diff --git a/.mokogitea/workflows/auto-release.yml b/.mokogitea/workflows/auto-release.yml
index 1bb92072..f2063cbd 100644
--- a/.mokogitea/workflows/auto-release.yml
+++ b/.mokogitea/workflows/auto-release.yml
@@ -380,10 +380,13 @@ jobs:
           import sys
           version, date = sys.argv[1], sys.argv[2]
           content = open('CHANGELOG.md').read()
-          old = '## [Unreleased]'
-          new = f'## [Unreleased]\n\n## [{version}] --- {date}'
-          content = content.replace(old, new, 1)
-          open('CHANGELOG.md', 'w').write(content)
+          marker = f'## [{version}]'
+          # Idempotent: only promote when this version header isn't already present,
+          # otherwise re-runs (or same-version builds) create empty duplicate headers.
+          if marker not in content:
+              new = f'## [Unreleased]\n\n{marker} --- {date}'
+              content = content.replace('## [Unreleased]', new, 1)
+              open('CHANGELOG.md', 'w').write(content)
           " "$VERSION" "$DATE"
             git add CHANGELOG.md
             git commit -m "chore: promote changelog [Unreleased] → [${VERSION}]" || true
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index d262fb2d..749b8933 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 # Changelog
 ## [Unreleased]
 
-## [02.56.11] --- 2026-07-05
+### Fixed
+- Release automation: the changelog-promote step is now idempotent — it only inserts a `## [version]` header when that version isn't already present, preventing the empty, duplicated version headers that repeated/same-version builds were producing. (workflow)
 
 ## [02.56.11] --- 2026-07-05