diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 26ef629..b83025e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,26 +2,18 @@
 
 ## _v2.6.0_
 
-### **Date: 15-June-2026**
+### **Date: 22-June-2026**
 
 - Dynamic endpoint resolution via new `Endpoint` class.
 - Region-to-URL mapping is now loaded from a bundled `regions.json` (sourced from `artifacts.contentstack.com`) instead of hardcoded `if/elif` chains.
 - Added `Endpoint.get_contentstack_endpoint(region, service, omit_https)` — resolves any supported region to its `contentDelivery`, `contentManagement`, or other service URL.
 - Added `contentstack.get_contentstack_endpoint()` module-level proxy.
 - `Stack` now auto-resolves `host` and `live_preview` management host via `Endpoint` on initialization.
-- Added `scripts/download_regions.py` to pre-populate `regions.json` at install time.
-- Runtime fallback: if `regions.json` is absent, the SDK downloads it live on first use.
-## _v2.5.3_
-
-### **Date: 08-June-2026**
-
-- Fixed security issues.
-
-## _v2.5.2_
-
-### **Date: 18-May-2026**
-
-- Bumped urllib3 in development requirements to address reported vulnerabilities.
+- Bundled `contentstack/assets/regions.json` included in `package_data` — always present after `pip install`.
+- `setup.py` auto-refreshes `regions.json` at build time via a custom `BuildPyWithRegions` command; network failures warn but never block the build.
+- Runtime fallback: if `regions.json` is absent, the SDK downloads it live on the first `Endpoint` call.
+- Added `refresh_regions()` utility to programmatically download the latest regions manifest from the Contentstack CDN and overwrite the bundled `assets/regions.json` (`from contentstack import refresh_regions`).
+- Added `python3 -m contentstack.region_refresh` CLI command for refreshing the registry after `pip install` (source-tree script `scripts/download_regions.py` is for contributors only).
 
 ## _v2.5.1_
 
diff --git a/contentstack/__init__.py b/contentstack/__init__.py
index 8a17aed..97350db 100644
--- a/contentstack/__init__.py
+++ b/contentstack/__init__.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 from .https_connection import HTTPSConnection
 from contentstack.stack import Stack
 from .utility import Utils
+from .region_refresh import refresh_regions
 
 __all__ = (
 "Entry",
@@ -18,7 +19,8 @@
 "Endpoint",
 "HTTPSConnection",
 "Stack",
-"Utils"
+"Utils",
+"refresh_regions",
 )
 
 
diff --git a/contentstack/region_refresh.py b/contentstack/region_refresh.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5579502
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contentstack/region_refresh.py
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+"""
+Utility to pull the latest regions.json from the Contentstack CDN and
+overwrite the bundled copy at contentstack/assets/regions.json.
+
+Exposed as a package-level function so tooling and CI pipelines can call it
+programmatically instead of invoking the script directly:
+
+    from contentstack import refresh_regions
+    refresh_regions()
+"""
+
+import json
+import os
+import sys
+import urllib.request
+
+_REGIONS_URL = "https://artifacts.contentstack.com/regions.json"
+_ASSET_PATH = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "assets", "regions.json")
+
+
+def refresh_regions(
+    url: str = _REGIONS_URL,
+    dest: str = _ASSET_PATH,
+    *,
+    timeout: int = 30,
+    silent: bool = False,
+) -> dict:
+    """
+    Download the latest regions manifest from the Contentstack CDN and write
+    it to the bundled assets file so all consumers get the update.
+
+    @param url     - URL to fetch regions.json from (defaults to Contentstack CDN)
+    @param dest    - Destination file path (defaults to contentstack/assets/regions.json)
+    @param timeout - HTTP request timeout in seconds
+    @param silent  - Suppress progress output when True
+    @returns The parsed regions dict on success
+    @raises RuntimeError on download failure, invalid JSON, or unexpected schema
+    """
+    dest = os.path.normpath(dest)
+
+    if not silent:
+        print(f"Fetching {url} ...")
+
+    try:
+        with urllib.request.urlopen(url, timeout=timeout) as resp:
+            data = resp.read().decode("utf-8")
+    except Exception as exc:
+        raise RuntimeError(f"Could not download regions.json: {exc}") from exc
+
+    try:
+        decoded = json.loads(data)
+    except json.JSONDecodeError as exc:
+        raise RuntimeError(f"Downloaded content is not valid JSON: {exc}") from exc
+
+    if not isinstance(decoded, dict) or "regions" not in decoded:
+        raise RuntimeError("Downloaded JSON does not contain a 'regions' key.")
+
+    os.makedirs(os.path.dirname(dest), exist_ok=True)
+    with open(dest, "w", encoding="utf-8") as fh:
+        json.dump(decoded, fh, indent=2, ensure_ascii=False)
+        fh.write("\n")
+
+    region_count = len(decoded["regions"])
+    if not silent:
+        print(f"OK: Wrote {region_count} regions to {dest}")
+
+    return decoded
+
+
+def _cli_main() -> int:
+    """Entry point kept for backward compatibility with the scripts/ invocation."""
+    try:
+        refresh_regions()
+        return 0
+    except RuntimeError as exc:
+        print(f"ERROR: {exc}", file=sys.stderr)
+        return 1
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(_cli_main())
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index b6f9601..892dccf 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ filelock~=3.20.1
 pluggy~=1.5.0
 six~=1.16.0
 packaging>=24.0
-pytest==7.3.1
+pytest>=8.1.0
 dill~=0.3.8
 pytz==2024.1
 Babel==2.14.0
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index e83c0b7..943b229 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -9,11 +9,25 @@
 
 try:
     from setuptools import setup, find_packages
+    from setuptools.command.build_py import build_py
 except ImportError:
     from distutils.core import setup
 
 package = "contentstack"
 
+
+class BuildPyWithRegions(build_py):
+    """Fetch latest regions.json from Contentstack CDN before packaging."""
+
+    def run(self):
+        sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(__file__)))
+        try:
+            from contentstack.region_refresh import refresh_regions
+            refresh_regions()
+        except Exception as exc:
+            print(f"WARNING: Could not refresh regions.json: {exc}", file=sys.stderr)
+        super().run()
+
 def get_version(package):
     """
     Return package version as listed in `__version__` in `init.py`.
@@ -32,6 +46,7 @@ def get_version(package):
 ]
 
 setup(
+    cmdclass={"build_py": BuildPyWithRegions},
     title="contentstack-python",
     name="Contentstack",
     status="Active",