diff --git a/cli/updates_xml_build.php b/cli/updates_xml_build.php
index 60e7616..681f639 100644
--- a/cli/updates_xml_build.php
+++ b/cli/updates_xml_build.php
@@ -299,6 +299,7 @@ $stabilitySuffixMap = [
     'beta'        => '-beta',
     'alpha'       => '-alpha',
     'development' => '-dev',
+    'dev'         => '-dev',
 ];
 
 // Joomla <tags><tag> values — maps to Joomla's stabilityTagToInteger()
@@ -308,6 +309,7 @@ $stabilityTagMap = [
     'beta'        => 'beta',
     'alpha'       => 'alpha',
     'development' => 'dev',
+    'dev'         => 'dev',
 ];
 
 // Gitea release tag names (used in download/info URLs)
@@ -317,6 +319,7 @@ $releaseTagMap = [
     'beta'        => 'beta',
     'alpha'       => 'alpha',
     'development' => 'development',
+    'dev'         => 'development',
 ];
 
 // -- Build update entries -----------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/cli/version_auto_bump.php b/cli/version_auto_bump.php
index f7de29e..350ba9a 100644
--- a/cli/version_auto_bump.php
+++ b/cli/version_auto_bump.php
@@ -26,11 +26,14 @@ $token   = '';
 $repoUrl = '';
 $dryRun  = false;
 
+$watchPath = '';
+
 foreach ($argv as $i => $arg) {
-    if ($arg === '--path'     && isset($argv[$i + 1])) $path    = $argv[$i + 1];
-    if ($arg === '--branch'   && isset($argv[$i + 1])) $branch  = $argv[$i + 1];
-    if ($arg === '--token'    && isset($argv[$i + 1])) $token   = $argv[$i + 1];
-    if ($arg === '--repo-url' && isset($argv[$i + 1])) $repoUrl = $argv[$i + 1];
+    if ($arg === '--path'       && isset($argv[$i + 1])) $path      = $argv[$i + 1];
+    if ($arg === '--branch'     && isset($argv[$i + 1])) $branch    = $argv[$i + 1];
+    if ($arg === '--token'      && isset($argv[$i + 1])) $token     = $argv[$i + 1];
+    if ($arg === '--repo-url'   && isset($argv[$i + 1])) $repoUrl   = $argv[$i + 1];
+    if ($arg === '--watch-path' && isset($argv[$i + 1])) $watchPath = $argv[$i + 1];
     if ($arg === '--dry-run') $dryRun = true;
 }
 
@@ -62,17 +65,42 @@ if (array_key_exists($branch, $stabilityMap)) {
 $cli = __DIR__;
 $php = PHP_BINARY;
 
-// Step 1: Patch bump — all branches get patch bumps
-$shouldBump = true;
-
-if ($shouldBump) {
-    $bumpOutput = [];
-    exec("{$php} {$cli}/version_bump.php --path " . escapeshellarg($path) . " 2>&1", $bumpOutput, $bumpRc);
-    foreach ($bumpOutput as $line) {
-        echo "{$line}\n";
+// Auto-detect watch path from manifest.xml if not provided
+if (empty($watchPath)) {
+    $manifestFile = realpath($path) . '/.mokogitea/manifest.xml';
+    if (file_exists($manifestFile)) {
+        $xml = @simplexml_load_file($manifestFile);
+        if ($xml && isset($xml->build->{'entry-point'})) {
+            $watchPath = (string) $xml->build->{'entry-point'};
+        }
     }
-} else {
-    echo "Skipping patch bump on {$branch} branch (suffix change only)\n";
+}
+
+// Check if code files actually changed (skip bump for docs/config-only changes)
+$shouldBump = true;
+if (!empty($watchPath)) {
+    $root = realpath($path) ?: $path;
+    $diffOutput = trim((string) @shell_exec(
+        "cd " . escapeshellarg($root) . " && git diff --name-only HEAD~1 HEAD -- " . escapeshellarg($watchPath) . " 2>/dev/null"
+    ));
+    if (empty($diffOutput)) {
+        echo "No changes in {$watchPath} — skipping version bump\n";
+        $shouldBump = false;
+    } else {
+        echo "Changes detected in {$watchPath}:\n{$diffOutput}\n";
+    }
+}
+
+if (!$shouldBump) {
+    echo "No code changes — nothing to do\n";
+    exit(0);
+}
+
+// Step 1: Patch bump
+$bumpOutput = [];
+exec("{$php} {$cli}/version_bump.php --path " . escapeshellarg($path) . " 2>&1", $bumpOutput, $bumpRc);
+foreach ($bumpOutput as $line) {
+    echo "{$line}\n";
 }
 
 // Step 2: Read version