diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
index e3690fe11..448d10afc 100644
--- a/.release-please-manifest.json
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  ".": "5.3.1"
+  ".": "5.4.0"
 }
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index fdc9a0334..8f7f79e4e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,20 @@ This file is maintained by [release-please](https://github.com/googleapis/releas
 from Conventional Commit messages; release sections are generated on release,
 not hand-edited in PRs.
 
+## [5.4.0](https://github.com/Brad-Edwards/aptl/compare/v5.3.1...v5.4.0) (2026-09-16)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* add scope-aware backend evidence capture ([#1020](https://github.com/Brad-Edwards/aptl/issues/1020)) ([3414c83](https://github.com/Brad-Edwards/aptl/commit/3414c83a001de6076c190496d875b8a081163908))
+* **deployment:** honor a unix:// DOCKER_HOST for the local Docker control endpoint ([#1039](https://github.com/Brad-Edwards/aptl/issues/1039)) ([d4ec7c7](https://github.com/Brad-Edwards/aptl/commit/d4ec7c7af977ab4a006841f3f5d8d58f98a6fea8))
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* synchronize Starlette lock state ([ace1bda](https://github.com/Brad-Edwards/aptl/commit/ace1bdaced395f7929ff718a1166127e90a477a8))
+* synchronize starlette lock state ([#1035](https://github.com/Brad-Edwards/aptl/issues/1035)) ([ace1bda](https://github.com/Brad-Edwards/aptl/commit/ace1bdaced395f7929ff718a1166127e90a477a8))
+
 ## [5.3.1](https://github.com/Brad-Edwards/aptl/compare/v5.3.0...v5.3.1) (2026-09-15)
 
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 3d8a8fa03..8f260ed66 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [project]
 name = "aptl-labs"
-version = "5.3.1"
+version = "5.4.0"
 description = "Advanced Purple Team Lab CLI"
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.11"
diff --git a/src/aptl/__init__.py b/src/aptl/__init__.py
index a1b569a1a..8f8008ef2 100644
--- a/src/aptl/__init__.py
+++ b/src/aptl/__init__.py
@@ -6,4 +6,4 @@
 # pyproject.toml, not this src-layout __init__.py). Keep the annotation comment
 # on the same line as the literal, and keep the literal equal to pyproject's
 # `version` — test_version_consistency.py enforces the latter.
-__version__ = "5.3.1"  # x-release-please-version
+__version__ = "5.4.0"  # x-release-please-version