diff --git a/.backportrc.json b/.backportrc.json
index 253c4e151..9565020f5 100644
--- a/.backportrc.json
+++ b/.backportrc.json
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 {
   "targetBranchChoices": [
     { "name": "main", "checked": true },
+    "9.0",
     "8.x",
     "8.18",
     "8.17",
@@ -9,7 +10,7 @@
   "fork": false,
   "targetPRLabels": ["backport"],
   "branchLabelMapping": {
-    "^v9.0.0$": "main",
+    "^v9.1.0$": "main",
     "^v8.19.0$": "8.x",
     "^v(\\d+).(\\d+)(.\\d+)*$": "$1.$2"
   },
diff --git a/.buildkite/pipeline.yml b/.buildkite/pipeline.yml
index 336c7977f..6167a7e2c 100644
--- a/.buildkite/pipeline.yml
+++ b/.buildkite/pipeline.yml
@@ -578,7 +578,7 @@ steps:
   # ----
   - group: ":truck: Packaging and DRA"
     key: "mbp_dra_group"
-    if: "(build.branch == \"main\" || build.branch == \"8.x\" || build.branch == \"8.16\" || build.branch == \"8.17\" || build.branch == \"8.18\" || build.pull_request.labels includes \"ci:packaging\")" # Add new maintenance branches here
+    if: "(build.branch == \"main\" || build.branch == \"9.0\" || build.branch == \"8.x\" || build.branch == \"8.16\" || build.branch == \"8.17\" || build.branch == \"8.18\" || build.pull_request.labels includes \"ci:packaging\")" # Add new maintenance branches here
     depends_on:
       - "lint"
       - "unit_tests"
diff --git a/.buildkite/publish/publish-common.sh b/.buildkite/publish/publish-common.sh
index d5be05105..cda767571 100644
--- a/.buildkite/publish/publish-common.sh
+++ b/.buildkite/publish/publish-common.sh
@@ -13,9 +13,6 @@ export SCRIPT_DIR="$CURDIR"
 export BUILDKITE_DIR=$(realpath "$(dirname "$SCRIPT_DIR")")
 export PROJECT_ROOT=$(realpath "$(dirname "$BUILDKITE_DIR")")
 
-# temporary hard-coded build qualifier, this should be removed once we've released 9.0
-export VERSION_QUALIFIER="${VERSION_QUALIFIER:-beta1}"
-
 source $SCRIPT_DIR/git-setup.sh
 
 VERSION_PATH="$PROJECT_ROOT/connectors/VERSION"
diff --git a/NOTICE.txt b/NOTICE.txt
index 7cb6e6c60..77df700ee 100644
--- a/NOTICE.txt
+++ b/NOTICE.txt
@@ -3648,7 +3648,7 @@ Apache Software License
 
 
 elasticsearch-connectors
-9.0.0
+9.1.0
 Apache Software License
 Elastic License 2.0
 
diff --git a/catalog-info.yaml b/catalog-info.yaml
index bdd6a80c7..7dd4adc54 100644
--- a/catalog-info.yaml
+++ b/catalog-info.yaml
@@ -54,6 +54,10 @@ spec:
           branch: main
           cronline: '@daily'
           message: "Builds, tests, and pushes daily `main` DRA artifacts"
+        Daily 9.0:
+          branch: "9.0"
+          cronline: '@daily'
+          message: "Builds, tests, and pushes daily `9.0` DRA artifacts"
         Daily 8.x:
           branch: 8.x
           cronline: '@daily'
@@ -126,6 +130,10 @@ spec:
           branch: '8.x'
           cronline: '@daily'
           message: "Runs daily `8.x` e2e test"
+        Daily 9_0:
+          branch: '9.0'
+          cronline: '@daily'
+          message: "Runs daily `9.0` e2e test"
         Daily main:
           branch: main
           cronline: '@daily'
@@ -180,6 +188,10 @@ spec:
           branch: '8.x'
           cronline: '@daily'
           message: "Runs daily `8.x` e2e aarch64 test"
+        Daily 9_0:
+          branch: '9.0'
+          cronline: '@daily'
+          message: "Runs daily `9.0` e2e aarch64 test"
         Daily main:
           branch: main
           cronline: '@daily'
diff --git a/connectors/VERSION b/connectors/VERSION
index f7ee06693..47da986f8 100644
--- a/connectors/VERSION
+++ b/connectors/VERSION
@@ -1 +1 @@
-9.0.0
+9.1.0
diff --git a/renovate.json b/renovate.json
index c87e27c63..467882009 100644
--- a/renovate.json
+++ b/renovate.json
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@
     "v8.16.0",
     "v8.17.0",
     "v8.18.0",
-    "v9.0.0"
+    "v9.0.0",
+    "v9.1.0"
   ],
   "packageRules": [
     {