diff --git a/roboco/services/release_proposal.py b/roboco/services/release_proposal.py
index cca86af0..ecc10ff7 100644
--- a/roboco/services/release_proposal.py
+++ b/roboco/services/release_proposal.py
@@ -283,11 +283,17 @@ class ReleaseProposalService(BaseService):
         publish). Off/no-creds is itself a no-op inside the engine. The
         proposal task's project scopes the draft to the released project."""
         try:
-            from roboco.services.x_engine import get_x_engine
+            from roboco.services.x_engine import changelog_highlights, get_x_engine
 
+            # Prefer the curated CHANGELOG's feature headlines over raw
+            # per-commit subjects — the latter made the announcement caption
+            # parrot the top commit ("docs: curate the Unreleased body…").
+            highlights = changelog_highlights(report.drafted_changelog) or list(
+                report.change_summary
+            )
             await get_x_engine(self.session).draft_release_post(
                 version=report.proposed_version,
-                highlights=list(report.change_summary),
+                highlights=highlights,
                 project_id=project_id,
             )
         except Exception as exc:
diff --git a/roboco/services/x_engine.py b/roboco/services/x_engine.py
index 36f82436..59fbb188 100644
--- a/roboco/services/x_engine.py
+++ b/roboco/services/x_engine.py
@@ -103,6 +103,31 @@ def _fallback_release_body(
     return f"{product_name} v{version} is out: {lead}"
 
 
+# Bold feature leads in a Keep-a-Changelog release body: "- **Headline (#N).**"
+_CHANGELOG_LEAD_RE = re.compile(r"^- \*\*(?P<lead>.+?)\*\*", re.MULTILINE)
+_CHANGELOG_PR_REF_RE = re.compile(r"\s*\(#\d+(?:,\s*#\d+)*\)")
+
+
+def changelog_highlights(entry: str, *, limit: int = 8) -> list[str]:
+    """Human-readable feature headlines from a curated CHANGELOG release body.
+
+    The release drafter's ``change_summary`` is raw per-commit subjects
+    ("docs: curate the full 0.26.0 Unreleased body (#601)") — feeding those to
+    the announcement model produces a lame parroted caption. The curated
+    changelog's bold leads ARE the feature story ("Telegram Mini App V5 — brand
+    voice…"), so use those instead. Pure + best-effort: a body with no bold
+    leads yields an empty list and the caller falls back to change_summary.
+    """
+    out: list[str] = []
+    for m in _CHANGELOG_LEAD_RE.finditer(entry):
+        lead = _CHANGELOG_PR_REF_RE.sub("", m.group("lead")).strip().rstrip(".").strip()
+        if lead:
+            out.append(lead)
+        if len(out) >= limit:
+            break
+    return out
+
+
 def _release_prompt(
     version: str, highlights: list[str], voice: str, product_name: str
 ) -> str:
diff --git a/tests/unit/services/test_x_engine.py b/tests/unit/services/test_x_engine.py
index f39ad48e..d6e19299 100644
--- a/tests/unit/services/test_x_engine.py
+++ b/tests/unit/services/test_x_engine.py
@@ -1398,3 +1398,27 @@ async def test_draft_release_post_uses_project_name_when_set(
     assert body is not None
     assert "Acme Robotics" in body
     assert "RoboCo" not in body
+
+
+def test_changelog_highlights_extracts_feature_headlines() -> None:
+    entry = (
+        "## [0.26.0] - 2026-07-20\n\n"
+        "### Security\n\n"
+        "- **Orchestrator API is off the public internet (GHSA-4f7g).** Both "
+        "composes published :8000 on 0.0.0.0.\n\n"
+        "### Added\n\n"
+        "- **Telegram Mini App V5 — brand voice and an operations ring (#583).** "
+        "Share Tech Mono becomes the display face.\n"
+        "- **Forge program: GitHub, Gitea, and GitLab (#575, #581).** One API.\n"
+    )
+    hl = x_engine_module.changelog_highlights(entry)
+    assert hl[0] == "Orchestrator API is off the public internet (GHSA-4f7g)"
+    assert hl[1] == "Telegram Mini App V5 — brand voice and an operations ring"
+    assert hl[2] == "Forge program: GitHub, Gitea, and GitLab"
+    # No raw commit-subject noise, no trailing PR refs or periods.
+    assert all("#" not in h.split("(GHSA")[0] for h in hl)
+
+
+def test_changelog_highlights_empty_on_no_leads() -> None:
+    body = "## [0.26.0]\n\nplain prose, no bold leads\n"
+    assert x_engine_module.changelog_highlights(body) == []