diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index c94380b..c8570b4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -1,23 +1,68 @@
 name: Release and PyPI Publish
 
+# WHY THIS IS DISPATCH-ONLY AND USES ADMIN_TOKEN
+# ----------------------------------------------
+# This workflow ran on every push to main with the default GITHUB_TOKEN. Since
+# branch protection was enabled on main (some time after the last successful
+# release on 2026-01-29; the first rejection is the run of 2026-02-18), it could
+# not succeed. python-semantic-release computes the next version, commits the
+# bump, tags it, and pushes to main -- and main now requires a pull request:
+#
+#     remote: error: GH006: Protected branch update failed for refs/heads/main.
+#     remote: - Changes must be made through a pull request.
+#     ##[error] Failed to push branch (main) to remote
+#
+# The push is the step *before* build and publish, so nothing was ever
+# published from a failing run. PyPI, the git tag, the GitHub Release, and
+# pyproject.toml all still agree; the release simply stopped moving.
+# openadapt-privacy hit the identical failure on the same day and was repaired
+# on 2026-07-15 by adding ADMIN_TOKEN; this applies the same repair here.
+#
+# Two changes:
+#
+#   1. secrets.ADMIN_TOKEN -- the organization-scoped release credential
+#      (visibility "all") already used by openadapt-flow and openadapt-privacy.
+#      Branch protection here sets enforce_admins=false, so an admin credential
+#      can push the generated version commit and tag; GITHUB_TOKEN cannot.
+#
+#   2. workflow_dispatch instead of push -- releasing becomes an explicit act
+#      rather than a side effect of merging a README edit. This matches the
+#      canonical openadapt-flow release workflow and keeps release minutes off
+#      every push (AGENTS.md 5.1, build-speed and hosted-CI cost discipline).
+#      It also matters here specifically: the commits accumulated since v0.2.0
+#      are CI config, .gitignore, and docs only -- no library code has changed,
+#      so an automatic release would publish a version whose sole content is a
+#      version bump.
+#
+# To cut a release:
+#
+#     gh workflow run "Release and PyPI Publish" \
+#       --repo OpenAdaptAI/openadapt-viewer --ref main
+#
+# python-semantic-release then coalesces the Conventional Commits since the last
+# tag, picks the next version, tags it, and publishes to PyPI and GitHub
+# Releases. Prerequisites are repository/organization settings, not code:
+# secrets.ADMIN_TOKEN with visibility "all", and PyPI Trusted Publishing for
+# this package.
+
 on:
-  push:
-    branches:
-      - main
+  workflow_dispatch:
 
 jobs:
   release:
+    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     concurrency: release
     permissions:
-      id-token: write
-      contents: write
+      id-token: write # PyPI Trusted Publishing (OIDC)
+      contents: write # push the version bump commit + tag, create the Release
 
     steps:
       - name: Checkout repository
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
+          token: ${{ secrets.ADMIN_TOKEN }}
 
       - name: Set up Python
         uses: actions/setup-python@v5
@@ -31,7 +76,7 @@ jobs:
         id: release
         uses: python-semantic-release/python-semantic-release@v9.15.2
         with:
-          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          github_token: ${{ secrets.ADMIN_TOKEN }}
 
       - name: Build package
         if: steps.release.outputs.released == 'true'
@@ -45,4 +90,4 @@ jobs:
         if: steps.release.outputs.released == 'true'
         uses: python-semantic-release/publish-action@v9.15.2
         with:
-          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          github_token: ${{ secrets.ADMIN_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fe459f3..e92ae46 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # openadapt-viewer
 
-[![Build Status](https://github.com/OpenAdaptAI/openadapt-viewer/actions/workflows/publish.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/OpenAdaptAI/openadapt-viewer/actions/workflows/publish.yml)
+[![Release](https://github.com/OpenAdaptAI/openadapt-viewer/actions/workflows/release.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/OpenAdaptAI/openadapt-viewer/actions/workflows/release.yml)
 [![PyPI version](https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/openadapt-viewer.svg)](https://pypi.org/project/openadapt-viewer/)
 [![License: MIT](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-yellow.svg)](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
 [![Python 3.10+](https://img.shields.io/badge/python-3.10%2B-blue)](https://www.python.org/downloads/)