diff --git a/.claude-plugin/plugin.json b/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
index eb743745d22..698cf162c7d 100644
--- a/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
+++ b/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "hyperframes",
   "description": "HyperFrames by HeyGen. Write HTML, render video. Compositions, GSAP and runtime adapter animations, captions, voiceovers, audio-reactive visuals, and website capture for HyperFrames.",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "author": {
     "name": "HeyGen",
     "email": "hyperframes@heygen.com",
diff --git a/.codex-plugin/plugin.json b/.codex-plugin/plugin.json
index aa1d7f592f7..bee0d3c7221 100644
--- a/.codex-plugin/plugin.json
+++ b/.codex-plugin/plugin.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "hyperframes",
   "description": "Write HTML, render video. Compositions, Tailwind v4 styles, GSAP and runtime adapter animations, captions, voiceovers, audio-reactive visuals, and website capture for HyperFrames.",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "author": {
     "name": "HeyGen",
     "email": "hyperframes@heygen.com",
diff --git a/.cursor-plugin/plugin.json b/.cursor-plugin/plugin.json
index 4e7ce1779ca..a5a5b49da19 100644
--- a/.cursor-plugin/plugin.json
+++ b/.cursor-plugin/plugin.json
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   "name": "hyperframes",
   "displayName": "HyperFrames by HeyGen",
   "description": "Write HTML, render video. Compositions, Tailwind v4 styles, GSAP and runtime adapter animations, captions, voiceovers, audio-reactive visuals, and website capture for HyperFrames.",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "author": {
     "name": "HeyGen",
     "email": "hyperframes@heygen.com"
diff --git a/docs/changelog.mdx b/docs/changelog.mdx
index 342e25d68dc..0912a09fc0d 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.mdx
+++ b/docs/changelog.mdx
@@ -8,6 +8,30 @@ Recent HyperFrames releases, including user-facing features, fixes, and migratio
 
 {/* New release entries are prepended by `bun run changelog:draft <version> --write`. */}
 
+<Update
+  label="HyperFrames v0.8.209"
+  description="Released - 2026-10-27"
+  tags={["Release", "CLI", "Engine", "Studio Server"]}
+>
+Chrome now closes quickly in every managed browser, and audio effects launch it like other renders. Previews load project media and HDR clips the way render does.
+
+## Fixes
+
+- **CLI:** Every managed browser closes within a second even if Chrome never exits ([4416a41cba0a0](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/4416a41cba0a0d711185bb90166dbebc6427ecb6), [#6553](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6553)).
+- **Engine:** Audio effects launch Chrome like every other render, sandbox retry included ([c1da4a760e6f2](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/c1da4a760e6f2b9ce523ba1f47f8185670c08174), [#6550](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6550)).
+- Phone videos with an undecodable first audio track check, preview and render ([cfef528d3ae1d](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/cfef528d3ae1d4549db648242e8f4c9cc7524d71), [#6551](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6551)).
+- **CLI:** An element marked data-layout-ignore no longer counts as covering text ([41a7bc98f77b2](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/41a7bc98f77b2019b98f0401a7e813e978ef111c), [#6555](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6555)).
+- **Studio Server:** An HDR clip previews and snapshots the way the SDR export renders it ([404e8254e6ad0](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/404e8254e6ad07c02f1b83f654500a3656059bd5), [#6537](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6537)).
+- **Studio Server:** Preview loads root-path media, images and CSS from the project, as render does ([60927853485dd](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/60927853485ddeb4ed7d8bdf19047be3b384cd20), [#6552](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6552)).
+- **Core:** Text a script splits into letters shows once and carries the variable's value ([7053aa90dd16e](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/7053aa90dd16e9d1975b565a7014446964a86b20), [#6543](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6543)).
+
+## Internal
+
+- **Studio:** Record each edit-accuracy shard's file writes and reloads when HF_WRITE_TRACE is set ([58552ede4bfff](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/58552ede4bfff5366fa535551845d20cda3f2875), [#6532](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6532)).
+
+[View the full commit range](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/compare/v0.8.208...v0.8.209).
+</Update>
+
 <Update
   label="HyperFrames v0.8.208"
   description="Released - 2026-10-27"
diff --git a/gemini-extension.json b/gemini-extension.json
index e2f1f4d1d08..91bff48438c 100644
--- a/gemini-extension.json
+++ b/gemini-extension.json
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 {
   "name": "hyperframes",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "description": "HyperFrames by HeyGen. Write HTML, render video. Compositions, GSAP and runtime adapter animations, captions, voiceovers, audio-reactive visuals, and website capture for HyperFrames."
 }
diff --git a/packages/aws-lambda/package.json b/packages/aws-lambda/package.json
index 48a56479d2f..75201f469ec 100644
--- a/packages/aws-lambda/package.json
+++ b/packages/aws-lambda/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@hyperframes/aws-lambda",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "description": "AWS Lambda adapter for HyperFrames distributed rendering — handler, client-side SDK, and CDK construct.",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
diff --git a/packages/cli/package.json b/packages/cli/package.json
index f7e2f7d42aa..1c732273873 100644
--- a/packages/cli/package.json
+++ b/packages/cli/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@hyperframes/cli",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "description": "Make videos with code and AI agents: write HTML, render MP4. Open source.",
   "keywords": [
     "ai-agents",
diff --git a/packages/core/package.json b/packages/core/package.json
index f4d2244a0e3..16a891349f4 100644
--- a/packages/core/package.json
+++ b/packages/core/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@hyperframes/core",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "description": "",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
diff --git a/packages/engine/package.json b/packages/engine/package.json
index 94aa534a494..c1ac1886b93 100644
--- a/packages/engine/package.json
+++ b/packages/engine/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@hyperframes/engine",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "description": "Seekable web page to video rendering engine (Puppeteer + FFmpeg)",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
diff --git a/packages/gcp-cloud-run/package.json b/packages/gcp-cloud-run/package.json
index 8aad701770f..fdc4068b056 100644
--- a/packages/gcp-cloud-run/package.json
+++ b/packages/gcp-cloud-run/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@hyperframes/gcp-cloud-run",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "description": "Google Cloud Run + Workflows adapter for HyperFrames distributed rendering — request handler, client-side SDK, and Terraform module.",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
diff --git a/packages/inspector/package.json b/packages/inspector/package.json
index 169b4c9aa14..cecf23e4b05 100644
--- a/packages/inspector/package.json
+++ b/packages/inspector/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@hyperframes/inspector",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
     "url": "https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes",
diff --git a/packages/lint/package.json b/packages/lint/package.json
index a2d3d094cda..8237c64359e 100644
--- a/packages/lint/package.json
+++ b/packages/lint/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@hyperframes/lint",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
     "url": "https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes",
diff --git a/packages/parsers/package.json b/packages/parsers/package.json
index b4efa026bd6..f3f20fbcd66 100644
--- a/packages/parsers/package.json
+++ b/packages/parsers/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@hyperframes/parsers",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
     "url": "https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes",
diff --git a/packages/player/package.json b/packages/player/package.json
index 4233e4816d4..0b3a68f9391 100644
--- a/packages/player/package.json
+++ b/packages/player/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@hyperframes/player",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "description": "Embeddable web component for HyperFrames compositions",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
diff --git a/packages/producer/package.json b/packages/producer/package.json
index edbdf5f2e1e..d16bcf0b1fc 100644
--- a/packages/producer/package.json
+++ b/packages/producer/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@hyperframes/producer",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "description": "HTML-to-video rendering engine using Chrome's BeginFrame API",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
diff --git a/packages/sdk/package.json b/packages/sdk/package.json
index fcc87bdb2b8..aa3c3188bab 100644
--- a/packages/sdk/package.json
+++ b/packages/sdk/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@hyperframes/sdk",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "description": "Headless, framework-neutral HyperFrames composition editing engine",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
diff --git a/packages/shader-transitions/package.json b/packages/shader-transitions/package.json
index 912dcb6c4ed..8940440e677 100644
--- a/packages/shader-transitions/package.json
+++ b/packages/shader-transitions/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@hyperframes/shader-transitions",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "description": "WebGL shader transitions for HyperFrames compositions",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
diff --git a/packages/studio-server/package.json b/packages/studio-server/package.json
index a4606165d9f..5fa6a32dfa6 100644
--- a/packages/studio-server/package.json
+++ b/packages/studio-server/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@hyperframes/studio-server",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
     "url": "https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes",
diff --git a/packages/studio/package.json b/packages/studio/package.json
index 36bab59cadb..0648e9ef0e8 100644
--- a/packages/studio/package.json
+++ b/packages/studio/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@hyperframes/studio",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "description": "",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
diff --git a/plugin.json b/plugin.json
index d141e26d6aa..f34b2fcacdf 100644
--- a/plugin.json
+++ b/plugin.json
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "$schema": "https://agent-plugins.org/schemas/1.0.0/plugin.schema.json",
   "name": "hyperframes",
   "description": "HyperFrames by HeyGen. Write HTML, render video. Compositions, GSAP and runtime adapter animations, captions, voiceovers, audio-reactive visuals, and website capture for HyperFrames.",
-  "version": "0.8.208",
+  "version": "0.8.209",
   "author": {
     "name": "HeyGen",
     "email": "hyperframes@heygen.com",
diff --git a/releases/v0.8.209.md b/releases/v0.8.209.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9c27e4c156d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releases/v0.8.209.md
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+# HyperFrames v0.8.209
+
+Released on 2026-10-27.
+
+Chrome now closes quickly in every managed browser, and audio effects launch it like other renders. Previews load project media and HDR clips the way render does.
+
+## Fixes
+
+- **CLI:** Every managed browser closes within a second even if Chrome never exits ([4416a41cba0a0](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/4416a41cba0a0d711185bb90166dbebc6427ecb6), [#6553](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6553)).
+- **Engine:** Audio effects launch Chrome like every other render, sandbox retry included ([c1da4a760e6f2](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/c1da4a760e6f2b9ce523ba1f47f8185670c08174), [#6550](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6550)).
+- Phone videos with an undecodable first audio track check, preview and render ([cfef528d3ae1d](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/cfef528d3ae1d4549db648242e8f4c9cc7524d71), [#6551](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6551)).
+- **CLI:** An element marked data-layout-ignore no longer counts as covering text ([41a7bc98f77b2](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/41a7bc98f77b2019b98f0401a7e813e978ef111c), [#6555](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6555)).
+- **Studio Server:** An HDR clip previews and snapshots the way the SDR export renders it ([404e8254e6ad0](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/404e8254e6ad07c02f1b83f654500a3656059bd5), [#6537](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6537)).
+- **Studio Server:** Preview loads root-path media, images and CSS from the project, as render does ([60927853485dd](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/60927853485ddeb4ed7d8bdf19047be3b384cd20), [#6552](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6552)).
+- **Core:** Text a script splits into letters shows once and carries the variable's value ([7053aa90dd16e](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/7053aa90dd16e9d1975b565a7014446964a86b20), [#6543](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6543)).
+
+## Internal
+
+- **Studio:** Record each edit-accuracy shard's file writes and reloads when HF_WRITE_TRACE is set ([58552ede4bfff](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/commit/58552ede4bfff5366fa535551845d20cda3f2875), [#6532](https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/pull/6532)).
+
+## Full changelog
+
+https://github.com/heygen-com/hyperframes/compare/v0.8.208...v0.8.209