diff --git a/.github/actions/generate-info-json/action.yml b/.github/actions/generate-info-json/action.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..452c9459
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/actions/generate-info-json/action.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+name: 'Generate info.json'
+description: 'Generate and validate the plugin-update info.json manifest for a given version.'
+
+inputs:
+  version:
+    description: 'Plugin version to generate the manifest for (e.g. 4.8.6).'
+    required: true
+  slug:
+    description: 'Plugin slug.'
+    default: 'wp-graphql-content-blocks'
+  readme:
+    description: 'Path to readme.txt.'
+    default: 'readme.txt'
+  update_url:
+    description: 'Base URL to fetch the seed manifest from.'
+    default: ''
+  download_base:
+    description: 'Base URL written into download_link and versions entries. Defaults to update_url if not set.'
+    default: ''
+
+runs:
+  using: 'composite'
+  steps:
+    - name: Generate info.json
+      shell: bash
+      env:
+        SLUG: ${{ inputs.slug }}
+        README: ${{ inputs.readme }}
+        UPDATE_URL: ${{ inputs.update_url }}
+        DOWNLOAD_BASE_URL: ${{ inputs.download_base }}
+      run: bash .github/scripts/generate-info-json.sh "${{ inputs.version }}"
+
+    - name: Validate manifest
+      shell: bash
+      run: |
+        jq empty info.json
+        jq '{version, last_updated, download_link, tested, requires, requires_php, versions: (.versions | keys)}' info.json
diff --git a/.github/scripts/generate-info-json.sh b/.github/scripts/generate-info-json.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..5a5a6b72
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/scripts/generate-info-json.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# Refreshes the release-time fields in the plugin's info.json manifest.
+#
+# Downloads the currently published manifest from the plugin update service,
+# refreshes the release-time fields from readme.txt (the source of truth),
+# and writes the result to ./info.json in the current working directory
+# for upload as a GitHub Release asset.
+#
+# If no manifest exists at UPDATE_URL yet (first release / new slug), a minimal
+# skeleton is bootstrapped automatically.
+#
+# Environment overrides (with defaults for this repo):
+#   SLUG             plugin slug              (default: wp-graphql-content-blocks)
+#   README           path to readme.txt       (default: readme.txt)
+#   UPDATE_URL       base URL to fetch the seed manifest from
+#                    (default: https://wpe-plugin-updates.wpengine.com/${SLUG})
+#   DOWNLOAD_BASE_URL base URL written into download_link / versions entries
+#                    (default: same as UPDATE_URL)
+#
+# Usage: bash generate-info-json.sh <version>
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+VERSION="${1:?usage: $0 <version>}"
+SLUG="${SLUG:-wp-graphql-content-blocks}"
+README="${README:-readme.txt}"
+UPDATE_URL="${UPDATE_URL:-https://wpe-plugin-updates.wpengine.com/${SLUG}}"
+DOWNLOAD_BASE_URL="${DOWNLOAD_BASE_URL:-${UPDATE_URL}}"
+
+if [ ! -f "$README" ]; then
+	echo "::error::readme.txt not found at $README" >&2
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+# Fetch the current manifest; bootstrap a skeleton on first release (404).
+http_status=$(curl --silent --show-error --location --write-out "%{http_code}" \
+	"${UPDATE_URL}/info.json" \
+	--output info.json)
+
+if [ "$http_status" = "404" ] || [ "$http_status" = "000" ]; then
+	echo "No existing manifest found (HTTP ${http_status}); bootstrapping skeleton."
+	printf '{"name":"%s","slug":"%s","version":"","download_link":"","sections":{},"versions":{}}' \
+		"$SLUG" "$SLUG" > info.json
+elif [ "$http_status" != "200" ]; then
+	echo "::error::Failed to fetch manifest (HTTP ${http_status})" >&2
+	exit 1
+fi
+
+# date %p emits uppercase AM/PM on Linux; the manifest convention is lowercase.
+current_time=$(LC_ALL=C date -u +"%Y-%m-%d %-I:%M%p GMT" | sed -e 's/AM/am/' -e 's/PM/pm/')
+download_link="${DOWNLOAD_BASE_URL}/${SLUG}.${VERSION}.zip"
+
+# Sync compatibility headers from readme.txt — empty value skips the update.
+tested=$(sed -nE 's/^Tested up to:[[:space:]]+([^[:space:]]+).*/\1/p' "$README" | head -1 | tr -d '\r')
+requires=$(sed -nE 's/^Requires at least:[[:space:]]+([^[:space:]]+).*/\1/p' "$README" | head -1 | tr -d '\r')
+requires_php=$(sed -nE 's/^Requires PHP:[[:space:]]+([^[:space:]]+).*/\1/p' "$README" | head -1 | tr -d '\r')
+
+# Sync the changelog from readme.txt so the manifest reflects the current
+# release notes. readme.txt is the source of truth and is already trimmed to
+# the recent versions with a "View the full changelog" link. Capture the body
+# of the "== Changelog ==" section, then trim surrounding whitespace. Empty
+# value skips the update.
+changelog=$(awk '
+	/^== Changelog ==/ { capture = 1; next }
+	capture && /^== / { capture = 0 }
+	capture { body = body $0 "\n" }
+	END {
+		gsub(/^[ \t\r\n]+/, "", body)
+		gsub(/[ \t\r\n]+$/, "", body)
+		printf "%s", body
+	}
+' "$README")
+
+jq \
+	--arg version "$VERSION" \
+	--arg last_updated "$current_time" \
+	--arg download_link "$download_link" \
+	--arg new_version "$VERSION" \
+	--arg new_download_link "$download_link" \
+	--arg tested "$tested" \
+	--arg requires "$requires" \
+	--arg requires_php "$requires_php" \
+	--arg changelog "$changelog" \
+	'
+		.versions[$new_version] = $new_download_link
+		| .version = $version
+		| .last_updated = $last_updated
+		| .download_link = $download_link
+		| if $tested != "" then .tested = $tested else . end
+		| if $requires != "" then .requires = $requires else . end
+		| if $requires_php != "" then .requires_php = $requires_php else . end
+		| if $changelog != "" then .sections.changelog = $changelog else . end
+	' \
+	info.json > info.json.tmp && mv info.json.tmp info.json
diff --git a/.github/workflows/info-json-dry-run.yml b/.github/workflows/info-json-dry-run.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..462304c7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/info-json-dry-run.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+name: info.json dry run
+
+# Manually generate the plugin-update info.json manifest for a given version
+# without publishing a release. Produces the manifest as a workflow artifact so
+# it can be inspected on any branch (e.g. an open PR) before a real release.
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      version:
+        description: 'Version to generate info.json for (e.g. 4.8.6)'
+        required: true
+
+jobs:
+  dry-run:
+    name: Generate info.json (dry run)
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout Repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Generate info.json
+        uses: ./.github/actions/generate-info-json
+        with:
+          version: ${{ inputs.version }}
+
+      - name: Upload info.json artifact
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: info-json
+          path: info.json
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index e8adcea1..fcae2fd4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -69,6 +69,21 @@ jobs:
           tag: ${{ format('v{0}', fromJSON(steps.changesets.outputs.publishedPackages)[0].version) }}
           overwrite: true
 
+      - name: Generate info.json manifest
+        if: steps.changesets.outputs.published == 'true'
+        uses: ./.github/actions/generate-info-json
+        with:
+          version: ${{ fromJSON(steps.changesets.outputs.publishedPackages)[0].version }}
+
+      - name: Upload info.json to the release
+        if: steps.changesets.outputs.published == 'true'
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
+        with:
+          tag_name: ${{ format('v{0}', fromJSON(steps.changesets.outputs.publishedPackages)[0].version) }}
+          files: info.json
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
       - name: Setup WordPress to generate static schema
         if: steps.changesets.outputs.published == 'true'
         uses: ./.github/actions/setup-wordpress