diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index dcff5ec2..673e9c13 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -42,6 +42,21 @@ jobs:
               output = subprocess.check_output(command, text=True).strip()
               return [line for line in output.splitlines() if line]
 
+          alpha_pattern = re.compile(r"^alpha-v(\d{4}\.\d{1,2}\.\d{1,2})-alpha\.(\d+)$")
+
+          def parse_alpha_tag(tag: str) -> tuple[str, int] | None:
+              match = alpha_pattern.fullmatch(tag)
+              if not match:
+                  return None
+              calendar_version, sequence = match.groups()
+              return calendar_version, int(sequence)
+
+          def alpha_version(calendar_version: str, sequence: int) -> str:
+              return f"{calendar_version}-alpha.{sequence}"
+
+          def alpha_tag(calendar_version: str, sequence: int) -> str:
+              return f"alpha-v{calendar_version}-alpha.{sequence:04d}"
+
           existing_tags = [
               tag for tag in lines(["git", "tag", "--points-at", "HEAD"])
               if tag.startswith("alpha-v")
@@ -49,7 +64,8 @@ jobs:
 
           if existing_tags:
               tag = existing_tags[0]
-              version = tag.removeprefix("alpha-v")
+              parsed = parse_alpha_tag(tag)
+              version = alpha_version(*parsed) if parsed is not None else tag.removeprefix("alpha-v")
           else:
               today = datetime.now(timezone.utc).date()
               stable_date = None
@@ -71,8 +87,8 @@ jobs:
               calendar_version = f"{alpha_date.year}.{alpha_date.month}.{alpha_date.day}"
               sequence = len(lines(["git", "tag", "--list", f"alpha-v{calendar_version}-alpha.*"])) + 1
 
-              version = f"{calendar_version}-alpha.{sequence}"
-              tag = f"alpha-v{version}"
+              version = alpha_version(calendar_version, sequence)
+              tag = alpha_tag(calendar_version, sequence)
 
           display_match = re.fullmatch(r"(\d{4})\.(\d{1,2})\.(\d{1,2})-alpha\.(\d+)", version)
           display_version = (
@@ -275,7 +291,27 @@ jobs:
 
       - name: Generate release notes
         run: |
-          PREV_TAG=$(git tag --list 'alpha-v*' --sort=-version:refname | head -n 1 || echo "")
+          PREV_TAG=$(python3 <<'PY'
+          import re
+          import subprocess
+
+          current_tag = '${{ needs.version.outputs.tag }}'
+          pattern = re.compile(r'^alpha-v(\d{4})\.(\d{1,2})\.(\d{1,2})-alpha\.(\d+)$')
+
+          output = subprocess.check_output(['git', 'tag', '--list', 'alpha-v*'], text=True).strip()
+          tags = [line for line in output.splitlines() if line and line != current_tag]
+
+          parsed_tags = []
+          for tag in tags:
+              match = pattern.fullmatch(tag)
+              if not match:
+                  continue
+              year, month, day, sequence = map(int, match.groups())
+              parsed_tags.append(((year, month, day, sequence), tag))
+
+          print(max(parsed_tags)[1] if parsed_tags else '')
+          PY
+          )
           if [ -z "$PREV_TAG" ]; then
             NOTES=$(git log --oneline --no-merges -20)
           else
diff --git a/docs/ABSTRACTIONS.md b/docs/ABSTRACTIONS.md
index 2d89716d..e2d3b20d 100644
--- a/docs/ABSTRACTIONS.md
+++ b/docs/ABSTRACTIONS.md
@@ -669,6 +669,6 @@ Managed by `useSettings` hook and `SettingsPanel` component. `default_ai_agent`
 - **`download_and_install_app_update`** — Channel-aware download/install with streamed progress events.
 
 ### CI/CD
-- **`.github/workflows/release.yml`** — Alpha prereleases from every push to `main` using calendar-semver technical versions (`YYYY.M.D-alpha.N`) and clean `Alpha YYYY.M.D.N` release names. Publishes `alpha/latest.json` and refreshes the legacy `latest.json` / `latest-canary.json` aliases to the alpha feed.
+- **`.github/workflows/release.yml`** — Alpha prereleases from every push to `main` using calendar-semver technical versions (`YYYY.M.D-alpha.N`) and clean `Alpha YYYY.M.D.N` release names. GitHub alpha tags zero-pad the prerelease sequence (`alpha-vYYYY.M.D-alpha.NNNN`) so GitHub release ordering stays chronological while the shipped app version remains `YYYY.M.D-alpha.N`. Publishes `alpha/latest.json` and refreshes the legacy `latest.json` / `latest-canary.json` aliases to the alpha feed.
 - **`.github/workflows/release-stable.yml`** — Stable releases from `stable-vYYYY.M.D` tags. Publishes `stable/latest.json`.
 - **Beta cohorts** are handled in PostHog targeting only. There is no beta updater feed.
diff --git a/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md b/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
index 5e0a36d0..4964c774 100644
--- a/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
+++ b/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
@@ -782,6 +782,7 @@ Every push to `main` triggers `.github/workflows/release.yml`:
 ```
 push to main
   → version job: compute calendar alpha version YYYY.M.D-alpha.N
+    and a GitHub-sorted tag alpha-vYYYY.M.D-alpha.NNNN
       → use today's UTC date unless the latest stable-vYYYY.M.D tag already uses today
       → if stable already uses today, advance alpha to the next calendar day so semver still increases
   → build job:
@@ -789,7 +790,7 @@ push to main
       → upload signed .app.tar.gz + .sig updater artifacts
   → release job:
       → generate alpha-latest.json
-      → publish GitHub prerelease alpha-v<version> named Tolaria Alpha YYYY.M.D.N
+      → publish GitHub prerelease alpha-vYYYY.M.D-alpha.NNNN named Tolaria Alpha YYYY.M.D.N
   → pages job:
       → build static HTML release history page
       → publish alpha/latest.json
@@ -819,7 +820,7 @@ push stable-vYYYY.M.D tag
 ### Versioning
 
 - Stable promotions use git tags in the form `stable-vYYYY.M.D` and stamp the technical version `YYYY.M.D`.
-- Alpha builds stamp the technical version `YYYY.M.D-alpha.N` and display it as `Alpha YYYY.M.D.N`.
+- Alpha builds stamp the technical version `YYYY.M.D-alpha.N` and display it as `Alpha YYYY.M.D.N`. The GitHub release tag zero-pads the sequence as `alpha-vYYYY.M.D-alpha.NNNN` so GitHub release ordering remains chronological.
 - If the latest stable tag already uses today's date, alpha advances to the next calendar day before assigning `-alpha.N` so Alpha remains semver-newer than Stable across channel switches.
 - The workflows stamp the computed version into `tauri.conf.json` and `Cargo.toml` at build time.
 - This keeps display strings clean while preserving semver monotonicity when a user switches between Stable and Alpha.
diff --git a/src/utils/releaseHistoryPage.test.ts b/src/utils/releaseHistoryPage.test.ts
index 61d0ca7e..6971efb3 100644
--- a/src/utils/releaseHistoryPage.test.ts
+++ b/src/utils/releaseHistoryPage.test.ts
@@ -60,6 +60,35 @@ describe('buildReleaseHistoryPage', () => {
     expect(html).toContain('<p>First paragraph<br>with a line break.</p><p>Second paragraph</p>')
   })
 
+  it('sorts releases within each channel by published date descending even when the payload order is wrong', () => {
+    const html = buildReleaseHistoryPage([
+      {
+        body: 'Older alpha release',
+        name: 'Tolaria Alpha 2026.4.20.9',
+        prerelease: true,
+        published_at: '2026-04-20T09:44:02Z',
+        tag_name: 'alpha-v2026.4.20-alpha.9',
+      },
+      {
+        body: 'Newest alpha release',
+        name: 'Tolaria Alpha 2026.4.20.12',
+        prerelease: true,
+        published_at: '2026-04-20T16:53:41Z',
+        tag_name: 'alpha-v2026.4.20-alpha.12',
+      },
+      {
+        body: 'Middle alpha release',
+        name: 'Tolaria Alpha 2026.4.20.10',
+        prerelease: true,
+        published_at: '2026-04-20T10:32:01Z',
+        tag_name: 'alpha-v2026.4.20-alpha.10',
+      },
+    ])
+
+    expect(html.indexOf('Tolaria Alpha 2026.4.20.12')).toBeLessThan(html.indexOf('Tolaria Alpha 2026.4.20.10'))
+    expect(html.indexOf('Tolaria Alpha 2026.4.20.10')).toBeLessThan(html.indexOf('Tolaria Alpha 2026.4.20.9'))
+  })
+
   it('filters draft releases and shows an empty state for channels without published builds', () => {
     const html = buildReleaseHistoryPage([
       {
diff --git a/src/utils/releaseHistoryPage.ts b/src/utils/releaseHistoryPage.ts
index 4f126748..1b7fe6d1 100644
--- a/src/utils/releaseHistoryPage.ts
+++ b/src/utils/releaseHistoryPage.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ type ReleaseEntry = {
   githubUrl: string | null
   notesHtml: string
   publishedLabel: string
+  publishedTimestamp: number
   tagName: string
   title: string
 }
@@ -419,6 +420,15 @@ function formatPublishedLabel(value: unknown): string {
   })
 }
 
+function parsePublishedTimestamp(value: unknown): number {
+  const text = normalizeText(value)
+  if (text === null) return Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY
+
+  const publishedAt = new Date(text)
+  const timestamp = publishedAt.getTime()
+  return Number.isNaN(timestamp) ? Number.NEGATIVE_INFINITY : timestamp
+}
+
 function isDownloadableAsset(name: string): boolean {
   return name.endsWith('.dmg') || name.endsWith('.app.tar.gz') || name.endsWith('.zip')
 }
@@ -471,6 +481,7 @@ function normalizeReleaseEntry(release: GitHubReleasePayload): [ReleaseChannel,
     githubUrl: normalizeUrl(release.html_url),
     notesHtml: resolveReleaseNotesHtml(release.body_html, release.body),
     publishedLabel: formatPublishedLabel(release.published_at),
+    publishedTimestamp: parsePublishedTimestamp(release.published_at),
     tagName,
     title,
   }]
@@ -490,6 +501,10 @@ function collectReleaseSections(payload: unknown): ReleaseSections {
     sections[channel].push(release)
   }
 
+  for (const channel of ['stable', 'alpha'] as const) {
+    sections[channel].sort((left, right) => right.publishedTimestamp - left.publishedTimestamp)
+  }
+
   return sections
 }