diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
index f1c1e58..210d290 100644
--- a/.release-please-manifest.json
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  ".": "0.5.0"
+  ".": "0.5.1"
 }
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index c893c88..b280b39 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## [0.5.1](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/compare/v0.5.0...v0.5.1) (2026-03-28)
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* fall back to CACHEKIT_MASTER_KEY env var in cache.secure decorator ([#79](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/issues/79)) ([7275e70](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/commit/7275e70f3face381270d41902f199ebc1690a1bf))
+
 ## [0.5.0](https://github.com/cachekit-io/cachekit-py/compare/v0.4.1...v0.5.0) (2026-03-27)
 
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 9789dcb..6f079fe 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "maturin"
 
 [project]
 name = "cachekit"
-version = "0.5.0"
+version = "0.5.1"
 description = "Production-ready Redis caching for Python with intelligent reliability features and Rust-powered performance"
 readme = "README.md"
 license = {text = "MIT"}
diff --git a/rust/Cargo.toml b/rust/Cargo.toml
index eb6c2f3..9cc6042 100644
--- a/rust/Cargo.toml
+++ b/rust/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "cachekit-rs"
-version = "0.5.0"
+version = "0.5.1"
 edition = "2021"
 authors = ["cachekit Contributors"]
 description = "High-performance storage engine for caching with compression and encryption"
diff --git a/src/cachekit/__init__.py b/src/cachekit/__init__.py
index 3c17d79..4a6406c 100644
--- a/src/cachekit/__init__.py
+++ b/src/cachekit/__init__.py
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ def custom_function():
     ```
 """
 
-__version__ = "0.5.0"
+__version__ = "0.5.1"
 
 from typing import Any, Callable, TypeVar