diff --git a/.github/workflows/auto-tag.yml b/.github/workflows/auto-tag.yml
index e080b40..cf92c48 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/auto-tag.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/auto-tag.yml
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ on:
 
 permissions:
   contents: write
+  actions: write # Needed to explicitly dispatch release.yml (see note below)
 
 concurrency:
   group: ${{ github.workflow }}
@@ -66,6 +67,22 @@ jobs:
 
           echo "✅ Created and pushed tag: $TAG"
 
+      - name: Trigger release notes workflow
+        if: steps.tag_check.outputs.exists == 'false'
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          TAG="v${{ steps.manifest.outputs.version }}"
+
+          # NOTE: Tag pushes made with the default GITHUB_TOKEN do NOT trigger
+          # other workflows (GitHub's built-in recursion guard). Since we just
+          # pushed the tag above using GITHUB_TOKEN, release.yml's
+          # `push: tags: v*.*.*` trigger will NOT fire on its own.
+          # workflow_dispatch/repository_dispatch are exempt from that guard,
+          # so we explicitly dispatch release.yml here instead.
+          echo "::notice::Explicitly dispatching release.yml for $TAG (tag push via GITHUB_TOKEN does not auto-trigger workflows)"
+          gh workflow run release.yml --ref "$TAG" -f tag="$TAG"
+
       - name: Summary
         run: |
           if [ "${{ steps.tag_check.outputs.exists }}" = "true" ]; then