diff --git a/scripts/backfill_releases.sh b/scripts/backfill_releases.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..69f84eb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/backfill_releases.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# backfill_releases.sh - Backfill Gitea releases for existing v0.1 tags
+#
+# For each tag passed (or all v0.1.1..v0.1.6 and v0.2.0), this script:
+#   1. Builds the orca binary from the current milestone branch head
+#      (v0.1 retrospective: phase tags marked ship points but the entry
+#      point fix is consolidated into a single post-fix build; see
+#      .ciagent/RELEASE_POLICY.md for the standing rule)
+#   2. Injects the historical version via -ldflags
+#   3. Packages a tarball
+#   4. Creates a Gitea release with the tarball as an asset
+#
+# Idempotent: skips tags that already have a release.
+#
+# Usage: scripts/backfill_releases.sh [tag1 tag2 ...]
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
+REPO_ROOT="$(cd "$SCRIPT_DIR/.." && pwd)"
+cd "$REPO_ROOT"
+
+# Source .env for GITEA_TOKEN
+for env_file in "$REPO_ROOT/.env" "$PWD/.env" "./.env"; do
+  if [ -f "$env_file" ]; then
+    set -a
+    # shellcheck disable=SC1090
+    . "$env_file"
+    set +a
+    break
+  fi
+done
+
+err() { echo "backfill: error: $*" >&2; exit 1; }
+info() { echo "backfill: $*"; }
+
+: "${GITEA_TOKEN:?GITEA_TOKEN is required}"
+command -v tea >/dev/null 2>&1 || err "tea CLI not on PATH"
+command -v go >/dev/null 2>&1 || err "go not on PATH"
+command -v tar >/dev/null 2>&1 || err "tar not on PATH"
+
+REPO="coreci/orca"
+
+# Default: backfill v0.1.1..v0.1.6 and v0.2.0
+if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
+  TAGS=(v0.1.1 v0.1.2 v0.1.3 v0.1.4 v0.1.5 v0.1.6 v0.2.0)
+else
+  TAGS=("$@")
+fi
+
+# Existing releases to skip
+EXISTING="$(tea releases list --repo "$REPO" --output simple 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $1}' || true)"
+
+OS="$(uname -s | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')"
+ARCH="$(uname -m)"
+case "$ARCH" in
+  x86_64) ARCH=amd64 ;;
+  aarch64) ARCH=arm64 ;;
+  armv7l) ARCH=armv7 ;;
+esac
+
+# Use the cached Go 1.25.0 toolchain explicitly
+TOOLGO="/root/go/pkg/mod/golang.org/toolchain@v0.0.1-go1.25.0.linux-amd64/bin/go"
+if [ ! -x "$TOOLGO" ]; then
+  TOOLGO="$(command -v go)"
+fi
+
+phase_name() {
+  case "$1" in
+    v0.1.1) echo "Phase 1: CLI skeleton" ;;
+    v0.1.2) echo "Phase 2: Node management" ;;
+    v0.1.3) echo "Phase 3: Task execution" ;;
+    v0.1.4) echo "Phase 4: State persistence" ;;
+    v0.1.5) echo "Phase 5: Health checks" ;;
+    v0.1.6) echo "Phase 6: CoreCI release flow" ;;
+    v0.2.0) echo "Milestone v0.1: Foundation complete" ;;
+    *) echo "Orca $1" ;;
+  esac
+}
+
+for TAG in "${TAGS[@]}"; do
+  if echo "$EXISTING" | grep -qx "$TAG"; then
+    info "skip $TAG (release exists)"
+    continue
+  fi
+
+  info "=== $TAG ==="
+  # The v0.1.1..v0.1.6 phase tags point to merge commits; the canonical
+  # source of truth for v0.1 code is the current milestone branch HEAD
+  # (which includes the main.go entry-point fix).
+  BUILD_COMMIT="$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)"
+  FULL_COMMIT="$(git rev-parse HEAD)"
+  info "build from HEAD: $BUILD_COMMIT (per RELEASE_POLICY.md v0.1 retrospective)"
+
+  BUILD_TIME="$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)"
+  LDFLAGS="-s -w -X git.cloudinit.dev/coreci/orca/internal/cli.version=$TAG -X git.cloudinit.dev/coreci/orca/internal/cli.gitCommit=$BUILD_COMMIT -X git.cloudinit.dev/coreci/orca/internal/cli.buildTime=$BUILD_TIME"
+
+  mkdir -p bin
+  GOTOOLCHAIN=local "$TOOLGO" build -trimpath -ldflags="$LDFLAGS" -o bin/orca ./cmd/orca
+
+  TARBALL="orca-${TAG}-${OS}-${ARCH}.tar.gz"
+  tar -czf "$TARBALL" -C bin orca
+  info "tarball: $TARBALL ($(du -h "$TARBALL" | cut -f1))"
+
+  # Generate release notes
+  PREV_TAG="$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 "$TAG^" 2>/dev/null || true)"
+  NOTES_FILE="$(mktemp)"
+  PHASE_NAME="$(phase_name "$TAG")"
+  {
+    echo "# Release $TAG — ${PHASE_NAME}"
+    echo ""
+    echo "_Built: $BUILD_TIME from $BUILD_COMMIT (${FULL_COMMIT:0:12})_"
+    echo ""
+    echo "## Notes"
+    echo ""
+    echo "This release artifact is built from the v0.1 milestone branch HEAD"
+    echo "(post entry-point fix). For v0.2+ and future milestones, every phase"
+    echo "tag will be released with the binary as-of that exact commit; see"
+    echo "\`.ciagent/RELEASE_POLICY.md\` for the standing rule."
+    echo ""
+    if [ -n "$PREV_TAG" ] && [ "$TAG" != "v0.2.0" ]; then
+      echo "## Changes since $PREV_TAG"
+      echo ""
+      git log --pretty=format:'- %s' "${PREV_TAG}..${TAG}" 2>/dev/null | head -50
+      echo ""
+    fi
+    if [ "$TAG" = "v0.2.0" ]; then
+      echo "## Milestone v0.1: Foundation — All Phases"
+      echo ""
+      echo "All 6 phases of the v0.1 Foundation milestone are complete:"
+      echo ""
+      echo "- **Phase 1** (v0.1.1): CLI skeleton with Cobra, subcommand stubs, pre-push hook"
+      echo "- **Phase 2** (v0.1.2): Node management with SQLite-backed registry"
+      echo "- **Phase 3** (v0.1.3): Task execution engine with HCL specs, jobs, tasks, WaitDelay"
+      echo "- **Phase 4** (v0.1.4): Local state persistence — audit log + migration runner"
+      echo "- **Phase 5** (v0.1.5): Health-check daemon with /healthz, /readyz, /v1/* handlers"
+      echo "- **Phase 6** (v0.1.6): CoreCI release flow with .coreci.yml and tea integration"
+      echo ""
+      echo "## Requirements Covered (21/24)"
+      echo ""
+      echo "REQ-001 Go 1.25+ toolchain, REQ-002 CLI-first single binary, REQ-003 Offline-first,"
+      echo "REQ-004 Single-node task execution, REQ-005 modernc/sqlite CGO-free, REQ-006 slog"
+      echo "audit logging, REQ-007 CoreCI release flow, REQ-008 Structured JSON logging,"
+      echo "REQ-009 HCL/YAML job spec parsing, REQ-010 --json output flag, REQ-012 Config"
+      echo "locations (~/.orca/, ORCA_DB), REQ-013 Pre-push hook, REQ-015 MIT LICENSE,"
+      echo "REQ-016 README quickstart, REQ-017 context.Context propagation, REQ-018 %w error"
+      echo "wrapping, REQ-019 Cobra CLI, REQ-020 hashicorp/hcl parser, REQ-021 os/exec"
+      echo "WaitDelay, REQ-024 Makefile standard targets."
+      echo ""
+      echo "Deferred to v0.2: REQ-011/023 (mTLS), REQ-014 (gosec+govulncheck), REQ-022"
+      echo "(iter.Seq streaming)."
+      echo ""
+      echo "## Changes since v0.1.6"
+      echo ""
+      git log --pretty=format:'- %s' "v0.1.6..${TAG}" 2>/dev/null | head -50
+      echo ""
+    fi
+  } > "$NOTES_FILE"
+
+  info "creating gitea release..."
+  tea releases create "$TAG" \
+    --repo "$REPO" \
+    --title "Orca $TAG — ${PHASE_NAME}" \
+    --note-file "$NOTES_FILE" \
+    --asset "$TARBALL"
+
+  info "✓ $TAG published"
+  rm -f "$TARBALL"
+done
+
+info "all done"