diff --git a/.bumpversion.cfg b/.bumpversion.cfg
index 6a974260..80507cd7 100644
--- a/.bumpversion.cfg
+++ b/.bumpversion.cfg
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [bumpversion]
-current_version = 1.8.0.dev
+current_version = 1.9.0.dev
 commit = False
 tag = False
 parse = (?P<major>\d+)\.(?P<minor>\d+)\.(0b)?(?P<patch>\d+)(\.(?P<release>[a-z]+))?
diff --git a/.github/workflows/update_ci.yml b/.github/workflows/update_ci.yml
index 9910ac17..29bbf9fc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/update_ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/update_ci.yml
@@ -71,6 +71,33 @@ jobs:
             [noissue]
           delete-branch: true
       - uses: "actions/checkout@v4"
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+          path: "pulp-certguard"
+          ref: "1.8"
+
+      - name: "Run update"
+        working-directory: "pulp-certguard"
+        run: |
+          ../plugin_template/scripts/update_ci.sh
+
+      - name: "Create Pull Request for CI files"
+        uses: "peter-evans/create-pull-request@v4"
+        with:
+          token: "${{ secrets.RELEASE_TOKEN }}"
+          path: "pulp-certguard"
+          committer: "pulpbot <pulp-infra@redhat.com>"
+          author: "pulpbot <pulp-infra@redhat.com>"
+          title: "Update CI files for branch 1.8"
+          body: ""
+          branch: "update-ci/1.8"
+          base: "1.8"
+          commit-message: |
+            Update CI files
+
+            [noissue]
+          delete-branch: true
+      - uses: "actions/checkout@v4"
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
           path: "pulp-certguard"
diff --git a/CHANGES/+pulpcore_3.40.feature b/CHANGES/+pulpcore_3.40.feature
deleted file mode 100644
index c8fba8d1..00000000
--- a/CHANGES/+pulpcore_3.40.feature
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-Declared pulpcore compatibility up to 3.44.
diff --git a/docs/conf.py b/docs/conf.py
index 2453efab..bb36b3c8 100755
--- a/docs/conf.py
+++ b/docs/conf.py
@@ -53,9 +53,9 @@
 # built documents.
 #
 # The short X.Y version.
-version = "1.8.0.dev"
+version = "1.9.0.dev"
 # The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags.
-release = "1.8.0.dev"
+release = "1.9.0.dev"
 
 # The language for content autogenerated by Sphinx. Refer to documentation
 # for a list of supported languages.
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index dbc77f4a..f5323f7a 100755
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
 setup(
     name="pulp-certguard",
-    version="1.8.0.dev",
+    version="1.9.0.dev",
     description="Certguard plugin for the Pulp Project (transitional dummy package)",
     long_description=long_description,
     license="GPLv2+",
diff --git a/template_config.yml b/template_config.yml
index 53cc05f1..c006932c 100644
--- a/template_config.yml
+++ b/template_config.yml
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ flake8_ignore: []
 github_org: pulp
 issue_tracker: github
 kanban: true
-latest_release_branch: null
+latest_release_branch: '1.8'
 lint_requirements: false
 noissue_marker: '[noissue]'
 parallel_test_workers: 8