diff --git a/scripts/generate-release-notes.sh b/scripts/generate-release-notes.sh
index 849a169a8..ab6d8beb4 100755
--- a/scripts/generate-release-notes.sh
+++ b/scripts/generate-release-notes.sh
@@ -224,6 +224,132 @@ JSON
     printf '%s' "$content"
 }
 
+# Pretty-print a section of notes (expects array name)
+print_section() {
+    local ref="$1"
+    declare -n arr_ref="$ref"
+    if [ ${#arr_ref[@]} -eq 0 ]; then
+        echo "None"
+        return
+    fi
+
+    local item
+    for item in "${arr_ref[@]}"; do
+        echo "- ${item}"
+    done
+}
+
+# Deterministic fallback when no LLM providers are available
+generate_fallback_release_notes() {
+    local subjects=()
+    mapfile -t subjects < <(echo "$COMMIT_LOG" | sed 's/^[0-9a-f]\+ //')
+
+    local features=()
+    local bugs=()
+    local improvements=()
+    local breakings=()
+
+    local subject lower
+    for subject in "${subjects[@]}"; do
+        [ -z "$subject" ] && continue
+        lower=$(echo "$subject" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
+        if [[ "$lower" =~ (feat|feature|add|introduc|support|new) ]]; then
+            features+=("$subject")
+        elif [[ "$lower" =~ (fix|bug|issue|patch|regress|correct) ]]; then
+            bugs+=("$subject")
+        elif [[ "$lower" =~ (breaking|deprecat|remove|drop|incompatib) ]]; then
+            breakings+=("$subject")
+        else
+            improvements+=("$subject")
+        fi
+    done
+
+    if [ ${#improvements[@]} -eq 0 ] && [ ${#features[@]} -eq 0 ] && [ ${#bugs[@]} -eq 0 ]; then
+        improvements=("${subjects[@]}")
+    fi
+
+    local notes=()
+    for subject in "${subjects[@]}"; do
+        notes+=("$subject")
+        [ ${#notes[@]} -ge 3 ] && break
+    done
+    if [ ${#notes[@]} -eq 0 ]; then
+        notes+=("Routine maintenance and dependency updates.")
+    fi
+
+    {
+        echo "## What's Changed"
+        echo ""
+        echo "### New Features"
+        print_section features
+        echo ""
+        echo "### Bug Fixes"
+        print_section bugs
+        echo ""
+        echo "### Improvements"
+        print_section improvements
+        echo ""
+        echo "### Breaking Changes"
+        print_section breakings
+        echo ""
+        echo "## Installation"
+        echo ""
+        echo "**Quick Install (systemd / LXC / Proxmox VE):**"
+        cat <<'EOQI'
+```bash
+curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rcourtman/Pulse/main/install.sh | bash
+```
+EOQI
+        echo ""
+        echo "**Docker:**"
+        cat <<EOQDock
+```bash
+docker pull rcourtman/pulse:v${VERSION}
+docker stop pulse && docker rm pulse
+docker run -d --name pulse \\
+  --restart unless-stopped \\
+  -p 7655:7655 -p 7656:7656 \\
+  -v /opt/pulse/data:/data \\
+  rcourtman/pulse:v${VERSION}
+```
+EOQDock
+        echo ""
+        echo "**Manual Binary (amd64 example):**"
+        cat <<EOQMan
+```bash
+curl -LO https://github.com/rcourtman/Pulse/releases/download/v${VERSION}/pulse-v${VERSION}-linux-amd64.tar.gz
+sudo systemctl stop pulse
+sudo tar -xzf pulse-v${VERSION}-linux-amd64.tar.gz -C /usr/local/bin pulse
+sudo systemctl start pulse
+```
+EOQMan
+        echo ""
+        echo "**Helm:**"
+        cat <<EOQHelm
+```bash
+helm upgrade --install pulse oci://ghcr.io/rcourtman/pulse-chart \\
+  --version ${VERSION} \\
+  --namespace pulse \\
+  --create-namespace
+```
+EOQHelm
+        echo ""
+        echo "## Downloads"
+        echo "- Universal tarball (auto-detects architecture): \`pulse-v${VERSION}.tar.gz\`"
+        echo "- Architecture-specific: \`amd64\`, \`arm64\`, \`armv7\`, \`armv6\`, \`386\`"
+        echo "- Host agent packages: macOS, Windows, Linux"
+        echo "- Sensor proxy binaries: Linux (amd64/arm64/armv7/armv6/386)"
+        echo "- Helm chart: \`pulse-${VERSION}.tgz\`"
+        echo "- SHA256 checksums: \`checksums.txt\`"
+        echo ""
+        echo "## Notes"
+        local item
+        for item in "${notes[@]}"; do
+            echo "- ${item}"
+        done
+    }
+}
+
 # Call LLM API based on provider with graceful fallback
 RELEASE_NOTES=""
 if [ "$LLM_PROVIDER" = "anthropic" ]; then
@@ -231,22 +357,27 @@ if [ "$LLM_PROVIDER" = "anthropic" ]; then
         if [ -n "${OPENAI_API_KEY:-}" ]; then
             echo "Anthropic generation failed, falling back to OpenAI..." >&2
             if ! RELEASE_NOTES=$(generate_with_openai); then
-                echo "Error: OpenAI fallback failed as well" >&2
-                exit 1
+                echo "OpenAI fallback failed; generating heuristic release notes." >&2
+                RELEASE_NOTES=$(generate_fallback_release_notes)
             fi
             LLM_PROVIDER="openai"
         else
-            echo "Error: Failed to generate release notes via Anthropic and no OpenAI fallback is available" >&2
-            exit 1
+            echo "Anthropic generation failed and no OpenAI fallback is available; generating heuristic release notes." >&2
+            RELEASE_NOTES=$(generate_fallback_release_notes)
         fi
     fi
 else
     if ! RELEASE_NOTES=$(generate_with_openai); then
-        echo "Error: Failed to generate release notes via OpenAI" >&2
-        exit 1
+        echo "OpenAI generation failed; generating heuristic release notes." >&2
+        RELEASE_NOTES=$(generate_fallback_release_notes)
     fi
 fi
 
+if [ -z "$RELEASE_NOTES" ] || [ "$RELEASE_NOTES" = "null" ]; then
+    echo "Error: Release notes generation returned empty content" >&2
+    exit 1
+fi
+
 # Output release notes
 echo ""
 echo "Generated release notes:"