diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 70799c4..576114b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ env:
   HELM_LINUX_AMD64_SHA256: "e9b88b4ee95b18c706839c28d3a0220e5bc470e9cd9262410c90793c45ff8b7c"
   PROMETHEUS_VERSION: "v3.13.1"
   PROMETHEUS_LINUX_AMD64_SHA256: "962b812371aff838d152b6ff2d56fdb7a6396f5542f48ebf73421b9721f0d103"
-  SYFT_VERSION: "v1.46.0"
+  SYFT_VERSION: "v1.49.0"
 
 jobs:
   build-test-lint:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index f3e4240..e6d492d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -15,8 +15,8 @@ concurrency:
 env:
   GO_VERSION: "1.26.5"
   GORELEASER_VERSION: "v2.17.0"
-  SYFT_VERSION: "v1.46.0"
-  COSIGN_VERSION: "v3.0.6"
+  SYFT_VERSION: "v1.49.0"
+  COSIGN_VERSION: "v3.1.2"
   HUB_IMAGE: ghcr.io/ardurai/sith-hub
 
 jobs:
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a3e3ae5..53cf7a0 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ test: ## Run unit tests with the race detector and report coverage
 
 test-scripts: ## Run focused safety tests for operator-facing shell harnesses
 	bash tests/scripts/wails_tooling_policy_test.sh
+	bash tests/scripts/release_tooling_policy_test.sh
 	bash tests/scripts/helm_tooling_policy_test.sh
 	bash tests/scripts/m0_ocm_falsification_safety_test.sh
 	bash tests/scripts/release_tag_identity_guide_test.sh
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e485f2d..03d10dc 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -768,7 +768,7 @@ Run the full local quality gate with golangci-lint v2.12.2 and govulncheck v1.6.
 make ci
 ```
 
-Release changes additionally require GoReleaser v2.17.0 and Syft v1.46.0. This gate builds all
+Release changes additionally require GoReleaser v2.17.0 and Syft v1.49.0. This gate builds all
 four archives twice and refuses the change if their SHA-256 digests differ:
 
 ```bash
diff --git a/docs/adr/0009-release-supply-chain.md b/docs/adr/0009-release-supply-chain.md
index e27f2e2..822c61b 100644
--- a/docs/adr/0009-release-supply-chain.md
+++ b/docs/adr/0009-release-supply-chain.md
@@ -26,8 +26,8 @@ long-lived cross-repository credential.
 2. CI performs two complete snapshot builds and compares archive SHA-256 digests. It separately
    verifies checksum coverage, exact archive shape, native `sith version` metadata, and SPDX 2.3
    documents. SBOM timestamps and transparency-log signatures are not called reproducible.
-3. Syft v1.46.0 creates one SPDX SBOM per archive. The checksum manifest covers both archives and
-   SBOMs. Cosign v3.0.6 signs every archive, SBOM, and the checksum manifest with GitHub's short-lived
+3. Syft v1.49.0 creates one SPDX SBOM per archive. The checksum manifest covers both archives and
+   SBOMs. Cosign v3.1.2 signs every archive, SBOM, and the checksum manifest with GitHub's short-lived
    OIDC identity and emits self-contained Sigstore bundles.
 4. `actions/attest` v4 creates one SLSA provenance statement over the checksum manifest's subjects
    and one SPDX predicate binding for each archive/SBOM pair. Action dependencies are pinned to
diff --git a/sessions/2026-07-21-release-tooling.md b/sessions/2026-07-21-release-tooling.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87fc945
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sessions/2026-07-21-release-tooling.md
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+# Release supply-chain tooling refresh — 2026-07-21
+
+## [S] Scope
+
+Refresh the explicitly pinned SBOM and signing executables used by pull-request reproducibility and
+tag release. The release identity, permissions, action commit pins, artifact graph, publish order,
+and consumer verification contract remain unchanged.
+
+## [D] Decision
+
+- Syft advances from v1.46.0 to v1.49.0. The upstream release fixes Go `replace`-directive
+  interpretation and adds root OCI-layout index support, both relevant to Sith's Go SBOM and
+  multi-architecture image boundary.
+- Cosign advances from v3.0.6 to v3.1.2. The upstream release fixes malformed-input panics and
+  bundle signing/verification defects. Sith already emits bundles and uses none of the newly
+  deprecated `--payload` or `--output-attestation` flags.
+- A repository policy test now keeps CI, tag release, README prerequisites, and the supply-chain ADR
+  synchronized instead of relying on manual version searches.
+
+## [V] Verification
+
+- Rebased onto exact `dev` merge `ae2d28de2d7fc6e6661098d9b1bb07e1b9381cad`, after its CI and
+  CodeQL workflows completed successfully. The one shared Makefile insertion retained both the
+  Wails and release-tooling policy gates.
+- Official release assets are checksum-verified before local use. Both selected versions are stable
+  upstream releases: [Syft v1.49.0](https://github.com/anchore/syft/releases/tag/v1.49.0), published
+  2026-07-21, and [Cosign v3.1.2](https://github.com/sigstore/cosign/releases/tag/v3.1.2), published
+  2026-07-17.
+- Actionlint, ShellCheck, and the focused policy test pass. Its 9 assertions validate every
+  synchronized pin, installer binding, documentation reference, and deprecated-flag exclusion.
+- The real installed tools report Syft 1.49.0, Cosign 3.1.2, and GoReleaser 2.17.0.
+- `go mod verify`, `govulncheck ./...`, and `make ci` pass, including race and all operator-facing
+  policy tests.
+- `make e2e-isolation` passes against PostgreSQL plus 100,000 tenant-boundary fuzz executions.
+- `make release-check` passes two independently rebuilt archive/SBOM distributions, Homebrew
+  formula validation, and the dual-architecture OCI layout contract using Syft 1.49.0.
+- `make e2e-kind KIND=/Volumes/EXTENDED/MacData/tools/bin/kind` passes the fleet fan-out, immutable
+  OCI image, and Argo application projection contracts in 241.080 seconds.
+
+## [C] Security, operations, and cost
+
+The update repairs producer-side parsing and verification behavior without adding credentials,
+permissions, services, storage, egress, or recurring cloud cost. Pull-request and tag CPU duration
+may vary slightly with the newer scanners, but the number of builds, SBOMs, signatures, and
+attestations is unchanged.
diff --git a/tests/scripts/release_tooling_policy_test.sh b/tests/scripts/release_tooling_policy_test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..642544a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/scripts/release_tooling_policy_test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016
+
+set -Eeuo pipefail
+
+REPO_ROOT="$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"
+readonly REPO_ROOT
+readonly EXPECTED_GORELEASER_VERSION="v2.17.0"
+readonly EXPECTED_SYFT_VERSION="v1.49.0"
+readonly EXPECTED_COSIGN_VERSION="v3.1.2"
+
+PASS_COUNT=0
+
+pass() {
+  PASS_COUNT=$((PASS_COUNT + 1))
+  printf '[release-tooling] PASS: %s\n' "$1"
+}
+
+assert_equal() {
+  local actual=$1
+  local expected=$2
+  local description=$3
+
+  if [[ "${actual}" != "${expected}" ]]; then
+    printf '[release-tooling] FAIL: %s = %q, want %q\n' \
+      "${description}" "${actual}" "${expected}" >&2
+    return 1
+  fi
+  pass "${description}"
+}
+
+workflow_value() {
+  local workflow=$1
+  local name=$2
+  awk -F '"' -v key="${name}:" '$1 ~ "^[[:space:]]*" key "[[:space:]]*$" { print $2 }' "${workflow}"
+}
+
+ci_workflow="${REPO_ROOT}/.github/workflows/ci.yml"
+release_workflow="${REPO_ROOT}/.github/workflows/release.yml"
+
+ci_goreleaser="$(workflow_value "${ci_workflow}" GORELEASER_VERSION)"
+ci_syft="$(workflow_value "${ci_workflow}" SYFT_VERSION)"
+release_goreleaser="$(workflow_value "${release_workflow}" GORELEASER_VERSION)"
+release_syft="$(workflow_value "${release_workflow}" SYFT_VERSION)"
+release_cosign="$(workflow_value "${release_workflow}" COSIGN_VERSION)"
+
+assert_equal "${ci_goreleaser}" "${EXPECTED_GORELEASER_VERSION}" "CI GoReleaser pin is current"
+assert_equal "${release_goreleaser}" "${ci_goreleaser}" "release GoReleaser pin matches CI"
+assert_equal "${ci_syft}" "${EXPECTED_SYFT_VERSION}" "CI Syft pin is current"
+assert_equal "${release_syft}" "${ci_syft}" "release Syft pin matches CI"
+assert_equal "${release_cosign}" "${EXPECTED_COSIGN_VERSION}" "release Cosign pin is current"
+
+grep -Fq "GoReleaser ${EXPECTED_GORELEASER_VERSION} and Syft ${EXPECTED_SYFT_VERSION}" \
+  "${REPO_ROOT}/README.md"
+pass "README release prerequisites match executable pins"
+
+grep -Fq "Syft ${EXPECTED_SYFT_VERSION}" "${REPO_ROOT}/docs/adr/0009-release-supply-chain.md"
+grep -Fq "Cosign ${EXPECTED_COSIGN_VERSION}" "${REPO_ROOT}/docs/adr/0009-release-supply-chain.md"
+pass "release-supply-chain decision records current pins"
+
+grep -Fq 'syft-version: ${{ env.SYFT_VERSION }}' "${ci_workflow}"
+grep -Fq 'syft-version: ${{ env.SYFT_VERSION }}' "${release_workflow}"
+grep -Fq 'cosign-release: ${{ env.COSIGN_VERSION }}' "${release_workflow}"
+pass "installer actions consume the synchronized pins"
+
+if grep -Eq -- '--(payload|output-attestation)([=[:space:]]|$)' "${release_workflow}"; then
+  printf '[release-tooling] FAIL: release workflow uses a Cosign v3.1-deprecated flag\n' >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+pass "release workflow avoids newly deprecated Cosign flags"
+
+printf '[release-tooling] %d assertions passed\n' "${PASS_COUNT}"