chore(main): release 9.18.0 (#515)

🤖 I have created a release *beep* *boop*
---


##
[9.18.0](9.17.0...9.18.0)
(2026-09-25)


### Features

* Add retry state for RETRY-spec backoff
([#522](#522))
([e734558](e734558))
* Drive repeating tasks from a delay source
([9abe8cb](9abe8cb))
* Retry indefinitely after a data source failure instead of stopping
permanently in FDv1
([e17e173](e17e173))
* warn that payload filtering has no effect with FDv2
([#518](#518))
([296311f](296311f))
* Warn when the SDK is used in a forked process without postfork
([#512](#512))
([75402e9](75402e9))


### Bug Fixes

* Add async modules to the readthedocs API reference
([#513](#513))
([f40d3b2](f40d3b2))
* Log the cached-data evaluation warning only once per client
([#520](#520))
([59ce998](59ce998))
* Read all items when a collection is empty
([#524](#524))
([1087147](1087147))
* Repeating task wait duration is no longer reduced by a slow callback
duration.
([9abe8cb](9abe8cb))
* Report a distinct User-Agent for the async client
([#516](#516))
([514c467](514c467))
* Warn and use the documented default for an invalid poll interval or
initial reconnect delay
([e17e173](e17e173))

---
This PR was generated with [Release
Please](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please). See
[documentation](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please#release-please).

<!-- CURSOR_SUMMARY -->
---

> [!NOTE]
> **Overview**
> This PR **cuts release 9.18.0** by bumping the package version in
`pyproject.toml`, `ldclient/version.py`,
`.release-please-manifest.json`, and the provenance docs example, and by
adding the **9.18.0** section to `CHANGELOG.md`.
> 
> There is **no application code in the diff**—Release Please is
packaging work that was already merged. The new changelog highlights
**FDv1 data-source resilience** (indefinite retry after failures,
RETRY-spec backoff state, repeating tasks driven by a delay source, and
sane defaults/warnings for invalid poll/reconnect settings),
**operational warnings** (forked process without `postfork`, FDv2
payload filtering), and **fixes** (empty-collection reads,
repeating-task timing, one-time cached-data warnings, distinct async
`User-Agent`, ReadTheDocs async API docs).
> 
> <sup>Reviewed by [Cursor Bugbot](https://cursor.com/bugbot) for commit
eef08a1. Bugbot is set up for automated
code reviews on this repo. Configure
[here](https://www.cursor.com/dashboard/bugbot).</sup>
<!-- /CURSOR_SUMMARY -->

---------

Co-authored-by: github-actions[bot] <41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Jason Bailey <jbailey@launchdarkly.com>

Author: github-actions[bot]

.release-please-manifest.json

@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 {
-  ".": "9.17.0"
+  ".": "9.18.0"
 }

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -2,6 +2,27 @@
 
 All notable changes to the LaunchDarkly Python SDK will be documented in this file. This project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org).
 
+## [9.18.0](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/compare/9.17.0...9.18.0) (2026-09-25)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* Add retry state for RETRY-spec backoff ([#522](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/issues/522)) ([e734558](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/commit/e734558d52dbd3eeeb9d378f283dd3d3f5cee611))
+* Drive repeating tasks from a delay source ([9abe8cb](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/commit/9abe8cbb878445b500211c89f0e3176fdbe4587a))
+* Retry indefinitely after a data source failure instead of stopping permanently in FDv1 ([e17e173](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/commit/e17e1730de44f4494befd4df260381f7548ca74a))
+* Warn that payload filtering has no effect with FDv2 ([#518](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/issues/518)) ([296311f](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/commit/296311f9ea73f09e96bd8dfb7410405e08794776))
+* Warn when the SDK is used in a forked process without postfork ([#512](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/issues/512)) ([75402e9](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/commit/75402e90f38a154466ab8b2bdd53a819720e0001))
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* Add async modules to the readthedocs API reference ([#513](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/issues/513)) ([f40d3b2](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/commit/f40d3b22c808e829e9deb4ac5feab05db85674e8))
+* Log the cached-data evaluation warning only once per client ([#520](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/issues/520)) ([59ce998](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/commit/59ce998668b6907fb0663699127b0b9895cbdcef))
+* Read all items when a collection is empty ([#524](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/issues/524)) ([1087147](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/commit/108714738b1ef0b955321b502bfa65dbced5eaee))
+* Repeating task wait duration is no longer reduced by a slow callback duration. ([9abe8cb](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/commit/9abe8cbb878445b500211c89f0e3176fdbe4587a))
+* Report a distinct User-Agent for the async client ([#516](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/issues/516)) ([514c467](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/commit/514c46780cf5aa593c1f791bd1335c7048f6d235))
+* Warn and use the documented default for an invalid poll interval or initial reconnect delay ([e17e173](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/commit/e17e1730de44f4494befd4df260381f7548ca74a))
+
 ## [9.17.0](https://github.com/launchdarkly/python-server-sdk/compare/9.16.1...9.17.0) (2026-08-28)
 
 

PROVENANCE.md

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ To verify build provenance attestations, we recommend using the [GitHub CLI `att
 <!-- x-release-please-start-version -->
 ```
 # Set the version of the SDK to verify
-SDK_VERSION=9.17.0
+SDK_VERSION=9.18.0
 ```
 <!-- x-release-please-end -->
 

ldclient/version.py

@@ -1 +1 @@
-VERSION = "9.17.0"  # x-release-please-version
+VERSION = "9.18.0"  # x-release-please-version

pyproject.toml

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "launchdarkly-server-sdk"
-version = "9.17.0"
+version = "9.18.0"
 description = "LaunchDarkly SDK for Python"
 authors = [
     {name = "LaunchDarkly", email = "dev@launchdarkly.com"}