diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 526bfad45..0a61d357d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,14 @@ All notable changes to this project are documented in this file. Format follows
 
 For narrative release notes written for operators and product owners, see [RELEASE_NOTES.md](RELEASE_NOTES.md).
 
+## [1.11.1] - 2026-07-24
+
+Patch release fixing Markdown artifact downloads that saved the HTML render wrapper instead of the authored `.md` source. Backend-only, no dependency changes, no CDK deploy — ships via `backend.yml` (artifact-render Lambda). Existing artifacts are fixed on download with no re-storage.
+
+### 🐛 Fixed
+
+- Downloading a Markdown artifact now saves the authored `.md` source instead of a `.html` file of the render scaffolding — Markdown records keep `content_type=text/markdown` but S3 holds the writer's HTML wrapper (raw Markdown base64-embedded in a `<script id="md-src">` block), and the download path served those wrapper bytes verbatim. On `?download=1` of a Markdown record, the embedded raw source is now recovered and served as `text/markdown` with a `.md` extension; if the embed marker is absent (older render / template drift) it falls back to the wrapper bytes as `.html` so the download never fails. Works for existing artifacts — source is already embedded, no re-storage. Preview-panel rendering is unchanged (#726)
+
 ## [1.11.0] - 2026-07-24
 
 Feature release adding **two new agent capabilities to chat**: a PowerPoint (`.pptx`) presentation toolset that mirrors the existing Excel/Word tools, and a generic **File Workspace** toolset that lets the agent list, read, and save text files in a conversation's workspace. Both ship as single catalog toggles, off by default. Also fixes Markdown artifacts that rendered as raw source when authored under the default HTML type, and empty "Thinking" blocks that appeared on conversation reload. No new AWS resources, no dependency changes, no CDK deploy required — ships via `backend.yml` + `frontend-deploy.yml`; two new tool catalog entries must be seeded per environment.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ace2eaa2f..521b73195 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@
 **An open-source, production-ready Generative AI platform for institutions**
 *Built by Boise State University, designed for everyone.*
 
-[![Release](https://img.shields.io/badge/Release-v1.11.0-6366f1?style=flat&logo=github&logoColor=white)](RELEASE_NOTES.md)
+[![Release](https://img.shields.io/badge/Release-v1.11.1-6366f1?style=flat&logo=github&logoColor=white)](RELEASE_NOTES.md)
 [![Nightly](https://github.com/Boise-State-Development/agentcore-public-stack/actions/workflows/nightly.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/Boise-State-Development/agentcore-public-stack/actions/workflows/nightly.yml)
 
 ![Python](https://img.shields.io/badge/Python-3.13+-3776AB?style=flat&logo=python&logoColor=white)
@@ -296,7 +296,7 @@ agentcore-public-stack/
 
 See [RELEASE_NOTES.md](RELEASE_NOTES.md) for the full changelog, including new features, bug fixes, platform upgrades, and deployment notes for each release.
 
-**Current release:** v1.11.0
+**Current release:** v1.11.1
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/RELEASE_NOTES.md b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
index bbd90e369..e69ee4460 100644
--- a/RELEASE_NOTES.md
+++ b/RELEASE_NOTES.md
@@ -1,7 +1,26 @@
-# Release Notes — v1.11.0
+# Release Notes — v1.11.1
 
 **Release Date:** July 24, 2026
-**Previous Release:** v1.10.0 (July 21, 2026)
+**Previous Release:** v1.11.0 (July 24, 2026)
+
+---
+
+> 🚀 **No CDK deploy required this release** — backend-only, no new AWS resources, no dependency changes. Ship the artifact-render Lambda via `backend.yml`. No per-environment action and no data migration: existing Markdown artifacts are corrected at download time.
+
+---
+
+## Highlights
+
+v1.11.1 is a focused patch fixing **Markdown artifact downloads**. Saving a Markdown artifact previously produced a `.html` file containing the render scaffolding instead of the `.md` source the user authored. Downloads now recover the original Markdown and save it as a proper `.md` file. Preview-panel rendering is unchanged, and the fix applies to artifacts created before this release with no re-storage.
+
+## 🐛 Bug fix
+
+- **Markdown artifacts downloaded as HTML wrapper instead of `.md` source.** Markdown artifact records keep `content_type=text/markdown`, but S3 holds the writer's HTML render wrapper — the raw Markdown base64-embedded in a `<script id="md-src">` block. The download path served those wrapper bytes verbatim and mapped `text/markdown` → `html`, so "save" yielded a `.html` file of the render scaffolding rather than the authored document. On download (`?download=1`) of a Markdown record, `backend/src/lambdas/artifact_render/handler.py` now recovers the embedded raw Markdown and serves it as `text/markdown` with a `.md` extension. Because the source is already embedded in stored artifacts, this works for existing records with no re-storage. If the embed marker is ever absent (older render or template drift), the handler falls back to the wrapper bytes as `.html` so the download never fails. Rendering in the preview panel is untouched (#726)
+
+## 🚀 Deployment notes
+
+- **No CDK deploy needed** — no new AWS resources, no infrastructure changes, no dependency changes. Deploy the artifact-render image via `backend.yml`; the fix is entirely within the artifact-render Lambda.
+- **No per-environment action** — no catalog seeding, RBAC grants, or feature flags. Existing Markdown artifacts are corrected on download automatically.
 
 ---
 
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
index 1cac385c6..720c7384c 100644
--- a/VERSION
+++ b/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.11.0
+1.11.1
diff --git a/backend/pyproject.toml b/backend/pyproject.toml
index c44a9e031..3f8d3a600 100644
--- a/backend/pyproject.toml
+++ b/backend/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
 
 [project]
 name = "agentcore-stack"
-version = "1.11.0"
+version = "1.11.1"
 requires-python = ">=3.10"
 description = "Multi-agent conversational AI system with AWS Bedrock AgentCore"
 readme = "README.md"
diff --git a/backend/uv.lock b/backend/uv.lock
index ee1b2cc65..8ee824716 100644
--- a/backend/uv.lock
+++ b/backend/uv.lock
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ resolution-markers = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "agentcore-stack"
-version = "1.11.0"
+version = "1.11.1"
 source = { editable = "." }
 dependencies = [
     { name = "aiofiles" },
diff --git a/frontend/ai.client/package-lock.json b/frontend/ai.client/package-lock.json
index 8dffdfabf..ee6f5909a 100644
--- a/frontend/ai.client/package-lock.json
+++ b/frontend/ai.client/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "ai.client",
-  "version": "1.11.0",
+  "version": "1.11.1",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "ai.client",
-      "version": "1.11.0",
+      "version": "1.11.1",
       "dependencies": {
         "@angular/cdk": "21.2.14",
         "@angular/common": "21.2.17",
diff --git a/frontend/ai.client/package.json b/frontend/ai.client/package.json
index a175c970d..cba84bcd0 100644
--- a/frontend/ai.client/package.json
+++ b/frontend/ai.client/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "ai.client",
-  "version": "1.11.0",
+  "version": "1.11.1",
   "scripts": {
     "ng": "ng",
     "start": "ng serve",
diff --git a/infrastructure/package-lock.json b/infrastructure/package-lock.json
index 74167e76b..30be10302 100644
--- a/infrastructure/package-lock.json
+++ b/infrastructure/package-lock.json
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 {
   "name": "infrastructure",
-  "version": "1.11.0",
+  "version": "1.11.1",
   "lockfileVersion": 3,
   "requires": true,
   "packages": {
     "": {
       "name": "infrastructure",
-      "version": "1.11.0",
+      "version": "1.11.1",
       "dependencies": {
         "aws-cdk-lib": "2.260.0",
         "constructs": "10.6.0"
diff --git a/infrastructure/package.json b/infrastructure/package.json
index 22f2830da..78ef4580a 100644
--- a/infrastructure/package.json
+++ b/infrastructure/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "infrastructure",
-  "version": "1.11.0",
+  "version": "1.11.1",
   "bin": {
     "infrastructure": "bin/infrastructure.js"
   },