diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e69de29..9cdb238 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+# Changelog
+
+## [1.3.1](https://github.com/PathoGenOmics-Lab/VIPERA/compare/v1.3.0...v1.3.1) (2025-11-24)
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* force reading VCF fields as character ([18e5004](https://github.com/PathoGenOmics-Lab/VIPERA/commit/18e5004b9a3d8bfe0975109d2832a921d047930c))
diff --git a/version.txt b/version.txt
index f0bb29e..3a3cd8c 100644
--- a/version.txt
+++ b/version.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
-1.3.0
+1.3.1