Release Vigil 7.1.0

.gitignore

@@ -27,5 +27,9 @@ Thumbs.db
 *.local
 .kiln/
 
+# Kiln-generated native harness projections
+.claude/
+AGENTS.md
+
 # Test output
 test-output/

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -22,6 +22,20 @@ include migration notes.
   `6.0.x` was the final Spring Boot 3.5 / Java 21 line, not a
   backward-compatibility target for `7.0.x`.
 
+## 7.1.0 - 2026-07-10
+
+- Added generic step-up authorization: short-lived, opaque, one-time proofs bound to tenant,
+  audience, purpose, current actor, authorizing actor, method, and audit ID without mutating the
+  current session.
+- Added extensible credential verifier and shared-state SPIs, plus personal numeric PIN support
+  with BCrypt hashing, configurable policy, rotation/revocation helpers, lockout reuse, and
+  single-node Caffeine defaults.
+- Added step-up integration, security, migration, and multi-instance deployment documentation.
+- Reorganized the public documentation around a canonical index, architecture, API contracts,
+  security, operations, development verification, and release guidance.
+- Consolidated duplicated integration and configuration prose into a concise package README, a
+  task-focused authentication guide, and one configuration reference.
+
 ## 6.0.0 - 2026-06-05
 
 - Hardened public release documentation with security, contribution, usage,

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ Contributions are welcome when they keep Vigil small, explicit, tested, and secu
 
 ## Development Requirements
 
-- Java 21.
-- Spring Boot 3.5.x compatibility.
+- Java 25.
+- Spring Boot 4.1.x compatibility.
 - Use the Gradle wrapper, not a system Gradle requirement.
 
 ## Quality Gates