diff --git a/.github/workflows/developer-guide-docs.yml b/.github/workflows/developer-guide-docs.yml
index ee2c36a9db..bd8c1b34a8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/developer-guide-docs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/developer-guide-docs.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ name: Build Developer Guide Docs
 
 on:
   pull_request:
+    types: [opened, synchronize, reopened, ready_for_review]
     paths:
       - 'docs/developer-guide/**'
       - '.github/workflows/developer-guide-docs.yml'
@@ -21,23 +22,60 @@ jobs:
       - name: Check out repository
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
-      - name: Update publication metadata for release
-        if: ${{ github.event_name == 'release' && github.event.action == 'published' }}
-        env:
-          RELEASE_TAG: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
+      - name: Determine publication metadata
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           REV_DATE="$(date -u +%Y-%m-%d)"
-          VERSION="${RELEASE_TAG:-}"
+          VERSION="${GITHUB_HEAD_REF:-}"
           if [ -z "$VERSION" ] && [ -n "${GITHUB_REF_NAME:-}" ]; then
             VERSION="$GITHUB_REF_NAME"
           fi
+          if [ -z "$VERSION" ] && [ -n "${GITHUB_SHA:-}" ]; then
+            VERSION="${GITHUB_SHA:0:7}"
+          fi
           VERSION="${VERSION#v}"
           if [ -z "$VERSION" ]; then
             VERSION="UNKNOWN"
           fi
-          sed -i -E "s/^:revdate: .*/:revdate: ${REV_DATE}/" docs/developer-guide/developer-guide.asciidoc
-          sed -i -E "s/^:revnumber: .*/:revnumber: ${VERSION}/" docs/developer-guide/developer-guide.asciidoc
+          if date -u -d "$REV_DATE" '+%B %-d, %Y' >/tmp/rev_human 2>/dev/null; then
+            REV_HUMAN_DATE="$(cat /tmp/rev_human)"
+          else
+            REV_HUMAN_DATE="$(date -u '+%B %-d, %Y')"
+          fi
+          echo "Developer guide workflow metadata:" >&2
+          echo "  REV_DATE=$REV_DATE" >&2
+          echo "  REV_NUMBER=$VERSION" >&2
+          echo "  REV_HUMAN_DATE=$REV_HUMAN_DATE" >&2
+          {
+            echo "REV_DATE=$REV_DATE"
+            echo "REV_NUMBER=$VERSION"
+            echo "REV_HUMAN_DATE=$REV_HUMAN_DATE"
+          } >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+
+      - name: Render publication cover artwork
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          sudo apt-get update
+          sudo apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends librsvg2-bin
+          SOURCE="docs/developer-guide/book-cover.svg"
+          GENERATED_SVG="docs/developer-guide/book-cover.generated.svg"
+          GENERATED_PNG="docs/developer-guide/book-cover.generated.png"
+          cp "$SOURCE" "$GENERATED_SVG"
+          export GENERATED_SVG
+          python3 scripts/developer-guide/prepare_cover_artwork.py \
+            "$GENERATED_SVG" \
+            --rev-number "$REV_NUMBER" \
+            --rev-human-date "$REV_HUMAN_DATE" \
+            --rev-date "$REV_DATE"
+          echo "Rasterizing cover artwork to ${GENERATED_PNG}" >&2
+          rsvg-convert -w 2551 -h 3579 "$GENERATED_SVG" -o "$GENERATED_PNG"
+          ls -l "$GENERATED_PNG"
+          file "$GENERATED_PNG"
+          {
+            echo "COVER_IMAGE_ATTR=$(basename "$GENERATED_PNG")"
+            echo "GENERATED_COVER_IMAGE=$GENERATED_PNG"
+            echo "GENERATED_COVER_SVG=$GENERATED_SVG"
+          } >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
 
       - name: Set up Ruby
         uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1
@@ -55,11 +93,30 @@ jobs:
           HTML_BUILD_DIR="${OUTPUT_ROOT}/html"
           PDF_BUILD_DIR="${OUTPUT_ROOT}/pdf"
           PACKAGE_DIR="${OUTPUT_ROOT}/html-package"
+          COVER_IMAGE_ATTR_VALUE="${COVER_IMAGE_ATTR:-book-cover.svg}"
+          GENERATED_COVER_IMAGE="${GENERATED_COVER_IMAGE:-}"
+          GENERATED_COVER_SVG="${GENERATED_COVER_SVG:-}"
+          echo "Building with cover image attribute: ${COVER_IMAGE_ATTR_VALUE}" >&2
           mkdir -p "$HTML_BUILD_DIR" "$PDF_BUILD_DIR"
-          asciidoctor -D "$HTML_BUILD_DIR" -o developer-guide.html docs/developer-guide/developer-guide.asciidoc
-          asciidoctor-pdf -D "$PDF_BUILD_DIR" -o developer-guide.pdf docs/developer-guide/developer-guide.asciidoc
+          asciidoctor \
+            -a revdate="$REV_DATE" \
+            -a revnumber="$REV_NUMBER" \
+            -a cover-image="$COVER_IMAGE_ATTR_VALUE" \
+            -D "$HTML_BUILD_DIR" \
+            -o developer-guide.html \
+            docs/developer-guide/developer-guide.asciidoc
+          asciidoctor-pdf \
+            -a revdate="$REV_DATE" \
+            -a revnumber="$REV_NUMBER" \
+            -a cover-image="$COVER_IMAGE_ATTR_VALUE" \
+            -D "$PDF_BUILD_DIR" \
+            -o developer-guide.pdf \
+            docs/developer-guide/developer-guide.asciidoc
           rm -rf "$PACKAGE_DIR"
           mkdir -p "$PACKAGE_DIR"
+          if [ -n "$GENERATED_COVER_IMAGE" ] && [ -f "$GENERATED_COVER_IMAGE" ]; then
+            cp "$GENERATED_COVER_IMAGE" "$HTML_BUILD_DIR/$(basename "$GENERATED_COVER_IMAGE")"
+          fi
           cp "$HTML_BUILD_DIR/developer-guide.html" "$PACKAGE_DIR/"
           for asset_dir in docs/developer-guide/*; do
             base_name="$(basename "$asset_dir")"
@@ -67,7 +124,16 @@ jobs:
               cp -R "$asset_dir" "$PACKAGE_DIR/"
             fi
           done
+          if [ -n "$GENERATED_COVER_IMAGE" ] && [ -f "$GENERATED_COVER_IMAGE" ]; then
+            cp "$GENERATED_COVER_IMAGE" "$PACKAGE_DIR/$(basename "$GENERATED_COVER_IMAGE")"
+          fi
           (cd "$PACKAGE_DIR" && zip -r "../developer-guide-html.zip" .)
+          if [ -n "$GENERATED_COVER_IMAGE" ] && [ -f "$GENERATED_COVER_IMAGE" ]; then
+            rm -f "$GENERATED_COVER_IMAGE"
+          fi
+          if [ -n "$GENERATED_COVER_SVG" ] && [ -f "$GENERATED_COVER_SVG" ]; then
+            rm -f "$GENERATED_COVER_SVG"
+          fi
 
       - name: Upload HTML artifact
         uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
@@ -92,6 +158,24 @@ jobs:
             const marker = '<!-- developer-guide-artifacts -->';
             const { owner, repo } = context.repo;
             const runId = context.runId;
+            const prNumber = context.payload.pull_request?.number;
+            const runHeadSha = context.payload.pull_request?.head?.sha;
+
+            if (prNumber && runHeadSha) {
+              const { data: pr } = await github.rest.pulls.get({
+                owner,
+                repo,
+                pull_number: prNumber
+              });
+
+              if (pr.head.sha !== runHeadSha) {
+                console.log(
+                  `Skipping PR comment update because workflow run head ${runHeadSha} is not the latest PR head ${pr.head.sha}.`
+                );
+                return;
+              }
+            }
+
             const artifacts = await github.rest.actions.listWorkflowRunArtifacts({
               owner,
               repo,
diff --git a/docs/developer-guide/.gitignore b/docs/developer-guide/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7516c3134b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/developer-guide/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+book-cover.generated.svg
+book-cover.generated.png
diff --git a/docs/developer-guide/developer-guide.asciidoc b/docs/developer-guide/developer-guide.asciidoc
index 66232ad8ef..e4c896690f 100644
--- a/docs/developer-guide/developer-guide.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/developer-guide/developer-guide.asciidoc
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@
 :autofit-option:
 //:hide-uri-scheme:
 :uuid: 92CA37B2-EB2B-4B8F-AC7C-1ED13683F7FB
-:front-cover-image: image:img/cover.png[Front Cover,1000,1600]
+:cover-image: book-cover.svg
+:front-cover-image: image:{cover-image}[Front Cover]
 :lang: en-US
 :revdate: 2025-10-20
 :revnumber: DEV-SNAPSHOT
diff --git a/scripts/developer-guide/prepare_cover_artwork.py b/scripts/developer-guide/prepare_cover_artwork.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..233fc2b3f2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/developer-guide/prepare_cover_artwork.py
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Prepare developer guide cover artwork for rasterization."""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
+import pathlib
+import re
+import sys
+
+
+VERSION_PATTERN = re.compile(r"Version\s+[^<]+")
+CSS_VARIABLE_DECL_PATTERN = re.compile(r"--([\w-]+):\s*([^;]+);")
+CSS_VARIABLE_REF_PATTERN = re.compile(r"var\(--([\w-]+)\)")
+
+
+def parse_args(argv: list[str]) -> argparse.Namespace:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__)
+    parser.add_argument("svg_path", help="Path to the SVG file to update")
+    parser.add_argument("--rev-number", required=True, help="Revision number to embed")
+    parser.add_argument("--rev-human-date", default="", help="Human readable revision date")
+    parser.add_argument("--rev-date", default="", help="Fallback machine readable revision date")
+    return parser.parse_args(argv)
+
+
+def inject_version_label(svg_text: str, version_label: str) -> str:
+    updated_text, count = VERSION_PATTERN.subn(version_label, svg_text, count=1)
+    if count != 1:
+        raise RuntimeError("Could not find version text placeholder in cover artwork")
+    return updated_text
+
+
+def resolve_css_variables(svg_text: str) -> tuple[str, int]:
+    variables = {name: value.strip() for name, value in CSS_VARIABLE_DECL_PATTERN.findall(svg_text)}
+    replacement_count = 0
+
+    def replace(match: re.Match[str]) -> str:
+        nonlocal replacement_count
+        name = match.group(1)
+        value = variables.get(name)
+        if value is None:
+            return match.group(0)
+        replacement_count += 1
+        return value
+
+    resolved_text = CSS_VARIABLE_REF_PATTERN.sub(replace, svg_text)
+    return resolved_text, replacement_count
+
+
+def main(argv: list[str]) -> int:
+    args = parse_args(argv)
+
+    svg_path = pathlib.Path(args.svg_path)
+    svg_text = svg_path.read_text(encoding="utf-8")
+
+    revision_date = args.rev_human_date or args.rev_date
+    version_label = f"Version {args.rev_number}".strip()
+    if revision_date:
+        version_label = f"{version_label} - {revision_date.strip()}"
+
+    svg_text = inject_version_label(svg_text, version_label)
+    svg_text, replacement_count = resolve_css_variables(svg_text)
+
+    svg_path.write_text(svg_text, encoding="utf-8")
+
+    print(f"Injected cover legend: {version_label}")
+    print(f"Resolved {replacement_count} CSS variable references for rasterization")
+
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(main(sys.argv[1:]))