diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c50d34b1..65941f16 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,17 @@
 # aicodeman
 
+## 1.18.4
+
+### Patch Changes
+
+- Faster agent-skill workers, retuned multi-color lineage arcs, a per-tab pop-out option, reliable tab alerts, and the community launch.
+  - Agent skill: SKILL.md now forbids the standalone preamble check and the pre-spawn reconnaissance turns that were costing whole model turns; the same two-worker spawn measured at 28.6s end to end now runs 20.2s cold and 12.8s warm, with the spawn machinery itself unchanged.
+  - Session lineage lines: arcs now hang from the tab strip's bottom edge (dip cap 104px to 64px, no stacked row offsets), fixing the deep bow on wrapped tab strips and keeping same-row arcs off the second row's tab labels; each spawned worker's arc gets its own color (skin blue first, then matrix green, pink, violet, red, turquoise, orange), assigned per child and stable across re-renders.
+  - Session Options > Session: new "Pop-out button on this tab" per-tab override on top of the general App Settings toggle (per-device).
+  - Tab alerts: pending permission/question alerts now survive page reloads regardless of the Approvals Inbox setting (the alert state machine seeds from the server-side approval store on every load), stay visible on the selected tab until the prompt is actually resolved (the alert paints on a ::before overlay the active tab's styling cannot bury), and render as a steady red/yellow ring with glow and a colored status dot instead of a blink that spent half of every cycle looking like a normal tab. The README carries a live capture of the new alerts.
+  - Community launch: README Community section, .github/CONTRIBUTING.md (dev setup, test safety, great first contributions, PR expectations), and GitHub Discussions.
+  - docs: worker warm-pool design sketch with the measured baselines.
+
 ## 1.18.3
 
 ### Patch Changes
diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 5d4af637..a65f2017 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ When user says "COM":
 
 CI runs `npm run check:lockfile` on every push/PR, so lockfile drift fails the build even if the `version-packages` script is bypassed.
 
-**Version**: 1.18.3 (must match `package.json`)
+**Version**: 1.18.4 (must match `package.json`)
 
 ## Project Overview
 
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 32f6f348..bf158135 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "aicodeman",
-  "version": "1.18.3",
+  "version": "1.18.4",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "aicodeman",
-      "version": "1.18.3",
+      "version": "1.18.4",
       "hasInstallScript": true,
       "license": "MIT",
       "workspaces": [
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index cf5d7878..30f60846 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "aicodeman",
-  "version": "1.18.3",
+  "version": "1.18.4",
   "description": "Mission control for AI coding agents - run 20 autonomous agents with real-time monitoring and session persistence",
   "type": "module",
   "main": "dist/index.js",