diff --git a/backend/src/main/resources/content/processes/gitea-issues/overview.md b/backend/src/main/resources/content/processes/gitea-issues/overview.md
index 3659962..7ec739a 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/resources/content/processes/gitea-issues/overview.md
+++ b/backend/src/main/resources/content/processes/gitea-issues/overview.md
@@ -21,6 +21,29 @@ already exist (avoid duplicates).
 - **Workflow:** `Verify Fix` (fix deployed, verify before closing) · `Reopen` (regressed) ·
   `Tested/Not Fixed`
 
+> **Release is tracked by milestone, not by label.** Do **not** create `Release/*` labels — an
+> earlier attempt was retired in favour of milestones (see below).
+
+## Milestones — which release an issue ships in
+A Gitea **milestone** marks the target release for an issue. Milestones (not labels) are the
+release-planning mechanism: one issue = one milestone (releases are mutually exclusive), and each
+milestone gives a due date + automatic burndown (open/closed %).
+
+- **Naming:** calendar `YYYY-MM` for a dated release — e.g. **`2026-07`**, due the last day of the
+  month. This makes it obvious when work ships.
+- **`Next`** — a milestone with **no due date**: staged for the next release, date TBD.
+- **Backlog** — simply **no milestone assigned**. Don't create a "Backlog" milestone.
+
+**Gitea milestones are per-repo** (there is no org-level milestone). So:
+- Create the milestone in a repo the **first time** a matching issue is assigned there
+  (on-demand — avoids empty milestones cluttering repos with no work for that release).
+- For a **cross-repo rollup** of everything in a release, query the search API:
+  `GET /repos/issues/search?state=open&milestones=2026-07&owner=hiveiq-src`.
+
+**Assigning:** `PATCH /repos/hiveiq-src/<repo>/issues/<n>` with `{"milestone": <milestone_id>}`
+(the numeric id from the repo's milestone, not the title). Every fix we work gets assigned to its
+target release milestone.
+
 ## Assignment
 - **New issue** → assign `hiveiq` (triage / fix owner).
 - **Fix deployed** → reassign to the verifier and apply **`Verify Fix`**.
diff --git a/backend/src/main/resources/content/processes/release/overview.md b/backend/src/main/resources/content/processes/release/overview.md
index 8ae29bf..27a03bb 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/resources/content/processes/release/overview.md
+++ b/backend/src/main/resources/content/processes/release/overview.md
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ audience: bcos
 How we cut and ship releases. **BCOS admin only.** Golden order: **bcos.dev first → verify → PR to
 `main` → production.** Never skip staging.
 
+**What's in a release** is scoped by its **`YYYY-MM` milestone** (e.g. `2026-07`) — see the
+Milestones section in [[processes.gitea-issues]]. Roll up everything targeted at a release with
+`GET /repos/issues/search?milestones=2026-07&owner=hiveiq-src`.
+
 ## Microservice release
 1. Merge to `main` via the [[processes.main]] gate.
 2. Build + push: `./build.sh --registry registry.bcos.cloud --push` (image `hiveiq-<svc>`).