## Why
Release workflow intermittently failed at the `.version` write step with `exit 22` and no diagnostic output. The CHANGELOG.md PUT creates the `next-release` branch via the `new_branch` parameter, then the `.version` PUT fires ~2s later — racing Gitea's branch indexing. Because the call used `curl -sf` (fail-silent), 404/409 responses produced exit 22 with no body, leaving logs unhelpful.
## Changes
- Move the existing branch-readiness poll to run **right after** the CHANGELOG.md commit, before `.version` is written.
- Replace the silent `.version` write with a 5-attempt retry loop that logs HTTP code and body on failure (same pattern already used for PR creation).
## Test plan
- [ ] Trigger Release.yml on a repo with a pending changelog entry; confirm `.version` write succeeds first try and PR is created.
- [ ] If a transient failure happens, log now shows HTTP code + body.
Reviewed-on: #22
argoyle
c39f11fda7