diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c6e7333..2d9cd0f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 > Manage and observe Apache Kafka clusters from a single Go binary — topics, messages, consumer groups, schemas and ACLs in one web UI.
 
-**Status:** Pre-alpha (v0.0.x). APIs and on-disk formats may change without notice.
+**Status:** Stable — v1.0, in production use.
 
 kafkito is a free, open-source web UI for managing and observing Apache Kafka clusters — built in Go as a single binary, with a modern React frontend, Apache 2.0. It's an independent rewrite inspired by [`provectus/kafka-ui`](https://github.com/provectus/kafka-ui) (unmaintained since 2024); for a community-maintained continuation of the original Java codebase, see [`kafbat/kafka-ui`](https://github.com/kafbat/kafka-ui).
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/whats-new-button.test.tsx b/frontend/src/components/whats-new-button.test.tsx
index 28a42c4..a0230b9 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/whats-new-button.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/whats-new-button.test.tsx
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ describe("WhatsNewButton", () => {
   beforeEach(() => {
     window.localStorage.clear();
     fetchInfo.mockReset();
-    fetchInfo.mockResolvedValue({ name: "kafkito", version: "0.0.0-rc17-btp" });
+    fetchInfo.mockResolvedValue({ name: "kafkito", version: "1.0.0-btp" });
   });
 
   it("auto-opens once for an unseen version and marks it seen", async () => {
@@ -31,13 +31,13 @@ describe("WhatsNewButton", () => {
     expect(await screen.findByText("What's new")).toBeInTheDocument();
     await waitFor(() =>
       expect(window.localStorage.getItem("kafkito.whatsnew.lastSeen.v1")).toBe(
-        "0.0.0-rc17",
+        "1.0.0",
       ),
     );
   });
 
   it("does not auto-open and shows no dot once the version is seen", async () => {
-    window.localStorage.setItem("kafkito.whatsnew.lastSeen.v1", "0.0.0-rc17");
+    window.localStorage.setItem("kafkito.whatsnew.lastSeen.v1", "1.0.0");
     renderButton();
     await screen.findByRole("button", { name: /what's new/i });
     expect(screen.queryByText("What's new")).not.toBeInTheDocument();
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ describe("WhatsNewButton", () => {
   });
 
   it("opens on click", async () => {
-    window.localStorage.setItem("kafkito.whatsnew.lastSeen.v1", "0.0.0-rc17");
+    window.localStorage.setItem("kafkito.whatsnew.lastSeen.v1", "1.0.0");
     const user = userEvent.setup();
     renderButton();
     await user.click(screen.getByRole("button", { name: /what's new/i }));
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/whats-new-modal.test.tsx b/frontend/src/components/whats-new-modal.test.tsx
index dfcce54..9e31385 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/whats-new-modal.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/whats-new-modal.test.tsx
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import { WhatsNewModal } from "./whats-new-modal";
 
 describe("WhatsNewModal", () => {
   it("renders the title and the latest entry's items with type badges", () => {
-    render(<WhatsNewModal currentVersion="0.0.0-rc17-btp" onClose={vi.fn()} />);
+    render(<WhatsNewModal currentVersion="1.0.0-btp" onClose={vi.fn()} />);
     expect(screen.getByText("What's new")).toBeInTheDocument();
     expect(
       screen.getByText(/create consumer groups bound to a topic/i),
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/whats-new-modal.tsx b/frontend/src/components/whats-new-modal.tsx
index b7e8c82..7b551c3 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/whats-new-modal.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/whats-new-modal.tsx
@@ -38,22 +38,22 @@ function EntryBlock({
         <span className="text-xs text-subtle-text">{entry.date}</span>
       </button>
       {open && (
-        <ul className="mt-2 space-y-2">
+        <ul className="mt-2 grid grid-cols-[auto_1fr] items-start gap-x-3 gap-y-2 text-sm">
           {entry.items.map((it, i) => (
-            <li key={i} className="flex gap-2 text-sm">
+            <li key={i} className="contents">
               <span
-                className={`mt-0.5 h-fit rounded px-1.5 py-0.5 text-[10px] font-semibold uppercase tracking-wider ${BADGE[it.type].cls}`}
+                className={`mt-0.5 justify-self-start rounded px-1.5 py-0.5 text-[10px] font-semibold uppercase tracking-wider ${BADGE[it.type].cls}`}
               >
                 {BADGE[it.type].label}
               </span>
-              <span>
+              <div>
                 <span className="font-medium text-text">{it.title}</span>
                 {it.description ? (
                   <span className="mt-0.5 block text-muted">
                     {it.description}
                   </span>
                 ) : null}
-              </span>
+              </div>
             </li>
           ))}
         </ul>
diff --git a/frontend/src/content/changelog.ts b/frontend/src/content/changelog.ts
index a5c158f..bcec950 100644
--- a/frontend/src/content/changelog.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/content/changelog.ts
@@ -21,14 +21,20 @@ export interface ChangelogEntry {
  */
 export const CHANGELOG: ChangelogEntry[] = [
   {
-    version: "0.0.0-rc17",
+    version: "1.0.0",
     date: "2026-07-09",
     items: [
+      {
+        type: "feature",
+        title: "kafkito 1.0.0 — first stable release",
+        description:
+          "kafkito is now used in production. This is the first stable release; versions from here follow semantic versioning.",
+      },
       {
         type: "feature",
         title: "Create consumer groups bound to a topic",
         description:
-          "Pre-create a consumer group on a topic with a chosen start position (earliest, latest, timestamp, or a specific offset), with a dry-run preview before committing.",
+          "Pre-create a consumer group on a topic with a chosen start position (earliest, latest, timestamp, or a specific offset).",
       },
       {
         type: "security",