@@ -81,6 +81,15 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@34e114876b0b11c390a56381ad16ebd13914f8d5 # v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
+          # Do NOT persist GITHUB_TOKEN as http.extraheader. Every tag/branch push
+          # below re-injects the app token via `git remote set-url`, but a persisted
+          # extraheader silently wins over the URL credential — so those pushes
+          # would authenticate as GITHUB_TOKEN, and a GITHUB_TOKEN push creates no
+          # workflow run (GitHub anti-recursion). That is exactly why v1.6.0's
+          # stable tag triggered no tags.yaml run (the generate-changelog and
+          # update-website-docs backstops never fired). With this false, the set-url
+          # app token authenticates, matching how promote-rc.yaml already pushes.
+          persist-credentials: false
 
       # Create the release tag at the merge commit — write-once.
       #
 
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ Reviewer checklist:
 
 Fires on merge of a PR that is merged, carries the `release` label, and is authored by `cozystack-ci[bot]` (the last guard closes the "name a branch `release-X.Y.Z`, get it labelled, merge it" hole). Head branch must match `release-X.Y.Z[-suffix]`. This is where **every irreversible side effect of a promotion happens** — after the rc's mandatory E2E was checked at dispatch and the PR merged, making promotion transactional. Steps:
 
-1. **Create the tag at the merge commit** (write-once). The merge commit of `Prepare release vX.Y.Z` did not exist before the PR opened, so there is nothing to move — the tag is created here for the first time. A pre-existing tag at a different commit fails the step loudly rather than being force-moved (see [Tag immutability](#tag-immutability)).
+1. **Create the tag at the merge commit** (write-once). The merge commit of `Prepare release vX.Y.Z` did not exist before the PR opened, so there is nothing to move — the tag is created here for the first time. A pre-existing tag at a different commit fails the step loudly rather than being force-moved (see [Tag immutability](#tag-immutability)). The checkout uses `persist-credentials: false` so this push authenticates as the **CI app** (via `git remote set-url`), not the default `GITHUB_TOKEN` — a `GITHUB_TOKEN` push creates no workflow run, so a persisted-credential push would silently skip `tags.yaml` entirely and its stable-tag backstops (`generate-changelog`, `update-website-docs`) would never fire.
 2. **Cut the `api/apps/v1alpha1/vX.Y.Z` Go-module tag** (write-once, stable only) at the same commit, so Go consumers of `api/apps/v1alpha1` get the release. Moved here from `tags.yaml`, whose `prepare-release` body is skipped for a promoted stable (the draft already exists).
 3. **Ensure the maintenance branch `release-X.Y` exists** at the tag commit. Created if missing; updated fast-forward-only — a non-fast-forward update warns and is left for a maintainer rather than being force-updated.
 4. **Publish the draft release**, with `docs/changelogs/vX.Y.Z.md` from the merge commit as its body (an absent or whitespace-only file warns and leaves the draft's body in place, rather than publishing blank notes). `make_latest` is computed against published-non-prerelease tags: prereleases stay `false`; tags older than the current max stay `false` (and the current max is force-restored to `latest` if necessary, so an older patch tag cut after a newer minor won't downgrade `latest`).
 
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ REPO_ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BATS_TEST_FILENAME:-$0}")/.." && pwd)"
 PROMOTE="$REPO_ROOT/.github/workflows/promote-rc.yaml"
 PULL_REQUESTS="$REPO_ROOT/.github/workflows/pull-requests.yaml"
 TAGS="$REPO_ROOT/.github/workflows/tags.yaml"
+FINALIZE="$REPO_ROOT/.github/workflows/pull-requests-release.yaml"
 
 job_block() {
   awk -v job="  $1:" '
@@ -217,3 +218,21 @@ code_lines() {
   grep -qF 'promote-rc.yaml::website-docs' "$TAGS"
   grep -qiF 'backstop' "$TAGS"
 }
+
+@test "finalize checkout does not persist credentials so the app-token tag push triggers tags.yaml" {
+  block="$(job_block finalize "$FINALIZE")"
+  [ -n "$block" ]
+  checkout="$(printf '%s\n' "$block" | awk '
+    /^      - name: Checkout repo$/ { inside = 1; next }
+    /^      - name: / { inside = 0 }
+    inside')"
+  [ -n "$checkout" ]
+
+  # The one-line root-cause fix. Without persist-credentials:false the checkout
+  # persists GITHUB_TOKEN as http.extraheader, which silently defeats the app token
+  # each later `git remote set-url` injects onto the tag pushes — and a
+  # GITHUB_TOKEN-authenticated push creates no workflow run (anti-recursion), so
+  # tags.yaml's stable-tag backstops never fire (v1.6.0's tag never triggered it).
+  count="$(printf '%s\n' "$checkout" | code_lines | rg -cF 'persist-credentials: false' || true)"
+  [ "${count:-0}" -eq 1 ]
+}