diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0c6c71d8b9d0ff840f82b10a12652d6049356813..5f828ac582db903a89dc331a7a519d212d397ee7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+# [7.1.0](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/kubernetes/compare/7.0.0...7.1.0) (2025-02-01)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* **kustomize:** add TBC envsubst support for Kustomize based deployment ([ad7d3b6](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/kubernetes/commit/ad7d3b65573396c8f9b5ca04447398fe3c89e3e6))
+
 # [7.0.0](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/kubernetes/compare/6.5.0...7.0.0) (2025-01-31)
 
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4994d3ce20875b8ca3684c167d1630c9f5db19f7..618e4d40624ded26b10246c1ddd175e5c53f69a9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ Add the following to your `.gitlab-ci.yml`:
 ```yaml
 include:
   # 1: include the component
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/kubernetes/gitlab-ci-k8s@7.0.0
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/kubernetes/gitlab-ci-k8s@7.1.0
     # 2: set/override component inputs
     inputs:
       # ⚠ this is only an example
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ Add the following to your `.gitlab-ci.yml`:
 include:
   # 1: include the template
   - project: 'to-be-continuous/kubernetes'
-    ref: '7.0.0'
+    ref: '7.1.0'
     file: '/templates/gitlab-ci-k8s.yml'
 
 variables:
@@ -523,12 +523,12 @@ With:
 ```yaml
 include:
   # main template
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/kubernetes/gitlab-ci-k8s@7.0.0
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/kubernetes/gitlab-ci-k8s@7.1.0
     inputs:
       # ⚠ oc-container image (includes required curl)
       kubectl-image: registry.hub.docker.com/docker.io/appuio/oc:v4.14
   # Vault variant
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/kubernetes/gitlab-ci-k8s-vault@7.0.0
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/kubernetes/gitlab-ci-k8s-vault@7.1.0
     inputs:
       # audience claim for JWT
       vault-oidc-aud: "https://vault.acme.host"
@@ -589,9 +589,9 @@ With a common default `GCP_OIDC_PROVIDER` and `GCP_OIDC_ACCOUNT` configuration f
 ```yaml
 include:
   # main template
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/kubernetes/gitlab-ci-k8s@7.0.0
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/kubernetes/gitlab-ci-k8s@7.1.0
   # Google Cloud variant
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/kubernetes/gitlab-ci-k8ss-gcp@7.0.0
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/kubernetes/gitlab-ci-k8ss-gcp@7.1.0
     inputs:
       # common OIDC config for non-prod envs
       gcp-oidc-provider: "projects/<gcp_nonprod_proj_id>/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/<pool_id>/providers/<provider_id>"
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-k8s-vault.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-k8s-vault.yml
index 7943e33c55f67d5d9cf52fc370297aec3b5a2ef4..bdaf7e03b536b4bf9b8d8d4930f055d43702e42d 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-k8s-vault.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-k8s-vault.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ variables:
 .k8s-base:
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "--port", "8082", "kubernetes", "7.0.0"]
+      command: ["--service", "--port", "8082", "kubernetes", "7.1.0"]
     - name: "$TBC_VAULT_IMAGE"
       alias: "vault-secrets-provider"
   variables:
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-k8s.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-k8s.yml
index 24924ec231ecf0beb81eb49e3e0448c894ab0c4d..78e545f3e47751e6f65ef7f6cad1b706ae4282c5 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-k8s.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-k8s.yml
@@ -862,7 +862,7 @@ stages:
     entrypoint: [""]
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "kubernetes", "7.0.0"]
+      command: ["--service", "kubernetes", "7.1.0"]
   before_script:
     - !reference [.k8s-scripts]
     - install_ca_certs "${CUSTOM_CA_CERTS:-$DEFAULT_CA_CERTS}"