diff --git a/.gitea/workflows/release.yaml b/.gitea/workflows/release.yaml
index 2abb0590..fc835774 100644
--- a/.gitea/workflows/release.yaml
+++ b/.gitea/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -15,58 +15,46 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           set -e
 
-          LOCAL="/var/www/atom-nexst"
-          DEBUG="/tmp/release-debug.log"
-          : > "$DEBUG"
+          SRC="/tmp/epicnext-release"
+          rm -rf "$SRC"
 
-          debug() { echo "[$(date '+%H:%M:%S')] $*" >> "$DEBUG"; }
+          # Full clone for changelog + build (local bare repo = instant)
+          git clone --branch "${VERSION}" \
+            /docker/gitea/gitea/git/repositories/remco/epicnext-cms.git \
+            "$SRC"
+          cd "$SRC"
 
-          debug "=== RELEASE WORKFLOW START ==="
-          debug "VERSION=${VERSION}"
-          debug "PWD=$(pwd)"
-          debug "LOCAL=${LOCAL}"
-          debug "git -C ${LOCAL} tag list:"
-          git -C "$LOCAL" tag --sort=-creatordate >> "$DEBUG" 2>&1
-          debug "git -C ${LOCAL} log -1:"
-          git -C "$LOCAL" log --oneline -1 >> "$DEBUG" 2>&1
-
-          # Generate changelog to a temp file
-          PREV_TAG="$(git -C "$LOCAL" tag --sort=-creatordate | head -2 | tail -1 || echo '')"
-          debug "PREV_TAG=${PREV_TAG}"
+          # Generate changelog
+          PREV_TAG="$(git tag --sort=-creatordate | head -2 | tail -1 || echo '')"
+          echo "=== Tags ==="
+          git tag --sort=-creatordate
+          echo "=== Version=${VERSION} Previous=${PREV_TAG} ==="
 
           if [ -n "$PREV_TAG" ] && [ "$PREV_TAG" != "$VERSION" ]; then
             RANGE="${PREV_TAG}..${VERSION}"
-            debug "RANGE=${RANGE}"
-            git -C "$LOCAL" log --oneline --no-decorate "${RANGE}" > /tmp/changelog.txt 2>>"$DEBUG"
+            echo "=== Range: ${RANGE} ==="
+            git log --oneline --no-decorate "${RANGE}" > /tmp/changelog.txt
           else
-            debug "First tag or same tag, using ${VERSION}"
-            git -C "$LOCAL" log --oneline --no-decorate "${VERSION}" > /tmp/changelog.txt 2>>"$DEBUG"
+            echo "=== First release, showing all commits ==="
+            git log --oneline --no-decorate "${VERSION}" > /tmp/changelog.txt
           fi
 
-          NOTES="$(cat /tmp/changelog.txt)"
-          debug "NOTES length: ${#NOTES}"
-          debug "NOTES first 200 chars: ${NOTES:0:200}"
-
-          # Shallow clone for build
-          SRC="/tmp/epicnext-release"
-          rm -rf "$SRC"
-          git clone --branch "${VERSION}" --depth 1 \
-            /docker/gitea/gitea/git/repositories/remco/epicnext-cms.git \
-            "$SRC" 2>>"$DEBUG"
-          cd "$SRC"
+          echo "=== Changelog ==="
+          cat /tmp/changelog.txt
+          echo "=== End ==="
 
+          # Build
           if [ -f /var/www/atom-nexst/.env ]; then
             cp /var/www/atom-nexst/.env "$SRC/.env"
           fi
-          pnpm install --frozen-lockfile 2>>"$DEBUG"
-          pnpm prisma:generate 2>>"$DEBUG"
+          pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
+          pnpm prisma:generate
           export SKIP_ENV_VALIDATION=1
-          pnpm build 2>>"$DEBUG"
+          pnpm build
 
           # Create release via API
-          debug "Creating release..."
-          python3 /dev/stdin << 'PYEOF' 2>>"$DEBUG"
-import json, os
+          python3 << 'PYEOF'
+import json, os, urllib.request, urllib.error
 
 version = os.environ["VERSION"]
 api = os.environ["GITEA_API"]
@@ -74,19 +62,14 @@ repo = os.environ["GITEA_REPO"]
 token = "${{ secrets.GITEA_TOKEN }}"
 
 with open("/tmp/changelog.txt") as f:
-    notes_raw = f.read().strip()
+    notes = f.read().strip() or "Initial release"
 
-print(f"Read {len(notes_raw)} chars from /tmp/changelog.txt")
-print(f"Token set: {bool(token)}")
-print(f"API URL: {api}")
-
-if not notes_raw:
-    notes_raw = "Initial release"
+print(f"Changelog: {len(notes)} chars")
 
 body = f"""## EpicNext-CMS {version}
 
 ### Changes
-{notes_raw}
+{notes}
 
 ---
 *Automated release from Gitea Actions*
@@ -100,8 +83,6 @@ payload = json.dumps({
     "prerelease": False,
 }).encode("utf-8")
 
-import urllib.request, urllib.error
-
 def api_call(method, path, data=None):
     url = f"{api}/repos/{repo}/{path}"
     print(f"{method} {url}")
@@ -118,10 +99,10 @@ def api_call(method, path, data=None):
 
 try:
     result = api_call("POST", "releases", payload)
-    print(f"Created: {result.get('html_url', result.get('id', '?'))}")
+    print(f"OK: {result.get('html_url', result.get('id', '?'))}")
 except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
-    err = e.read().decode("utf-8")
-    print(f"POST {e.code}: {err}")
+    err_body = e.read().decode("utf-8")
+    print(f"POST {e.code}")
     if e.code == 409:
         releases = api_call("GET", "releases")
         for rel in releases:
@@ -129,11 +110,7 @@ except urllib.error.HTTPError as e:
                 result = api_call("PATCH", f"releases/{rel['id']}", payload)
                 print(f"Updated: {result.get('html_url', result.get('id', '?'))}")
                 break
-        else:
-            raise
     else:
+        print(f"API ERROR: {err_body}")
         raise
 PYEOF
-
-          debug "=== RELEASE WORKFLOW END ==="
-          echo "Debug log: $DEBUG"