diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 26165c5aa8..a8b91a7170 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -555,13 +555,39 @@ jobs:
       - name: Exclude flatpak-multisrc artifacts from release
         run: rm -rf ./artifacts/flatpak-multisrc-*
 
+      # Generate the notes ourselves with an explicit previous tag. GitHub's automatic
+      # previous-release selection considers any published release, including the rolling
+      # "snapshot" prerelease that main-check.yml recreates on every push to main — when
+      # snapshot's commit is an ancestor of this tag it wins and the notes come out empty
+      # (see v2.8.0-open.3). Internal releases are drafts and invisible to the API's
+      # auto-selection, so pick the newest published v* release ourselves.
+      - name: Generate release notes
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+          REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
+          TAG: ${{ inputs.tag_name }}
+          TARGET: ${{ inputs.commit_sha || github.sha }}
+        run: |
+          # Fail the step if the listing itself fails — an empty PREV must only ever
+          # mean "no published v* release exists yet", never a swallowed API error,
+          # because empty PREV re-enables the automatic selection this step avoids.
+          PUBLISHED_TAGS=$(gh api "repos/${REPO}/releases" --paginate \
+            --jq '.[] | select(.draft == false) | .tag_name')
+          PREV=$(printf '%s\n' "$PUBLISHED_TAGS" | grep -E '^v[0-9]' | grep -Fxv "$TAG" | head -1 || true)
+          echo "Previous release tag: ${PREV:-<none — falling back to automatic selection>}"
+          gh api "repos/${REPO}/releases/generate-notes" \
+            -f tag_name="$TAG" \
+            -f target_commitish="$TARGET" \
+            ${PREV:+-f previous_tag_name="$PREV"} \
+            --jq '.body' > release-notes.md
+
       - name: Create or Update GitHub Release
         uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v3
         with:
           tag_name: ${{ inputs.tag_name }}
           target_commitish: ${{ inputs.commit_sha || github.sha }}
           name: ${{ inputs.tag_name }} (${{ needs.prepare-build-info.outputs.APP_VERSION_CODE }})
-          generate_release_notes: true
+          body_path: release-notes.md
           files: ./artifacts/**/*
           draft: true
           prerelease: true