diff --git a/changelog.rst b/changelog.rst
index daadf5ca..a160e4ab 100644
--- a/changelog.rst
+++ b/changelog.rst
@@ -1,6 +1,28 @@
 ZoiteChat ChangeLog
 =================
 
+2.18.0~pre5 (2026-03-22)
+------------------------
+- Overhauled preferences/config saving: fully staged and transactional, debounced
+  with flush on close, write failures now surfaced.
+- Overhauled GTK theme handling: live preview, correct colour reset persistence,
+  proper file:// import paths, consistent menubar CSS.
+- Fixed GTK entry scroll artifact in the input box.
+- Hardened tray menu lifetime; fixed stale pointer crash on menu destruction.
+- Fixed AppIndicator tray init for Wayland/source builds; skip redundant X11
+  tray probe for AppIndicator builds.
+- Split topic/mode rows in channel bar, tighten spacing, persist userlist column widths.
+- Preserve saved right-pane size on first layout.
+- Fixed sounds prefs section.
+- Fixed chanview tree layout and header alignment; tighten topic URL hit-testing.
+- Dropped realpath() in favour of GLib-only absolute path build.
+- Made About dialog links explicit; added GPL licence URL.
+- Added licence headers to new source files.
+- Windows installer: fixed VC++ redist URL, added non-plugin download fallback,
+  switched to registry-based runtime detection.
+- Made libayatana-appindicator a required dep in PKGBUILD.
+- Cleaned up Meson libperl detection.
+
 2.18.0~pre4 (2026-03-15)
 ------------------------
 
diff --git a/data/misc/net.zoite.Zoitechat.appdata.xml.in b/data/misc/net.zoite.Zoitechat.appdata.xml.in
index 0fdbd4ca..b9cebc92 100644
--- a/data/misc/net.zoite.Zoitechat.appdata.xml.in
+++ b/data/misc/net.zoite.Zoitechat.appdata.xml.in
@@ -29,6 +29,45 @@
     <id>zoitechat.desktop</id>
   </provides>
 <releases>
+  <release date="2026-03-22" version="2.18.0~pre5">
+    <description>
+      <p>Preferences and config saving:</p>
+      <ul>
+        <li>Overhauled preferences/config saving: fully staged and transactional, debounced with flush on close, write failures now surfaced.</li>
+      </ul>
+      <p>GTK theme and UI:</p>
+      <ul>
+        <li>Overhauled GTK theme handling: live preview, correct colour reset persistence, proper <code>file://</code> import paths, consistent menubar CSS.</li>
+        <li>Fixed GTK entry scroll artifact in the input box.</li>
+        <li>Split topic/mode rows in channel bar, tighten spacing, persist userlist column widths.</li>
+        <li>Preserve saved right-pane size on first layout.</li>
+        <li>Fixed sounds prefs section.</li>
+        <li>Fixed chanview tree layout and header alignment; tighten topic URL hit-testing.</li>
+      </ul>
+      <p>Tray:</p>
+      <ul>
+        <li>Hardened tray menu lifetime; fixed stale pointer crash on menu destruction.</li>
+        <li>Fixed AppIndicator tray init for Wayland/source builds; skip redundant X11 tray probe for AppIndicator builds.</li>
+      </ul>
+      <p>Build and packaging:</p>
+      <ul>
+        <li>Dropped <code>realpath()</code> in favour of GLib-only absolute path build.</li>
+        <li>Made About dialog links explicit; added GPL licence URL.</li>
+        <li>Added licence headers to new source files.</li>
+        <li>Windows installer: fixed VC++ redist URL, added non-plugin download fallback, switched to registry-based runtime detection.</li>
+        <li>Made <code>libayatana-appindicator</code> a required dep in PKGBUILD.</li>
+        <li>Cleaned up Meson libperl detection.</li>
+      </ul>
+    </description>
+  </release>
+  <release date="2026-03-22" version="2.18.0~pre5">
+    <description>
+      <p>Version metadata update:</p>
+      <ul>
+        <li>Bumped release version references to <code>2.18.0~pre5</code> across build and packaging files.</li>
+      </ul>
+    </description>
+  </release>
   <release date="2026-03-14" version="2.18.0~pre4">
     <description>
       <p>UI fixes, topic bar improvements, and selection styling updates:</p>
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 474518c5..4876784d 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 project('zoitechat', 'c',
-  version: '2.18.0~pre4',
+  version: '2.18.0~pre5',
   meson_version: '>= 0.55.0',
   default_options: [
     'c_std=c17',
diff --git a/plugins/python/python.py b/plugins/python/python.py
index ea3504ec..84b93b4f 100644
--- a/plugins/python/python.py
+++ b/plugins/python/python.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ else:
 if not hasattr(sys, 'argv'):
     sys.argv = ['<zoitechat>']
 
-VERSION = b'2.18.0~pre4'
+VERSION = b'2.18.0~pre5'
 PLUGIN_NAME = ffi.new('char[]', b'Python')
 PLUGIN_DESC = ffi.new('char[]', b'Python %d.%d scripting interface' % (sys.version_info[0], sys.version_info[1]))
 PLUGIN_VERSION = ffi.new('char[]', VERSION)
diff --git a/win32/version.txt b/win32/version.txt
index 916dd0dc..6814f843 100644
--- a/win32/version.txt
+++ b/win32/version.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-2.18.0~pre4
+2.18.0~pre5