diff --git a/docs/en/docs/release-notes.md b/docs/en/docs/release-notes.md
index 98079b158f..575cd55db2 100644
--- a/docs/en/docs/release-notes.md
+++ b/docs/en/docs/release-notes.md
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ hide:
 
 ## Latest Changes
 
+## 0.159.0 (2026-10-21)
+
 ### Features
 
 * ✨ Add support for optional query, header, and cookie parameter models. PR [#16584](https://github.com/fastapi/fastapi/pull/16584) by [@tiangolo](https://github.com/tiangolo).
diff --git a/fastapi/__init__.py b/fastapi/__init__.py
index 053aaef9b0..5393334a78 100644
--- a/fastapi/__init__.py
+++ b/fastapi/__init__.py
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 """FastAPI framework, high performance, easy to learn, fast to code, ready for production"""
 
-__version__ = "0.158.2"
+__version__ = "0.159.0"
 
 from starlette import status as status