diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 93aece56..51b36760 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -6,9 +6,9 @@ release completed.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
-## [0.8.1] — TBD — `v0.8.1`
+## [0.8.1] — 2026-11-06 — `v0.8.1`
 
-> DRAFT release prep (do not merge until the release is cut). The entries below are those of the merged pull requests; the definitive run and its counts are in "The definitive run" below; the release date is still to be filled in. v0.8.1 is a re-run of the definitive v0.8.0 run with: the #228 fallback after withheld hits (preset `v0.8.1`), the *S. pombe* silent-pair rule (#254; the #252 tie-break is reverted), report-only `resolution_flags`, the cross-family `cassette` indication with its shared-flank measurements, `two_idiomorphs` for Basidiomycota MAT and redPR, the rust allow list (#165) and the *Hyphopichia* MTLA1 record (#148; 11 of 389 sampled Serinales genomes drop a tier, tracked under #149). Not in v0.8.1: #255, the MATam family, the Ogataea candidate records.
+> The entries below are those of the merged pull requests; the definitive run and its counts are in "The definitive run" below. v0.8.1 is a re-run of the definitive v0.8.0 run with: the #228 fallback after withheld hits (preset `v0.8.1`), the *S. pombe* silent-pair rule (#254; the #252 tie-break is reverted), report-only `resolution_flags`, the cross-family `cassette` indication with its shared-flank measurements, `two_idiomorphs` for Basidiomycota MAT and redPR, the rust allow list (#165) and the *Hyphopichia* MTLA1 record (#148; 11 of 389 sampled Serinales genomes drop a tier, tracked under #149). Not in v0.8.1: #255, the MATam family, the Ogataea candidate records.
 
 ### Changed
 - *S. pombe* silent cassettes (#254; curator ruling 2026-11-05): a merged `mat1` call whose genes hold a P cluster and an M cluster 5-20 kb apart on one contig (the silent `mat2`-P / `mat3`-M pair, about 11 kb apart) is split into a `mat2` P call and a `mat3` M call, each with a `cassette` block (role `silent_pair`, the partner family and the distance). The #252 tie-break by core identity is reverted (it relabelled a lone P cassette `mat2`, probably wrong: the records are cassette-only so identity cannot tell mat1 from mat2); a lone cassette elsewhere stays `mat1`; a pair farther apart (35 kb in GCA_006386235.1) stays one call marked `arrangement_ambiguous`. It applies only where the species-scoped `mat2` and `mat3` families are in the genome's lineage (*S. pombe*), as part of `--cross-family-policy on` (`detect/silent_pair.py`). It changes *S. pombe* locus counts and labels.
diff --git a/CITATION.cff b/CITATION.cff
index 70b9e9d8..91fd9189 100644
--- a/CITATION.cff
+++ b/CITATION.cff
@@ -10,5 +10,5 @@ authors:
 title: "MATPredict: MAT locus identification in Fungi"
 version: 0.8.1
 doi: TBD
-date-released: 2026-10-31
+date-released: 2026-11-06
 url: "https://github.com/stajichlab/MATPredict"