "$pr"; then
+    echo "  already pinged — skipping"
+  else
+    pr_body="${pr_mention}This change has been included in [${RELEASE}](${RELEASE_URL}), which is now published.
+
+If you are able to install the ${RELEASE_KIND} and verify that the change works as expected in your environment, that would be much appreciated. Thank you for the contribution."
+    echo "  pinging PR"
+    post_comment "$pr" "$pr_body"
+  fi
+
+  # Ping linked closing issues.
+  mapfile -t issues < <(echo "$pr_data" | jq -r '.issues[]')
+  for issue in "${issues[@]+"${issues[@]}"}"; do
+    echo "  Issue #${issue}"
+
+    issue_reporter=$(gh issue view "$issue" --repo "$REPO" \
+      --json author --jq '.author.login')
+
+    # Skip self-reported issues and issues reported by maintainers.
+    if [[ "$issue_reporter" == "$pr_author" ]]; then
+      echo "    self-reported by @${issue_reporter} — skipping"
+      continue
+    fi
+    if is_org_member "$issue_reporter"; then
+      echo "    reported by ${ORG} member @${issue_reporter} — skipping"
+      continue
+    fi
+
+    if has_ping "$issue"; then
+      echo "    already pinged — skipping"
+    else
+      issue_body="@${issue_reporter} The fix or feature you requested has been included in [${RELEASE}](${RELEASE_URL}), which is now published.
+
+If you are able to install the ${RELEASE_KIND} and verify that it addresses your use case, that would be much appreciated."
+      echo "    pinging @${issue_reporter}"
+      post_comment "$issue" "$issue_body"
+    fi
+  done
+done
+
+echo "Done."