diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 29b7c8b897fc45b0871c6beb40d1d58799f9fd73..2d90c9eb38bde72f3147f249076577e4bfd51483 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+# [7.8.0](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/compare/7.7.1...7.8.0) (2025-01-27)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* disable tracking service by default ([7237a96](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/commit/7237a96b5014006853865c3c2c29b2eb008f144c))
+
 ## [7.7.1](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/compare/7.7.0...7.7.1) (2025-01-12)
 
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 81ba6d889bb91cbf6d1724681db9ef6da8311dc1..921775a97a3e2511837647423d5d0130a2159d79 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Add the following to your `.gitlab-ci.yml`:
 ```yaml
 include:
   # 1: include the component
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.7.1
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.8.0
     # 2: set/override component inputs
     inputs:
       image: registry.hub.docker.com/library/python:3.12-slim
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ Add the following to your `.gitlab-ci.yml`:
 include:
   # 1: include the template
   - project: 'to-be-continuous/python'
-    ref: '7.7.1'
+    ref: '7.8.0'
     file: '/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml'
 
 variables:
@@ -562,9 +562,9 @@ With:
 ```yaml
 include:
   # main component
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.7.1
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.8.0
   # Vault variant
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-vault@7.7.1
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-vault@7.8.0
     inputs:
       vault-base-url: "https://vault.acme.host/v1"
       # audience claim for JWT
@@ -603,13 +603,13 @@ The variant requires the additional configuration parameters:
 
 ```yaml
 include:
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.7.1
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.8.0
     # 2: set/override component inputs
     inputs:
       image: registry.hub.docker.com/library/python:3.12-slim
       pytest-enabled: true
 
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-gcp@7.7.1
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-gcp@7.8.0
     inputs:
       # common OIDC config for non-prod envs
       gcp-oidc-provider: "projects/<gcp_nonprod_proj_id>/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/<pool_id>/providers/<provider_id>"
@@ -669,13 +669,13 @@ then set the required configuration.
 
 ```yaml
 include:
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.7.1
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.8.0
     # 2: set/override component inputs
     inputs:
       image: registry.hub.docker.com/library/python:3.12-slim
       pytest-enabled: true
 
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-aws-codeartifact@7.7.1
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-aws-codeartifact@7.8.0
     inputs:
       aws-region: "us-east-1"
       aws-codeartifact-domain: "acme"
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml
index b93ad6a4db137b134a74d07fb3d3daa5da704d1a..2ac425fbd57de08ef3956a99f54ea647ad4e239b 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ variables:
   image: $PYTHON_IMAGE
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "python", "7.7.1"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "7.8.0"]
   variables:
     GCP_JWT: $GCP_JWT
   before_script:
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
index 349cd49e0b53812b4d4e94f585e2cc03942e38d0..e9ec807653e98c977d562bd4247d5b8e6f43c5c7 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ variables:
 .python-base:
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "python", "7.7.1"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "7.8.0"]
     - name: "$TBC_VAULT_IMAGE"
       alias: "vault-secrets-provider"
   variables:
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
index f199207d0124badb4380a5df11ade2f365205d8e..8792c929d8bd98f0a1fe31d126ae91c435b0ec2c 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
@@ -968,7 +968,7 @@ stages:
   image: $PYTHON_IMAGE
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "python", "7.7.1"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "7.8.0"]
   variables:
     # set local cache dir; most Python tools honour XDG specs
     XDG_CACHE_HOME: "$CI_PROJECT_DIR/.cache"