cylc · wxtim · Oct 1, 2025 · Oct 1, 2025 · Oct 1, 2025
diff --git a/CHANGES.md b/CHANGES.md
@@ -11,6 +11,50 @@ $ towncrier create <PR-number>.<break|feat|fix>.md --content "Short description"
 
 <!-- towncrier release notes start -->
 
+## __cylc-8.6.0 (Released 2025-10-01)__
+
+### ⚠ Breaking Changes
+
+[#6809](https://github.com/cylc/cylc-flow/pull/6809) - Dropped support for Python 3.7-3.11. The minimum supported version is now 3.12.
+
+### 🚀 Enhancements
+
+[#6835](https://github.com/cylc/cylc-flow/pull/6835) - A new experimental feature that can be switched on in workflow config:
+  Suicide triggers expire tasks rather than just remove them. This fixes
+  a bug that could allow tasks to run after suicide triggering. The
+  "expired" output will automatically be marked as optional for the
+  task, but custom completion conditions must be adapted accordingly.
+
+[#6844](https://github.com/cylc/cylc-flow/pull/6844) - Cylc commands including `cylc trigger` now support the `^` and `$` syntax for referencing the initial and final cycle points respectively.
+
+[#6920](https://github.com/cylc/cylc-flow/pull/6920) - Cylc commands (e.g. `cylc trigger` and `cylc hold`) can now operate on tasks
+  which are not "active" using globs and family IDs. E.g,
+  `cylc trigger workflow//cycle/family` will now trigger all tasks in the family,
+  not just the ones that are presently active.
+
+[#6944](https://github.com/cylc/cylc-flow/pull/6944) - Make CYLC_WORKFLOW_SRC_DIR available as a template variable.
+
+[#6964](https://github.com/cylc/cylc-flow/pull/6964) - Automatic broadcast expiry is now delayed to make it easier to re-trigger
+  tasks from the previous cycle.
+
+[#6974](https://github.com/cylc/cylc-flow/pull/6974) - Removed obsolete trigger --on-resume option.
+
+[#6976](https://github.com/cylc/cylc-flow/pull/6976) - broadcast: Broadcasts to inactive historical cycles will no longer expire while
+  the scheduler is paused. This, combined with the newly extended broadcast
+  expiry limit removes the need for the "cylc trigger --on-resume" option.
+
+[#6987](https://github.com/cylc/cylc-flow/pull/6987) - Enable estimated finish times for jobs in the UI.
+
+[#6999](https://github.com/cylc/cylc-flow/pull/6999) - Don't infer task output optionality from the right hand side of graph triggers.
+
+### 🔧 Fixes
+
+[#6800](https://github.com/cylc/cylc-flow/pull/6800) - Fixed a bug where tasks could be erroneously reported as running on an uncontactable platform.
+
+[#6842](https://github.com/cylc/cylc-flow/pull/6842) - Fixed two `cylc set` bugs:
+  - It was affecting job states when it should only affect _task_ states.
+  - In some cases it was causing a task to go back into the waiting state.
+
 ## __cylc-8.5.4 (Released 2025-09-19)__
 
 ### 🔧 Fixes

diff --git a/changes.d/6800.fix.md b/changes.d/6800.fix.md
diff --git a/changes.d/6809.break.md b/changes.d/6809.break.md
diff --git a/changes.d/6835.feat.md b/changes.d/6835.feat.md
diff --git a/changes.d/6842.fix.md b/changes.d/6842.fix.md
diff --git a/changes.d/6844.feat.md b/changes.d/6844.feat.md
diff --git a/changes.d/6920.feat.md b/changes.d/6920.feat.md
diff --git a/changes.d/6944.feat.md b/changes.d/6944.feat.md
diff --git a/changes.d/6964.feat.md b/changes.d/6964.feat.md
diff --git a/changes.d/6974.feat.md b/changes.d/6974.feat.md
diff --git a/changes.d/6976.feat.md b/changes.d/6976.feat.md
diff --git a/changes.d/6987.feat.md b/changes.d/6987.feat.md
diff --git a/changes.d/6999.feat.md b/changes.d/6999.feat.md
diff --git a/cylc/flow/__init__.py b/cylc/flow/__init__.py
@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ def environ_init():
 
 environ_init()
 
-__version__ = '8.6.0.dev'
+__version__ = '8.6.0'
 
 
 def iter_entry_points(entry_point_name):