diff --git a/src/aio_fleet/cli.py b/src/aio_fleet/cli.py
index 3bdbf92..4a4aebc 100644
--- a/src/aio_fleet/cli.py
+++ b/src/aio_fleet/cli.py
@@ -52,7 +52,10 @@
 from aio_fleet.manifest import FleetManifest, ManifestError, RepoConfig, load_manifest
 from aio_fleet.poll import poll_targets
 from aio_fleet.registry import compute_registry_tags, verify_registry_tags
-from aio_fleet.release import find_release_target_commit, latest_changelog_version
+from aio_fleet.release import (
+    find_release_publish_target_commit,
+    latest_changelog_version,
+)
 from aio_fleet.release_plan import release_plan_for_manifest, release_plan_for_repo
 from aio_fleet.report import (
     fleet_report_json_schema,
@@ -1686,7 +1689,7 @@ def cmd_release_publish(args: argparse.Namespace) -> int:
     latest_version = latest_changelog_version(
         repo.path / "CHANGELOG.md", semver=repo.publish_profile == "template"
     )
-    release_target = find_release_target_commit(repo.path, latest_version)
+    release_target = find_release_publish_target_commit(repo.path, latest_version)
     notes = _run(
         [
             sys.executable,
diff --git a/src/aio_fleet/release.py b/src/aio_fleet/release.py
index 5b71938..81fc067 100644
--- a/src/aio_fleet/release.py
+++ b/src/aio_fleet/release.py
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@
 AIO_CHANGELOG_HEADING = re.compile(
     r"^##\s+(?:\[(?P<linked>[^\]]+)\]\([^)]+\)|(?P<plain>[^\s]+))"
 )
+RELEASE_FORMAT_SUBJECT = re.compile(
+    r"^chore\(release\): format .+ changelog(?: \(#\d+\))?$"
+)
 
 
 def main(argv: list[str] | None = None) -> int:
@@ -339,6 +342,23 @@ def find_release_target_commit(repo_path: Path, version: str) -> str:
     return release_commit
 
 
+def find_release_publish_target_commit(repo_path: Path, version: str) -> str:
+    release_target = find_release_target_commit(repo_path, version)
+    head = git(repo_path, "rev-parse", "HEAD").strip()
+    if release_target == head:
+        return release_target
+    if not git_is_ancestor(repo_path, release_target, head):
+        return release_target
+    subjects = git(repo_path, "log", "--format=%s", f"{release_target}..{head}")
+    if subjects.strip() and all(
+        RELEASE_FORMAT_SUBJECT.match(subject.strip())
+        for subject in subjects.splitlines()
+        if subject.strip()
+    ):
+        return head
+    return release_target
+
+
 def git_tags(repo_path: Path) -> list[str]:
     output = git(repo_path, "tag", "--list")
     return [line.strip() for line in output.splitlines() if line.strip()]
diff --git a/tests/test_release.py b/tests/test_release.py
index 3ef9032..cd2dc45 100644
--- a/tests/test_release.py
+++ b/tests/test_release.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 
 from aio_fleet.release import (
+    find_release_publish_target_commit,
     latest_changelog_version,
     main,
     next_aio_release_version,
@@ -16,6 +17,12 @@ def _git(repo: Path, *args: str) -> None:
     subprocess.run(["git", *args], cwd=repo, check=True, capture_output=True)  # nosec
 
 
+def _git_output(repo: Path, *args: str) -> str:
+    return subprocess.check_output(  # nosec B603 B607
+        ["git", *args], cwd=repo, text=True
+    ).strip()
+
+
 def _commit(repo: Path, message: str) -> None:
     _git(repo, "add", ".")
     _git(repo, "commit", "-m", message)
@@ -72,6 +79,48 @@ def test_latest_changelog_version_supports_linked_headings(tmp_path: Path) -> No
     assert latest_changelog_version(changelog) == "v1.2.3-aio.1"  # nosec B101
 
 
+def test_release_publish_target_allows_changelog_format_followup(
+    tmp_path: Path,
+) -> None:
+    _init_repo(tmp_path)
+    (tmp_path / "CHANGELOG.md").write_text("## Unreleased\n\n- initial\n")
+    _commit(tmp_path, "feat(test): initial")
+    (tmp_path / "CHANGELOG.md").write_text(
+        "## v1.0.0-aio.1 - 2026-05-10\n\n- initial\n"
+    )
+    _commit(tmp_path, "chore(release): v1.0.0-aio.1")
+    release_commit = _git_output(tmp_path, "rev-parse", "HEAD")
+    (tmp_path / "CHANGELOG.md").write_text(
+        "## v1.0.0-aio.1 - 2026-05-10\n\n- initial\n\n"
+    )
+    _commit(tmp_path, "chore(release): format test changelog")
+    publish_commit = _git_output(tmp_path, "rev-parse", "HEAD")
+
+    assert release_commit != publish_commit  # nosec B101
+    assert (  # nosec B101
+        find_release_publish_target_commit(tmp_path, "v1.0.0-aio.1") == publish_commit
+    )
+
+
+def test_release_publish_target_rejects_arbitrary_post_release_commit(
+    tmp_path: Path,
+) -> None:
+    _init_repo(tmp_path)
+    (tmp_path / "CHANGELOG.md").write_text("## Unreleased\n\n- initial\n")
+    _commit(tmp_path, "feat(test): initial")
+    (tmp_path / "CHANGELOG.md").write_text(
+        "## v1.0.0-aio.1 - 2026-05-10\n\n- initial\n"
+    )
+    _commit(tmp_path, "chore(release): v1.0.0-aio.1")
+    release_commit = _git_output(tmp_path, "rev-parse", "HEAD")
+    (tmp_path / "README.md").write_text("later\n")
+    _commit(tmp_path, "fix(runtime): later change")
+
+    assert (  # nosec B101
+        find_release_publish_target_commit(tmp_path, "v1.0.0-aio.1") == release_commit
+    )
+
+
 def test_release_cli_supports_component_suffix(tmp_path: Path, capsys) -> None:
     _init_repo(tmp_path)
     (tmp_path / "components").mkdir()