diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 867a875..f4498d7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ CalVer image tags (`stable-YYYY.MM.N`, `dev-YYYY.MM.N`) are produced for every C
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.44.1] — 2026-05-07
+
 ### Fixed
 
 - `/admin/users/{id}` — "Add to group" dropdown explains itself when empty instead of leaving the admin staring at a silent `— Pick a group —` placeholder. Three cases now surface a hint below the picker: (a) user is already in every group, (b) every remaining group is Google-Workspace-managed and Agnes can't grant manually (POST would 409 — link to `/admin/groups` to create a custom group), (c) no groups exist at all. Pre-fix on deployments where `Admin` + `Everyone` are mapped via `AGNES_GROUP_{ADMIN,EVERYONE}_EMAIL` and no custom groups exist, the picker was empty with zero indication that the operator needed to create a custom group first.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 968b24a..d53dddc 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "agnes-the-ai-analyst"
-version = "0.44.0"
+version = "0.44.1"
 description = "Agnes — AI Data Analyst platform for AI analytical systems"
 requires-python = ">=3.11,<3.14"
 license = "MIT"