diff --git a/release/release_files.py b/release/release_files.py
index bd503af0e4..d540ccf430 100755
--- a/release/release_files.py
+++ b/release/release_files.py
@@ -102,6 +102,7 @@ whitelist = [
 
 # Sunnypilot whitelist
 sunnypilot_whitelist = [
+  "^README.md",
   ".*selfdrive/test/fuzzy_generation.py",
   ".*selfdrive/test/helpers.py",
   ".*selfdrive/test/__init__.py",