diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8cbe4dd9be89321752a9ded3713b37597145400c..e6354f00ff78683884262be4c63afd4a50374fab 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+# [6.8.0](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/compare/6.7.0...6.8.0) (2024-04-02)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* add GCP auth variant ([0188ac9](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/commit/0188ac9d4aa8e952060ebc3e485a7c298cc5d4b0))
+
 # [6.7.0](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/compare/6.6.5...6.7.0) (2024-2-21)
 
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 09216d0048ffb7b3d9c39ee4a8fb366fabf3b8a9..297ed4bfae7a64fd1a7079c323fa2e71da8b59b8 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: gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@6.7.0
+  - component: gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@6.8.0
     # 2: set/override component inputs
     inputs:
       image: registry.hub.docker.com/library/python:3.10
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ Add the following to your `gitlab-ci.yml`:
 include:
   # 1: include the template
   - project: 'to-be-continuous/python'
-    ref: '6.7.0'
+    ref: '6.8.0'
     file: '/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml'
 
 variables:
@@ -470,9 +470,9 @@ With:
 ```yaml
 include:
   # main component
-  - component: gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@6.7.0
+  - component: gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@6.8.0
   # Vault variant
-  - component: gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-vault@6.7.0
+  - component: gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-vault@6.8.0
     inputs:
       vault-base-url: "https://vault.acme.host/v1"
       # audience claim for JWT
@@ -512,13 +512,13 @@ The variant requires the additional configuration parameters:
 
 ```yaml
 include:
-  - component: gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@6.7.0
+  - component: gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@6.8.0
     # 2: set/override component inputs
     inputs:
       image: registry.hub.docker.com/library/python:3.10
       pytest-enabled: true
 
-  - component: gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-gcp@6.7.0
+  - component: gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-gcp@6.8.0
     inputs:
       # common OIDC config for non-prod envs
       gcp-oidc-provider: "projects/<gcp_nonprod_proj_id>/locations/global/workloadIdentityPools/<pool_id>/providers/<provider_id>"
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml
index dcc575bf9918d000bbb06a4fe2d5b912b4e838e5..4a68c6218a93f32a5ccd13dd991be5e7b08e73a4 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-gcp.yml
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ variables:
   image: $PYTHON_IMAGE
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "python", "6.7.0"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "6.8.0"]
   variables:
     GCP_JWT: $GCP_JWT
   before_script:
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
index bd3da084264bfcb9297f380920758b839aadd397..18c516a5e59218c52817ef546a80dfb9bccf18b9 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ variables:
 .python-base:
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "python", "6.7.0"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "6.8.0"]
     - name: "$TBC_VAULT_IMAGE"
       alias: "vault-secrets-provider"
   variables:
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
index 8b4e1643946ce54b1be39ce631e43608d0dca68b..0fb55eb10fc30f68bb9a7108f577556e3146893f 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
@@ -805,7 +805,7 @@ stages:
   image: $PYTHON_IMAGE
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "python", "6.7.0"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "6.8.0"]
   # Cache downloaded dependencies and plugins between builds.
   # To keep cache across branches add 'key: "$CI_JOB_NAME"'
   cache: