diff --git a/docs/releases/v2.12.6.md b/docs/releases/v2.12.6.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..124061e96ca78f2ca9fd06317bb4cf935737df32
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/releases/v2.12.6.md
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# v2.12.6
+
+## Bugfixes
+
+- fix URL encoded annotations
+- improved reliability of URL encoding of viewer state
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/mkdocs.yml b/mkdocs.yml
index 3ff6048f486849482bca9b326b24a851d34e7921..ebdcbd0ed1c925dd926f359bbd022607608656d7 100644
--- a/mkdocs.yml
+++ b/mkdocs.yml
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ nav:
     - Fetching datasets: 'advanced/datasets.md'
     - Display non-atlas volumes: 'advanced/otherVolumes.md'
   - Release notes:
+    - v2.12.6: 'releases/v2.12.6.md'
     - v2.12.5: 'releases/v2.12.5.md'
     - v2.12.4: 'releases/v2.12.4.md'
     - v2.12.3: 'releases/v2.12.3.md'
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 2612b896200971ccb34e0cff9cb34476ae98178e..d066d32f33f443421e24461733340dff55d73a8d 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "siibra-explorer",
-  "version": "2.12.5",
+  "version": "2.12.6",
   "description": "siibra-explorer - explore brain atlases. Based on humanbrainproject/nehuba & google/neuroglancer. Built with angular",
   "scripts": {
     "lint": "eslint src --ext .ts",