diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index a0471c3e..b2e7a40d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
 /target
 *.txt
 /testfiles
+
+# release-plz generates these to populate the release PR body; we don't commit
+# them (matches CHANGELOG.md in the repo root and every crate directory).
+CHANGELOG.md
diff --git a/release-plz.toml b/release-plz.toml
index 386ec3c6..528c0ef2 100644
--- a/release-plz.toml
+++ b/release-plz.toml
@@ -2,7 +2,11 @@
 pr_name = "repo: release"
 pr_branch_prefix = "release-plz/"
 pr_labels = ["autorelease"]
-changelog_update = false
+# Generate changelogs so the release PR body lists the changes, but keep them
+# out of the repo: CHANGELOG.md is gitignored, so release-plz writes it to
+# populate the PR body without committing it. GitHub release notes are derived
+# from the committed file, so they stay empty by design.
+changelog_update = true
 git_tag_name = "{{ package }}-v{{ version }}"
 
 [[package]]