diff --git a/services/nginx/app/classes/coolify_api_client.php b/services/nginx/app/classes/coolify_api_client.php
index cfdeb9ee..a3d7ce0f 100644
--- a/services/nginx/app/classes/coolify_api_client.php
+++ b/services/nginx/app/classes/coolify_api_client.php
@@ -159,6 +159,11 @@ class coolify_api_client
         return $this->request('GET', '/applications/' . rawurlencode($uuid) . '/restart');
     }
 
+    public function stopApplication(string $uuid): array
+    {
+        return $this->request('GET', '/applications/' . rawurlencode($uuid) . '/stop');
+    }
+
     public function deleteService(string $uuid): array
     {
         return $this->request('DELETE', '/services/' . rawurlencode($uuid));
diff --git a/services/nginx/app/classes/release_manager.php b/services/nginx/app/classes/release_manager.php
index e7fc8124..f327c902 100644
--- a/services/nginx/app/classes/release_manager.php
+++ b/services/nginx/app/classes/release_manager.php
@@ -1435,6 +1435,7 @@ class release_manager
         }
 
         $expectedCommit = self::normalizeCommitSha((string)($gateInput['expected_commit'] ?? ''));
+        $enforceExpectedCommit = $expectedCommit !== '' && !$this->releaseGateAutoSyncRequested($gateInput);
         $checked = [];
         try {
             foreach ($gateInput['api_ping_paths'] as $path) {
@@ -1444,7 +1445,7 @@ class release_manager
                     throw new RuntimeException(sprintf('%s returned success=false.', $path));
                 }
                 $actualCommit = $this->releaseGateApiPayloadCommitSha($payload);
-                if ($expectedCommit !== '' && !$this->releaseGateCommitMatches($actualCommit, $expectedCommit)) {
+                if ($enforceExpectedCommit && !$this->releaseGateCommitMatches($actualCommit, $expectedCommit)) {
                     throw new RuntimeException(sprintf(
                         '%s returned commit %s, expected %s.',
                         $path,
@@ -6257,6 +6258,7 @@ class release_manager
         }
 
         $deployment = $client->deployResource($serviceUuid, $this->releaseCoolifyForceRebuild($context));
+        $previousApplications = $this->stopCoolifyPreviousApplications($client, $context, $serviceUuid);
         return [
             'service_uuid' => $serviceUuid,
             'resource_type' => $resourceType,
@@ -6266,9 +6268,76 @@ class release_manager
             'updated' => self::redactPayload($update ?? []),
             'runtime_env' => $runtimeEnvUpdate,
             'deployment' => self::redactPayload($deployment),
+            'previous_applications' => self::redactPayload($previousApplications),
         ];
     }
 
+    private function stopCoolifyPreviousApplications(coolify_api_client $client, array $context, string $activeUuid): array
+    {
+        $stopped = [];
+        foreach ($this->releaseCoolifyPreviousApplicationUuids($context, $activeUuid) as $uuid) {
+            try {
+                $stopped[] = [
+                    'uuid' => $uuid,
+                    'status' => 'stop_requested',
+                    'result' => $client->stopApplication($uuid),
+                ];
+            } catch (Throwable $throwable) {
+                $stopped[] = [
+                    'uuid' => $uuid,
+                    'status' => 'warning',
+                    'error' => $throwable->getMessage(),
+                ];
+            }
+        }
+
+        return $stopped;
+    }
+
+    private function releaseCoolifyPreviousApplicationUuids(array $context, string $activeUuid): array
+    {
+        $values = [];
+        foreach ([
+            'coolify_previous_application_uuid',
+            'coolify_previous_artifact_app_uuid',
+            'coolify_previous_artifact_application_uuid',
+            'previous_application_uuid',
+            'previous_app_uuid',
+        ] as $key) {
+            if (is_scalar($context[$key] ?? null)) {
+                $values[] = (string)$context[$key];
+            }
+        }
+
+        foreach ([
+            'coolify_previous_application_uuids',
+            'coolify_previous_artifact_app_uuids',
+            'previous_application_uuids',
+            'previous_app_uuids',
+        ] as $key) {
+            if (!is_array($context[$key] ?? null)) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            foreach ($context[$key] as $value) {
+                if (is_scalar($value)) {
+                    $values[] = (string)$value;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        $activeUuid = trim($activeUuid);
+        $uuids = [];
+        foreach ($values as $value) {
+            $uuid = trim((string)$value);
+            if ($uuid === '' || $uuid === $activeUuid || in_array($uuid, $uuids, true)) {
+                continue;
+            }
+            $uuids[] = $uuid;
+        }
+
+        return $uuids;
+    }
+
     private function updateCoolifyReleaseRuntimeEnv(coolify_api_client $client, string $resourceUuid, string $resourceType, array $target, array $context): ?array
     {
         $env = $this->releaseCoolifyRuntimeEnv($target, $context);
diff --git a/services/nginx/app/tests/Unit/ReleaseManager/ReleaseManagerTest.php b/services/nginx/app/tests/Unit/ReleaseManager/ReleaseManagerTest.php
index 7e830a6e..99d1abf3 100644
--- a/services/nginx/app/tests/Unit/ReleaseManager/ReleaseManagerTest.php
+++ b/services/nginx/app/tests/Unit/ReleaseManager/ReleaseManagerTest.php
@@ -1010,6 +1010,7 @@ it('defines release manager schema, routes, permissions, and system-status integ
     expect($manager)->toContain('createService');
     expect($manager)->toContain('updateService');
     expect(file_get_contents(app_path('classes/coolify_api_client.php')))->toContain('updateApplicationEnvsBulk');
+    expect(file_get_contents(app_path('classes/coolify_api_client.php')))->toContain('stopApplication');
     expect($manager)->toContain('channel_presets');
     expect($manager)->toContain('target_presets');
 
@@ -1400,6 +1401,27 @@ it('resolves release deployment endpoints from manual overrides, URLs, health ch
     ]))->toBe('https://gateway.example.test/beta/frontend');
 });
 
+it('collects previous Coolify application UUIDs for stale route cleanup', function (): void {
+    $manager = new release_manager();
+    $previousApplications = new ReflectionMethod(release_manager::class, 'releaseCoolifyPreviousApplicationUuids');
+    $previousApplications->setAccessible(true);
+
+    expect($previousApplications->invoke($manager, [
+        'coolify_previous_artifact_app_uuid' => 'old-artifact-app',
+        'coolify_previous_application_uuid' => 'old-application',
+        'coolify_previous_application_uuids' => [
+            'old-application',
+            'active-application',
+            'other-old-application',
+            '',
+        ],
+    ], 'active-application'))->toBe([
+        'old-application',
+        'old-artifact-app',
+        'other-old-application',
+    ]);
+});
+
 it('redacts GitHub access metadata from public release versions', function (): void {
     $manager = new release_manager();
     $publicVersion = new ReflectionMethod(release_manager::class, 'publicVersion');