diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 9de8b31..9998708 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,12 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [8.1.6](https://github.com/structured-world/structured-proxy/compare/v8.1.5...v8.1.6) - 2026-11-04
+
+### Fixed
+
+- *(config)* read an empty document as the defaults ([#166](https://github.com/structured-world/structured-proxy/pull/166))
+
 ## [8.1.5](https://github.com/structured-world/structured-proxy/compare/v8.1.4...v8.1.5) - 2026-10-31
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index a223bff..d54f5ee 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 [package]
 name = "structured-proxy"
 description = "Universal gRPC→REST transcoding proxy — config-driven, works with any gRPC service"
-version = "8.1.5"
+version = "8.1.6"
 edition = "2021"
 # The oldest toolchain the crate builds on: the `msrv` CI job pins it, so
 # raising it is a deliberate change.