diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 063f1ac1d196613df9f42f0970625cbd0652b91f..7e1e2d31357cd8343d1582e0ce504c7cbbb50358 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+# [7.7.0](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/compare/7.6.0...7.7.0) (2025-01-12)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* add auto-release as an optional feature for releases ([9db709a](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/commit/9db709ad8fe96c7ed524f8083e57b845914e4009))
+
 # [7.6.0](https://gitlab.com/to-be-continuous/python/compare/7.5.2...7.6.0) (2025-01-08)
 
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e4cfdcac61f87ffc8fa81b4ede48ecc06363df61..ce9b6a80e924c485d7f25f54ff1cced7755430bd 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@7.6.0
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.7.0
     # 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: '7.6.0'
+    ref: '7.7.0'
     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@7.6.0
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.7.0
   # Vault variant
-  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-vault@7.6.0
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-vault@7.7.0
     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@7.6.0
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.7.0
     # 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@7.6.0
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-gcp@7.7.0
     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@7.6.0
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python@7.7.0
     # 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@7.6.0
+  - component: $CI_SERVER_FQDN/to-be-continuous/python/gitlab-ci-python-aws-codeartifact@7.7.0
     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 9431dd793abbca668de838abb96e563276237eb1..671a53c14e38e75824a7cc1facb74c75e652382b 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", "7.6.0"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "7.7.0"]
   variables:
     GCP_JWT: $GCP_JWT
   before_script:
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
index 877a6baa0ecd0e67144effb8204987e2afe4b381..d05827ba7577415da5b31a8133afaa7053bf086c 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python-vault.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ variables:
 .python-base:
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "python", "7.6.0"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "7.7.0"]
     - name: "$TBC_VAULT_IMAGE"
       alias: "vault-secrets-provider"
   variables:
diff --git a/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml b/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
index 52b0ea4111d08c94cbf7f32b577df44f0235e638..793f0fff94ec7f003dedd69d822d386392416bf7 100644
--- a/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
+++ b/templates/gitlab-ci-python.yml
@@ -971,7 +971,7 @@ stages:
   image: $PYTHON_IMAGE
   services:
     - name: "$TBC_TRACKING_IMAGE"
-      command: ["--service", "python", "7.6.0"]
+      command: ["--service", "python", "7.7.0"]
   variables:
     # set local cache dir; most Python tools honour XDG specs
     XDG_CACHE_HOME: "$CI_PROJECT_DIR/.cache"