diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
index 48ad3b7a..290c93bb 100644
--- a/.release-please-manifest.json
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  ".": "8.18.0"
+  ".": "8.18.1"
 }
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8a09cb8b..99c9c096 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,19 @@
 
 All notable changes to the LaunchDarkly Ruby SDK will be documented in this file. This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org).
 
+## [8.18.1](https://github.com/launchdarkly/ruby-server-sdk/compare/8.18.0...8.18.1) (2026-10-06)
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* Pass connect_timeout to the streaming SSE client ([#458](https://github.com/launchdarkly/ruby-server-sdk/issues/458)) ([f4a07af](https://github.com/launchdarkly/ruby-server-sdk/commit/f4a07af582aa65b397bf0d577014253ceda423e0))
+* Prevent close from hanging after a persistent store read fails ([91b7c9c](https://github.com/launchdarkly/ruby-server-sdk/commit/91b7c9caf6bcabd1faa8ab91bed85bd4c787faac))
+* Prevent flags from falling back to defaults when a deleted item has no key ([afb9f3d](https://github.com/launchdarkly/ruby-server-sdk/commit/afb9f3d164eb40e843eca2b2e8084ca31211031d))
+* Prevent flags from falling back to defaults when Consul holds one item ([8891226](https://github.com/launchdarkly/ruby-server-sdk/commit/88912263cdf5d63a2ad533bdc249a20845222cd3))
+* Prevent the store availability poller from outliving the client ([91b7c9c](https://github.com/launchdarkly/ruby-server-sdk/commit/91b7c9caf6bcabd1faa8ab91bed85bd4c787faac))
+* Publish the data source status before releasing ready waiters ([#431](https://github.com/launchdarkly/ruby-server-sdk/issues/431)) ([0e224b9](https://github.com/launchdarkly/ruby-server-sdk/commit/0e224b95c96812db368aef6d871de1762191ecbe))
+* Reuse an in-flight big segment status poll instead of querying twice ([#460](https://github.com/launchdarkly/ruby-server-sdk/issues/460)) ([96cca28](https://github.com/launchdarkly/ruby-server-sdk/commit/96cca285d00577bd73a16864d8c3cedb2b09b3bc))
+
 ## [8.18.0](https://github.com/launchdarkly/ruby-server-sdk/compare/8.17.0...8.18.0) (2026-09-16)
 
 
diff --git a/PROVENANCE.md b/PROVENANCE.md
index 102cea26..8b7fa1e5 100644
--- a/PROVENANCE.md
+++ b/PROVENANCE.md
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ To verify build provenance attestations, we recommend using the [GitHub CLI `att
 <!-- x-release-please-start-version -->
 ```
 # Set the version of the SDK to verify
-SDK_VERSION=8.18.0
+SDK_VERSION=8.18.1
 ```
 <!-- x-release-please-end -->
 
diff --git a/lib/ldclient-rb/version.rb b/lib/ldclient-rb/version.rb
index c38933b3..cdf0f52f 100644
--- a/lib/ldclient-rb/version.rb
+++ b/lib/ldclient-rb/version.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 module LaunchDarkly
-  VERSION = "8.18.0" # x-release-please-version
+  VERSION = "8.18.1" # x-release-please-version
 end