diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yaml
index ac594f0..70053c0 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -101,3 +101,33 @@ jobs:
       # file.
       - name: Selftests
         run: bash scripts/selftest.sh
+
+  release-tag:
+    name: move v1 to main
+    # `needs:` is what makes this "after the gate is green" rather than
+    # merely "after a push": a failed selftest skips this job outright, so
+    # v1 can never advance onto a broken build. The `if:` restricts it to an
+    # actual push to main -- a pull_request run targeting main shares this
+    # workflow but has no ref worth tagging.
+    needs: selftest
+    if: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' }}
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    timeout-minutes: 2
+    # Requests write access from the run's built-in token (see README's
+    # Versioning section for what's actually verified about it). Without
+    # this the checkout below still succeeds -- it's the push that would be
+    # rejected, which is a red job, not a silent no-op.
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+      # Lightweight tag, matching what v1 already is (`git cat-file -t v1`
+      # reports `commit`, not `tag`) -- no identity needed to move it, only
+      # to push it.
+      - name: Force v1 to this commit
+        run: |
+          git tag -f v1 "${{ github.sha }}"
+          git push --force origin v1
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ef66069..9b916af 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -634,13 +634,20 @@ entry, another permission — is a `v2`, not a `v1` move. Everything else moves
 `v1`: correctness fixes, new optional inputs, and anything internal to
 `scripts/`.
 
-**Moving the tag is a release step, and it is the operator's.** Merging to
-`main` ships nothing to anybody. `v1` is a lightweight tag and does not follow
-a branch, so until it is re-pointed every consumer keeps fetching the commit it
-already named, whatever `main` now says. The gap is deliberate: re-pointing
-`v1` changes what another repository's CI executes on its next run, so it is a
-decision taken once, knowingly, after the merge — never something a merge does
-by itself.
+**Moving the tag is automatic, gated on the same build that gates a PR.** A
+`release-tag` job in `.gitea/workflows/ci.yaml` runs on every push to `main`,
+`needs: selftest`, and force-moves `v1` to that commit once selftest
+succeeds — a broken build never reaches it, so `v1` can't advance onto one.
+It pushes with the run's built-in `GITHUB_TOKEN`; if that token turns out not
+to have write access, the push step fails and the job goes red in the Actions
+UI. That's a loud failure, not the silent one this replaced: `v1` stays put,
+and nobody has to notice on their own that it lagged.
+
+This used to be a manual step, treated as a deliberate release decision taken
+once, knowingly, after the merge — in practice it was still forgotten
+(gitdan-actions#27): PR #25 merged to `main` and `v1` stayed on the previous
+release until someone asked whether it had moved. The manual form below is
+now the recovery path, for when the automated job can't push:
 
 ```bash
 git fetch origin
@@ -651,9 +658,8 @@ git ls-remote --tags origin v1     # must equal git rev-parse origin/main
 
 **Downstream** are emowheel, which pins `cargo-cache@v1` and
 `cargo-cache-publish@v1` across its CI workflow, and zemyna, migrating to the
-same pin. Both pick a move up on their next run with no change on their side,
-which is the whole point of the moving pointer and also the reason the move is
-not automatic.
+same pin. Both pick a move up automatically on their next run with no change
+on their side, which is the whole point of the moving pointer.
 
 ---