diff --git a/RELEASE.md b/RELEASE.md
index 078bfa688c..fb9b03bd65 100644
--- a/RELEASE.md
+++ b/RELEASE.md
@@ -110,8 +110,8 @@ To publish a stable release:
 1. Do not change the release branch directly; make a PR to the release-X.Y branch with VERSION and any CHANGELOG changes.
    1. Ensure the `VERSION` file has **no** `-rc.X` suffix
    1. Update the Cortex version in the following locations:
-      - Kubernetes manifests located at `k8s/`
-      - Documentation located at `docs/`
+      - `docs/getting-started/.env`
+      - Bump version in cortex-helm-chart via PR, for example https://github.com/cortexproject/cortex-helm-chart/pull/501
 1. After merging your PR to release branch, `git tag` the new release (see [How to tag a release](#how-to-tag-a-release)) from release branch.
 1. Wait until CI pipeline succeeded (once a tag is created, the release process through GitHub actions will be triggered for this tag)
 1. Create a release in GitHub
diff --git a/docs/getting-started/.env b/docs/getting-started/.env
index 58aa8c3d91..ab10e56ed3 100644
--- a/docs/getting-started/.env
+++ b/docs/getting-started/.env
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-CORTEX_VERSION=v1.17.1
+CORTEX_VERSION=v1.18.1
 GRAFANA_VERSION=10.4.2
 PROMETHEUS_VERSION=v2.51.2
-SEAWEEDFS_VERSION=3.67
\ No newline at end of file
+SEAWEEDFS_VERSION=3.67
diff --git a/integration/backward_compatibility_test.go b/integration/backward_compatibility_test.go
index e209346528..e2f1e2d791 100644
--- a/integration/backward_compatibility_test.go
+++ b/integration/backward_compatibility_test.go
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@ var (
 		"quay.io/cortexproject/cortex:v1.17.0": nil,
 		"quay.io/cortexproject/cortex:v1.17.1": nil,
 		"quay.io/cortexproject/cortex:v1.18.0": nil,
+		"quay.io/cortexproject/cortex:v1.18.1": nil,
 	}
 )