diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..65b951c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+# Changelog
+
+All notable user-facing changes to ObsidianDragon are documented here. The format loosely
+follows [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/); the project uses Conventional Commits.
+
+## [Unreleased]
+
+### ⚠️ Breaking changes
+
+- **Remote RPC over plain HTTP is now refused by default.** If your wallet is configured to
+  reach a **remote** `rpchost`/`rpcconnect` **without TLS**, it will no longer connect — it
+  previously sent your `rpcuser`/`rpcpassword` in cleartext (capturable by anyone on the
+  network path) after only a dismissible warning. To reconnect, either:
+  - add **`rpctls=1`** to `DRAGONX.conf` (preferred, if your daemon supports TLS), or
+  - add **`rpcallowplaintext=1`** to `DRAGONX.conf` to explicitly accept the plaintext link.
+
+  Local and embedded daemons (`127.0.0.0/8`, `localhost`, `::1`) are unaffected.
+
+### Security
+
+- Refuse remote plaintext RPC credential transmission by default (see Breaking changes above).
+- Tightened localhost detection: a hostname that merely *starts* with `127.` (e.g.
+  `127.evil.com`) is no longer mistaken for a loopback address, so it can no longer bypass the
+  plaintext-RPC protection.
+- Sapling parameters are now integrity-checked (SHA-256) against pinned canonical digests
+  before use, instead of only checking that the files exist. A truncated or corrupt parameter
+  file is caught up front rather than surfacing later as a confusing shielded-operation failure.
+  (Cached via a `size:mtime` marker so it doesn't re-hash ~48 MB on every launch.)
+
+### Fixed
+
+- Daemon crashes are no longer occasionally missed: a race between the UI thread and the
+  process monitor could consume the daemon's exit status, hiding a crash and defeating the
+  automatic-restart cap. The monitor is now the sole reaper.
+- A daemon that fails to launch (missing execute permission, wrong architecture, corrupt
+  binary) now reports a precise error immediately instead of briefly showing "running" and
+  then a generic "exited unexpectedly (exit code 127)".
+- A quick stop→start no longer triggers a restart storm: the wallet now waits briefly for a
+  previous daemon to release the data-directory lock and shows a clear, non-crash message
+  instead of exhausting the crash-restart budget.
+- Failures while writing the daemon binaries or Sapling parameters (disk full, permission
+  denied) are now surfaced clearly up front instead of failing opaquely when the daemon later
+  can't start.
+- Directory-creation failures on startup (read-only home, permission denied) now produce a
+  clear "Cannot create <dir>" message instead of a confusing downstream "config missing" /
+  "binary not found" error (or, in one path, an uncaught exception).
+
+### Added
+
+- A "Taking longer than expected" notice now appears if the daemon is reachable but hasn't
+  finished initializing after ~45 s (configurable via `ui.toml`), with guidance to restart the
+  daemon or open the Console — instead of an indefinite silent spinner. It clears itself
+  automatically once the daemon connects.
+
+---
+
+Engineering detail and the finding-by-finding rationale for this batch live in
+`docs/daemon-startup-hardening.md`.
diff --git a/docs/daemon-startup-hardening.md b/docs/daemon-startup-hardening.md
index 2f0076a..22f1c15 100644
--- a/docs/daemon-startup-hardening.md
+++ b/docs/daemon-startup-hardening.md
@@ -17,9 +17,16 @@ Status legend: ☐ not started · ◐ in progress · ☑ landed & verified
 
 **Status: all 8 landed & verified** (build-clean, `ctest` green after each) across four commits on
 `dev` — lifecycle cluster (F1/F2/F4), filesystem+params cluster (F7/F6/F5), F3, and F8. Six new
-pure-helper unit tests added. Still owed before release: the F1/F2 manual repros (`kill -SEGV` /
-non-executable binary — not unit-testable), the deferred `res/lang/*.json` i18n back-fill (one
-`add_missing_translations.py` run), and **release notes for F8's breaking default flip**.
+pure-helper unit tests added.
+
+**Wrap-up done:** release notes added (`CHANGELOG.md`, F8 breaking change front and center); i18n
+back-fill applied additively to `res/lang/*.json` (42 keys — all 6 for es/de/fr/pt/ru; 6 zh/ja/ko
+entries whose glyphs aren't in the current `NotoSansCJK-Subset.ttf` were left on English fallback
+rather than render as tofu).
+
+**Still owed before release:** the F1/F2 manual repros (`kill -SEGV` / non-executable binary — not
+unit-testable), and a **CJK subset-font rebuild** (`scripts/build_cjk_subset.py`, needs the Noto
+CJK source font) to cover those 6 deferred zh/ja/ko strings.
 
 ---