diff --git a/.codex-history.md b/.codex-history.md
index c49190e9f5..3e924abb11 100644
--- a/.codex-history.md
+++ b/.codex-history.md
@@ -786,3 +786,6 @@ History search guidance:
 
 156 - [2026-05-17 11:32:57] - v1.26.0-by-petru - Type: Modified - [docs] [changelog] [github-links] Converted changelog PR references to explicit GitHub pull-request links.
 - 1 - I updated `CHANGELOG.md` and `CHANGELOG-archived.md` so plain standalone references of the form `(#NNNNN)` and compound ampersand groups such as `(#NNNNN & #MMMMM)` now point directly to `https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/pull/...`, while leaving already linked references and other non-matching patterns untouched.
+
+157 - [2026-05-17 15:35:49] - v1.26.0-by-petru - Type: Fixed - [scripts] [custom-release] [release-target] Stopped release-target sync from requiring the remote release branch when an explicit target tag/ref is configured.
+- 1 - I updated [`.maintain-custom-release.sh`](/config/workspace/gitea-dev/gitea/.maintain-custom-release.sh) so `Sync upstream release target commits` validates only the configured `UPSTREAM_RELEASE_TARGET_REF` when one is set, instead of still failing on a missing local `upstream/release/...` remote-tracking branch after successfully fetching a target tag such as `v1.26.1`.
diff --git a/.maintain-custom-release.sh b/.maintain-custom-release.sh
index fa80e0184f..142b3643f5 100755
--- a/.maintain-custom-release.sh
+++ b/.maintain-custom-release.sh
@@ -778,6 +778,12 @@ ensure_upstream_compare_ref_exists() {
 ensure_upstream_target_ref_exists() {
   local source_ref=""
 
+  if [ -n "$UPSTREAM_RELEASE_TARGET_REF" ]; then
+    source_ref="$(resolve_upstream_release_import_ref)"
+    git rev-parse --verify "$source_ref" >/dev/null 2>&1 || die "Upstream release target ref '$source_ref' was not found locally."
+    return
+  fi
+
   normalize_upstream_release_branch
   source_ref="$(resolve_upstream_release_import_ref)"
   git rev-parse --verify "$source_ref" >/dev/null 2>&1 || die "Upstream release target ref '$source_ref' was not found locally."