diff --git a/CLAUDE.md b/CLAUDE.md
index 50a73bd..6afa070 100644
--- a/CLAUDE.md
+++ b/CLAUDE.md
@@ -157,10 +157,22 @@ The release branch is `release`. Releases are cut from that branch using the Mav
    git push --set-upstream origin release
    ```
 
-5. **Trigger the release** via the Maven Release Plugin (run by CI or manually):
+5. **Open a pull request** from `release` → `main` for review before triggering the workflow:
    ```bash
-   mvn release:prepare release:perform
+   gh pr create --title "Prepare release X.Y.Z" --base main --head release
    ```
+   If the PR shows conflicts (because `main` advanced after the release prep), merge `origin/main` into `release` and resolve:
+   ```bash
+   git merge origin/main --no-edit
+   # Conflicts in README.md, ReleaseNotes.md, docs/MCP.md are version-number conflicts.
+   # Keep the release branch side (3.11.4, not 3.11.3):
+   git checkout --ours README.md ReleaseNotes.md docs/MCP.md
+   git add README.md ReleaseNotes.md docs/MCP.md
+   git commit --no-edit
+   git push origin release
+   ```
+
+6. **Trigger the release** by manually dispatching the **Release-BridgeService** GitHub Actions workflow (`.github/workflows/maven-publish-release.yml`). Go to the Actions tab on GitHub, select "Release-BridgeService", and click "Run workflow" on the `release` branch. The workflow runs `mvn release:prepare release:perform` with GPG signing and Sonatype credentials, then promotes the artifact to Maven Central automatically. No GitHub Release is created — Maven Central is the canonical artifact location.
 
 ### Notes
 - The next development version in the POMs on `main` is already set to `X.Y.Z-SNAPSHOT` by the Maven Release Plugin after the previous release; do not change it manually.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4fb82e9..c92ea6e 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ The following dependency needs to be added to your pom file:
 <dependency>
     <groupId>com.adobe.campaign.tests.bridge.service</groupId>
     <artifactId>integroBridgeService</artifactId>
-    <version>3.11.3</version>
+    <version>3.11.4</version>
 </dependency>
 ```
 
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ If all is good you should get:
 
 ```
 All systems up - in production
-Version : 3.11.3
+Version : 3.11.4
 Product user version : 7.0
 ```
 
@@ -1024,7 +1024,7 @@ Response:
   "id": 1,
   "result": {
     "protocolVersion": "2024-11-05",
-    "serverInfo": { "name": "bridgeService", "version": "3.11.3" },
+    "serverInfo": { "name": "bridgeService", "version": "3.11.4" },
     "capabilities": { "tools": {} }
   }
 }
diff --git a/ReleaseNotes.md b/ReleaseNotes.md
index 4a5c89f..9ac3f5b 100644
--- a/ReleaseNotes.md
+++ b/ReleaseNotes.md
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 # Bridge Service - RELEASE NOTES
+## 3.11.4
+* **MCP** [#40 Three-level Javadoc quality gate for MCP tool discovery](https://github.com/adobe/bridgeService/pull/52) Tool descriptions are now validated at three levels: method Javadoc, `@param` tags, and `@return` tag. Methods missing any level are excluded from `tools/list` at startup.
+* **Docs** [#50 Add demo usage examples to Running a DEMO section](https://github.com/adobe/bridgeService/pull/51) Added concrete curl and payload examples to the demo section of the README.
+
 ## 3.11.3
 * **HTTP Framework** [#38 Migrate from Spark Java to Javalin 6](https://github.com/adobe/bridgeService/pull/43) Replaced Spark Java 2.9.4 (Jetty 9, `javax.*`) with Javalin 6.3.0 (Jetty 11, `jakarta.*`). IBS stays on Java 11; injection into Java 17 and Java 21 host JVMs now works without `--add-opens` flags.
 
diff --git a/bridgeService-data/pom.xml b/bridgeService-data/pom.xml
index 602736a..9f13018 100644
--- a/bridgeService-data/pom.xml
+++ b/bridgeService-data/pom.xml
@@ -53,6 +53,6 @@
     <parent>
         <groupId>com.adobe.campaign.tests.bridge</groupId>
         <artifactId>parent</artifactId>
-        <version>3.11.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+        <version>3.11.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
     </parent>
 </project>
diff --git a/bridgeService-test-injection/pom.xml b/bridgeService-test-injection/pom.xml
index f28cd47..fd91184 100644
--- a/bridgeService-test-injection/pom.xml
+++ b/bridgeService-test-injection/pom.xml
@@ -78,6 +78,6 @@
     <parent>
         <groupId>com.adobe.campaign.tests.bridge</groupId>
         <artifactId>parent</artifactId>
-        <version>3.11.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+        <version>3.11.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
     </parent>
 </project>
diff --git a/docs/MCP.md b/docs/MCP.md
index e12f0a2..e6ddf1b 100644
--- a/docs/MCP.md
+++ b/docs/MCP.md
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ Expected response:
   "id": 1,
   "result": {
     "protocolVersion": "2024-11-05",
-    "serverInfo": { "name": "bridgeService", "version": "3.11.3" },
+    "serverInfo": { "name": "bridgeService", "version": "3.11.4" },
     "capabilities": { "tools": {} }
   }
 }
@@ -553,7 +553,7 @@ Response:
 
 ```json
 {
-  "ibsVersion": "3.11.3",
+  "ibsVersion": "3.11.4",
   "deploymentMode": "TEST",
   "mcpConfig": {
     "packagesConfigured": "com.example.services",
@@ -797,7 +797,7 @@ and start the server from within it.
 <dependency>
     <groupId>com.adobe.campaign.tests.bridge.service</groupId>
     <artifactId>integroBridgeService</artifactId>
-    <version>3.11.3</version>
+    <version>3.11.4</version>
 </dependency>
 ```
 
diff --git a/integroBridgeService/pom.xml b/integroBridgeService/pom.xml
index ace8976..05fc6c6 100644
--- a/integroBridgeService/pom.xml
+++ b/integroBridgeService/pom.xml
@@ -189,6 +189,6 @@
     <parent>
         <groupId>com.adobe.campaign.tests.bridge</groupId>
         <artifactId>parent</artifactId>
-        <version>3.11.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+        <version>3.11.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
     </parent>
 </project>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 051987d..f5ab81f 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
     <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
     <groupId>com.adobe.campaign.tests.bridge</groupId>
     <artifactId>parent</artifactId>
-    <version>3.11.4-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>3.11.5-SNAPSHOT</version>
     <description>Bridge Service Parent Project</description>
     <packaging>pom</packaging>
     <name>${project.groupId}:${project.artifactId}</name>