diff --git a/.github/workflows/back-merge-pr.yml b/.github/workflows/back-merge-pr.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..02b378c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/back-merge-pr.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+name: Back-merge master to development
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - master
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+  pull-requests: write
+
+jobs:
+  open-back-merge-pr:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Open back-merge PR if needed
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          BASE_BRANCH="development"
+          SOURCE_BRANCH="master"
+
+          git fetch origin "$BASE_BRANCH" "$SOURCE_BRANCH"
+
+          if ! git show-ref --verify --quiet "refs/remotes/origin/$BASE_BRANCH"; then
+            echo "Base branch '$BASE_BRANCH' does not exist on origin; skipping."
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          SOURCE_SHA=$(git rev-parse "origin/$SOURCE_BRANCH")
+          BASE_SHA=$(git rev-parse "origin/$BASE_BRANCH")
+
+          if [ "$SOURCE_SHA" = "$BASE_SHA" ]; then
+            echo "$SOURCE_BRANCH and $BASE_BRANCH are at the same commit; nothing to back-merge."
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          EXISTING=$(gh pr list --repo "${{ github.repository }}"             --base "$BASE_BRANCH"             --head "$SOURCE_BRANCH"             --state open             --json number             --jq 'length')
+
+          if [ "$EXISTING" -gt 0 ]; then
+            echo "An open PR from $SOURCE_BRANCH to $BASE_BRANCH already exists; skipping."
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          gh pr create --repo "${{ github.repository }}"             --base "$BASE_BRANCH"             --head "$SOURCE_BRANCH"             --title "chore: back-merge $SOURCE_BRANCH into $BASE_BRANCH"             --body "Automated back-merge after changes landed on \\`$SOURCE_BRANCH\\`. Review and merge to keep \\`$BASE_BRANCH\\` in sync."
+
+          echo "Created back-merge PR $SOURCE_BRANCH -> $BASE_BRANCH."
diff --git a/.github/workflows/check-version-bump.yml b/.github/workflows/check-version-bump.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..31bdf66
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/check-version-bump.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+# Catches when developers forget to bump package.json for release-affecting changes.
+# App code changes (app.js, bin/, config/, routes/, views/, etc.) require a version bump vs latest tag.
+# Skips for: test-only, docs, .github (workflows/config), dependency-only bumps without app edits.
+name: Check Version Bump
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+
+jobs:
+  version-bump:
+    name: Version bump
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Detect changed files and version bump
+        id: detect
+        run: |
+          if git rev-parse HEAD^2 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            FILES=$(git diff --name-only HEAD^1 HEAD^2)
+          else
+            FILES=$(git diff --name-only HEAD~1 HEAD)
+          fi
+          VERSION_FILES_CHANGED=false
+          echo "$FILES" | grep -qx 'package.json' && VERSION_FILES_CHANGED=true
+          echo "version_files_changed=$VERSION_FILES_CHANGED" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          # App source paths for this boilerplate (no lib/webpack/dist); .github/ and test/ do not count
+          CODE_CHANGED=false
+          echo "$FILES" | grep -qE '^app\.js$|^bin/|^config/|^middlewares/|^models/|^public/|^routes/|^views/|^schemaNentries/' && CODE_CHANGED=true
+          echo "$FILES" | grep -qx 'package.json' && CODE_CHANGED=true
+          echo "code_changed=$CODE_CHANGED" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+      - name: Skip when only test/docs/.github changed
+        if: steps.detect.outputs.code_changed != 'true'
+        run: |
+          echo "No release-affecting files changed (e.g. only test/docs/.github). Skipping version-bump check."
+          exit 0
+
+      - name: Fail when version bump was missed
+        if: steps.detect.outputs.code_changed == 'true' && steps.detect.outputs.version_files_changed != 'true'
+        run: |
+          echo "::error::This PR has code changes but no version bump. Please bump the version in package.json."
+          exit 1
+
+      - name: Setup Node
+        if: steps.detect.outputs.code_changed == 'true' && steps.detect.outputs.version_files_changed == 'true'
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: '22.x'
+
+      - name: Check version bump
+        if: steps.detect.outputs.code_changed == 'true' && steps.detect.outputs.version_files_changed == 'true'
+        run: |
+          set -e
+          PKG_VERSION=$(node -p "require('./package.json').version.replace(/^v/, '')")
+          if [ -z "$PKG_VERSION" ]; then
+            echo "::error::Could not read version from package.json"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          git fetch --tags --force 2>/dev/null || true
+          LATEST_TAG=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || true)
+          if [ -z "$LATEST_TAG" ]; then
+            echo "No existing tags found. Skipping version-bump check (first release)."
+            exit 0
+          fi
+          LATEST_VERSION="${LATEST_TAG#v}"
+          LATEST_VERSION="${LATEST_VERSION%%-*}"
+          if [ "$(printf '%s\n' "$LATEST_VERSION" "$PKG_VERSION" | sort -V | tail -1)" != "$PKG_VERSION" ]; then
+            echo "::error::Version bump required: package.json version ($PKG_VERSION) is not greater than latest tag ($LATEST_TAG). Please bump the version in package.json."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          if [ "$PKG_VERSION" = "$LATEST_VERSION" ]; then
+            echo "::error::Version bump required: package.json version ($PKG_VERSION) equals latest tag ($LATEST_TAG). Please bump the version in package.json."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "Version bump check passed: package.json is at $PKG_VERSION (latest tag: $LATEST_TAG)."
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f41b98
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Changelog
+
+All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
+
+## [Unreleased]
+
+### Added
+- Initial changelog file.