diff --git a/admin/build/validate.mjs b/admin/build/validate.mjs
index 864babe1..0603a8dd 100644
--- a/admin/build/validate.mjs
+++ b/admin/build/validate.mjs
@@ -51,6 +51,12 @@ for (const rel of tracked) {
       else if (rel.endsWith('.json')) { const u = s.slice(0, 4000).match(/"updated"\s*:\s*"(\d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}T\d{2}:\d{2}(?::\d{2})?(?:\.\d+)?Z)"/); if (u && ahead(Date.parse(u[1].length === 17 ? u[1].replace('Z', ':00Z') : u[1]))) future.push(rel) } }
     if (rel.endsWith('.json')) { try { JSON.parse(s) } catch (e) { fail(`${rel}: invalid JSON (${e.message})`) } }
 }
+// the signed release record (ci/signing.md, tools/ci-release-record.mjs): a record whose signature does not verify against its agent's
+// key in data/keys.json fails the gate; a tree no record names is "unsigned": a WARN for now (Dinis sets the date it becomes a failure)
+if (tracked.length && fs.existsSync(path.join(ROOT, 'tools/ci-release-record.mjs'))) {
+    let out = ''; try { out = execFileSync(process.execPath, [path.join(ROOT, 'tools/ci-release-record.mjs'), '--check']).toString() } catch (e) { out = String(e.stdout || e.message) }
+    for (const l of out.split('\n')) { if (l.startsWith('FAIL ')) fail(l.slice(5)); else if (l.startsWith('WARN ')) warns.push(l.slice(5)); else if (l.trim()) console.log(l) }
+}
 if (!tracked.length) warns.push('not a git checkout: the tracked-file checks were skipped')
 else for (const need of ['admin/build/build.mjs', 'admin/build/validate.mjs', '.github/workflows/deploy.yml', 'admin/series.txt']) if (!tracked.includes(need)) fail(`${need} is not tracked by git (ignored?): CI would not have it`)
 
diff --git a/admin/tools/release.sh b/admin/tools/release.sh
index dfc0ab34..834c0c9b 100755
--- a/admin/tools/release.sh
+++ b/admin/tools/release.sh
@@ -15,6 +15,12 @@ for attempt in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12; do
   git fetch -q origin dev
   git rebase -q origin/dev || { echo "release.sh: conflict with dev; resolve by hand"; git rebase --abort; exit 1; }
   [ "$(git rev-list --count origin/dev..HEAD)" = 0 ] && { echo "release.sh: nothing to push"; exit 0; }
+  # the signed release record (ci/signing.md): this agent's own key signs the digest of the tree it is about to push, again after
+  # every rebase (the tree changed); the record rides in its last commit. No key on this machine: the push goes unsigned and the
+  # gate says so. SIGN_RELEASE=0 skips it.
+  if [ "${SIGN_RELEASE:-1}" = 1 ] && AGENT="$AGENT" node tools/ci-release-record.mjs --write; then
+    git add data/releases 2>/dev/null && { git diff --cached --quiet || git commit -q --amend --no-edit; }
+  fi
   if [ "$gated" = 0 ]; then
     node admin/build/validate.mjs
     node tools/policy-check.mjs   # each commit's Agent: may change only its own paths (agents/policy.json); a local check, not a boundary
diff --git a/agents/policy.json b/agents/policy.json
index 9f4672df..eee50a32 100644
--- a/agents/policy.json
+++ b/agents/policy.json
@@ -14,7 +14,9 @@
     "owns": [
       "agents/<role>/**",
       "accounts/ledger/<role>.jsonl",
-      "transition/interviews/<role>.md"
+      "transition/interviews/<role>.md",
+      "data/releases/<role>.json",
+      "data/releases/<role>.json.sig"
     ],
     "shared": [
       "data/keys.json",