diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index f156a2b..177f3d6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ name: Release
 on:
   push:
     branches: [main]
+    paths:
+      - package.json
 
 # Serialize releases; the reusable workflow skips when the v{version} tag already exists.
 concurrency:
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 0225eee..e32fab4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -272,8 +272,9 @@ asset checks, the production build, link crawl, generated-output checks, and
 built-output tests. Releasing means bumping `version` in the root
 `package.json` and merging: the `Release` workflow (`purview-release.yml`,
 `release-mode: GitHubRelease`) runs the pipeline, tags `v{version}`, and uploads
-the built `dist/` zip as a GitHub release asset. `deploy.yml` continues to
-publish the site to GitHub Pages.
+the built `dist/` zip as a GitHub release asset. Content-only updates do not
+need a version bump; they are handled by `deploy.yml`, which republishes the
+site to GitHub Pages from the latest synced data.
 
 ## GitHub Pages deployment
 
@@ -321,6 +322,10 @@ The deploy workflow listens for `repository_dispatch` with type
 `purview-site-rebuild`. The payload is informational and is not required for
 the rebuild to succeed; the build always fetches fresh data itself.
 
+The release workflow is intentionally scoped to root `package.json` changes so
+content refreshes do not get blocked by an unchanged version or an existing
+`v{version}` tag.
+
 ## Dependency maintenance
 
 Dependabot (`.github/dependabot.yml`) keeps Bun dependencies and GitHub Actions