diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 2826d61..ac7f993 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -222,3 +222,47 @@ jobs:
             exit 1
           }
           gh workflow run formula.yml --repo michel/homebrew-tap
+
+  # release-plz writes the version bump and the changelog on master, and until
+  # now nothing carried them back: develop was still declaring 14.1.2 five
+  # releases after v14.1.2 shipped. Nightly builds the tip of develop, so every
+  # nightly binary reported a version that had not been current for weeks, and
+  # the changelog on the branch the work happens on stopped at v14.1.2.
+  #
+  # Hangs off `release` rather than `binaries` so the sync does not wait on six
+  # binary builds, and merges master whole rather than cherry-picking the bump
+  # so that the changelog comes along with it. develop never edits those lines
+  # itself, which is what keeps the merge clean; on the day it does conflict
+  # this job fails loudly and the merge wants doing by hand.
+  #
+  # Nothing in this repository triggers on a push to develop, so pushing here
+  # neither loops back into this workflow nor spends a CI run.
+  backmerge:
+    name: Back-merge into develop
+    needs: release
+    if: ${{ !cancelled() && needs.release.outputs.tag != '' }}
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+          ref: develop
+          token: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_PLZ_TOKEN || secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+      - name: Merge master into develop
+        env:
+          TAG: ${{ needs.release.outputs.tag }}
+        run: |
+          # Spelled out rather than read from master's tip: this history carries
+          # one person's attribution, and whoever happened to click merge on the
+          # release PR is not the right source for it.
+          git config user.name "Michel de Graaf"
+          git config user.email "michel@re-invention.nl"
+          # checkout was pointed at develop, and which other tracking refs it
+          # leaves behind is its own business — ask for master by name.
+          git fetch origin master
+          # A manual binary rebuild reaches this job with develop already
+          # containing master; git says "Already up to date" and the push is a
+          # no-op, so the dispatch path needs no guard of its own.
+          git merge --no-ff origin/master -m "merge: back-merge $TAG into develop"
+          git push origin develop
diff --git a/RELEASE.md b/RELEASE.md
index e4839e5..86f9777 100644
--- a/RELEASE.md
+++ b/RELEASE.md
@@ -29,10 +29,17 @@ Releases are automated by [release-plz](https://release-plz.dev). You do not run
      | `soulseek-rs-vX.Y.Z-aarch64-pc-windows-msvc.zip`       |                          |
 
    - rewrites `Formula/soulseek-rs.rb` in the `michel/homebrew-tap` repository so
-     `brew install michel/tap/soulseek-rs` picks up the new macOS and Linux archives.
+     `brew install michel/tap/soulseek-rs` picks up the new macOS and Linux archives,
+   - merges `master` back into `develop`, so the branch the work happens on carries the
+     new version and changelog rather than drifting behind them.
 
 Both crates always share one version, one tag, and one changelog — see `release-plz.toml`.
 
+The version lives in one place, `[workspace.package]` in the root `Cargo.toml`, and
+release-plz owns it. Do not edit it by hand on `develop`: the back-merge relies on
+`develop` never touching that line, and an edit there turns every release into a
+conflict.
+
 ## Nightly builds
 
 `.github/workflows/nightly.yml` builds the tip of `develop` at 02:17 UTC every