diff --git a/CHANGELOG.v2.alpha.md b/CHANGELOG.v2.alpha.md
index 569a5ca803293..1a3cb5f6e55f3 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.v2.alpha.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.v2.alpha.md
@@ -2,6 +2,18 @@
 
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. See [standard-version](https://github.com/conventional-changelog/standard-version) for commit guidelines.
 
+## [2.97.0-alpha.0](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/compare/v2.96.2-alpha.0...v2.97.0-alpha.0) (2023-09-22)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* **cli-lib-alpha:** support hotswap deployments ([#26786](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/26786)) ([e01faff](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/e01faffcf7228fd1a7632ff32617c77547bd8c7b)), closes [#26785](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/26785)
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* **synthetics:** synth-time failure for canary assets in nested stages ([#27167](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27167)) ([7a04a5a](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/7a04a5a280a3946692e3c4120061bd4e57ab1d6c)), closes [#27089](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27089) [#26291](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/26291)
+
 ## [2.96.2-alpha.0](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/compare/v2.96.1-alpha.0...v2.96.2-alpha.0) (2023-09-14)
 
 ## [2.96.1-alpha.0](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/compare/v2.96.0-alpha.0...v2.96.1-alpha.0) (2023-09-14)
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.v2.md b/CHANGELOG.v2.md
index 1a4bd1d19074d..6f19c88135206 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.v2.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.v2.md
@@ -2,6 +2,37 @@
 
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file. See [standard-version](https://github.com/conventional-changelog/standard-version) for commit guidelines.
 
+## [2.97.0](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/compare/v2.96.2...v2.97.0) (2023-09-22)
+
+
+### Features
+
+* update AWS Service Spec ([#27224](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27224)) ([a2a4f68](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/a2a4f6860ce3e5794b443cd810882bbd60b2455f))
+* **appsync:** Standalone L2 construct for SourceApiAssociation ([#27121](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27121)) ([7b9652e](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/7b9652ead250c0942bbf6058b89ae7f86182c9c6)), closes [#27025](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27025) [#26986](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/26986)
+* **cloudwatch:** add verticalAnnotations property to GraphWidget ([#26819](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/26819)) ([d41005e](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/d41005e79b959aaca3ac56d669d4f6c28cea3a06)), closes [#7622](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/7622)
+* **core:** `Schedule` class ([#27105](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27105)) ([a8f0a71](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/a8f0a71e8d55ff9abb72013bd41a71a64475e2ab)), closes [#19197](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/19197) [#27052](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27052) [#27012](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27012)
+* update AWS Service Spec ([#27218](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27218)) ([2855da6](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/2855da66c7b8fd2def86ff0aa15b524894fd11e1))
+* **cloudwatch:** validate Dashboards with an `end` time must also have a `start` time ([#27124](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27124)) ([097bd0f](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/097bd0fc3e98045a622b9455e6da391c831068ca)), closes [/github.com/aws/aws-cdk/blob/main/packages/aws-cdk-lib/aws-cloudwatch/lib/graph.ts#L245-L247](https://github.com/aws//github.com/aws/aws-cdk/blob/main/packages/aws-cdk-lib/aws-cloudwatch/lib/graph.ts/issues/L245-L247)
+* **cloudwatch:** Widgets can define `start` and `end` times, including relative values ([#26969](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/26969)) ([2866240](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/28662406d29529c826d174cf925b3eddb954a82b)), closes [#26945](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/26945)
+* **core:** add setter for termination protection on stack ([#26992](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/26992)) ([54083de](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/54083de9e8faef8b62a2004941647d9cd4984a0b)), closes [#14463](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/14463) [#21304](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/21304)
+* **ec2:** support of m7i and m7i-flex ec2-instancetypes ([#27156](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27156)) ([fe0955f](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/fe0955fffb17da7a9043e636cbb1e075233628b2)), closes [/docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/aws-properties-ec2-instance.html#aws-properties-ec2](https://github.com/aws//docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSCloudFormation/latest/UserGuide/aws-properties-ec2-instance.html/issues/aws-properties-ec2)
+* **ecr:** make `validateRepositoryName` errors human readable ([#27186](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27186)) ([e15d0c0](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/e15d0c057ac9ee5d0a8cbca72f1256bac2f8282a)), closes [#26715](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/26715)
+* **rds:** support CA certificate for cluster instances ([#27138](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27138)) ([f5a5a08](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/f5a5a08af8563052f874c61cbe18f61064c00191)), closes [#26865](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/26865)
+* **stepfunctions:** add comment ability for when condition ([#27010](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27010)) ([70006ab](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/70006abcdbbf2be0a1eb043cc854e6349e92f0e5)), closes [#27005](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27005)
+* update AWS Service Spec ([#27163](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27163)) ([0634c68](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/0634c68dfee43e5472a8aeb883704b28daf34e42))
+
+
+### Bug Fixes
+
+* **apigateway:** CORS response body has unexpected space ([#27219](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27219)) ([abf21c9](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/abf21c9503b8d337e21bd78109c48c40365bc5da))
+* **cli:** equals sign in a tag value is dropped ([#27130](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27130)) ([b7eeda6](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/b7eeda67b99ecdb9aaeae143ce767f7a4e6b9d29)), closes [#5773](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/5773) [#21003](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/21003)
+* **custom-resources:** does not accept strings where numbers are expected, skips recursive types ([#27112](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27112)) ([8e21b2c](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/8e21b2cb58f70c1a438a330b3ca6db90f2c573df))
+* **ec2:** restrictDefaultSecurityGroup  fails when default rules are not present ([#27039](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27039)) ([1e67f9d](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/1e67f9df1e9ba7ee0a1e177b8c51004481d55584)), closes [#26390](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/26390)
+* **eks:** use Python 3.10 runtime for kubectl-provider ([#27031](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27031)) ([55859c9](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/55859c929d9b4db0af09d30d6fe9bad535ec0e68)), closes [#26994](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/26994)
+* **rds:** cluster.instanceIdentifiers does not container writer instance ID ([#26929](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/26929)) ([d3789ab](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/d3789ab005d59307834147cddd0ec8bbada97332)), closes [#25947](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/25947)
+* **rds:** unable to create cluster with per-instance parameters (under feature flag) ([#27040](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27040)) ([1be9894](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/1be9894682c13bbed46f725f4ee349b86fbc25fa)), closes [#27035](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27035)
+* **sample-app:** exclude all __pycache__  in cdk.json ([#27191](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/issues/27191)) ([d9f1f09](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/commit/d9f1f0908a1f7ec0bfcb0df4f9dd1b45c86b0144))
+
 ## [2.96.2](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/compare/v2.96.1...v2.96.2) (2023-09-14)
 
 
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk-lib/cx-api/FEATURE_FLAGS.md b/packages/aws-cdk-lib/cx-api/FEATURE_FLAGS.md
index aec789d002427..7004c5ec5e873 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk-lib/cx-api/FEATURE_FLAGS.md
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk-lib/cx-api/FEATURE_FLAGS.md
@@ -59,8 +59,8 @@ Flags come in three types:
 | [@aws-cdk/aws-efs:denyAnonymousAccess](#aws-cdkaws-efsdenyanonymousaccess) | EFS denies anonymous clients accesses | 2.93.0 | (default) |
 | [@aws-cdk/aws-efs:mountTargetOrderInsensitiveLogicalId](#aws-cdkaws-efsmounttargetorderinsensitivelogicalid) | When enabled, mount targets will have a stable logicalId that is linked to the associated subnet. | 2.93.0 | (fix) |
 | [@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs:useLatestRuntimeVersion](#aws-cdkaws-lambda-nodejsuselatestruntimeversion) | Enables aws-lambda-nodejs.Function to use the latest available NodeJs runtime as the default | 2.93.0 | (default) |
-| [@aws-cdk/aws-appsync:useArnForSourceApiAssociationIdentifier](#aws-cdkaws-appsyncusearnforsourceapiassociationidentifier) | When enabled, will always use the arn for identifiers for CfnSourceApiAssociation in the GraphqlApi construct rather than id. | V2NEXT | (fix) |
-| [@aws-cdk/aws-rds:auroraClusterChangeScopeOfInstanceParameterGroupWithEachParameters](#aws-cdkaws-rdsauroraclusterchangescopeofinstanceparametergroupwitheachparameters) | When enabled, a scope of InstanceParameterGroup for AuroraClusterInstance with each parameters will change. | V2NEXT | (fix) |
+| [@aws-cdk/aws-appsync:useArnForSourceApiAssociationIdentifier](#aws-cdkaws-appsyncusearnforsourceapiassociationidentifier) | When enabled, will always use the arn for identifiers for CfnSourceApiAssociation in the GraphqlApi construct rather than id. | 2.97.0 | (fix) |
+| [@aws-cdk/aws-rds:auroraClusterChangeScopeOfInstanceParameterGroupWithEachParameters](#aws-cdkaws-rdsauroraclusterchangescopeofinstanceparametergroupwitheachparameters) | When enabled, a scope of InstanceParameterGroup for AuroraClusterInstance with each parameters will change. | 2.97.0 | (fix) |
 
 <!-- END table -->
 
@@ -111,8 +111,8 @@ The following json shows the current recommended set of flags, as `cdk init` wou
     "@aws-cdk/aws-opensearchservice:enableOpensearchMultiAzWithStandby": true,
     "@aws-cdk/aws-lambda-nodejs:useLatestRuntimeVersion": true,
     "@aws-cdk/aws-efs:mountTargetOrderInsensitiveLogicalId": true,
-    "@aws-cdk/aws-appsync:useArnForSourceApiAssociationIdentifier": true,
-    "@aws-cdk/aws-rds:auroraClusterChangeScopeOfInstanceParameterGroupWithEachParameters": true
+    "@aws-cdk/aws-rds:auroraClusterChangeScopeOfInstanceParameterGroupWithEachParameters": true,
+    "@aws-cdk/aws-appsync:useArnForSourceApiAssociationIdentifier": true
   }
 }
 ```
@@ -1129,7 +1129,7 @@ Note that for existing source api associations created with this flag disabled,
 | Since | Default | Recommended |
 | ----- | ----- | ----- |
 | (not in v1) |  |  |
-| V2NEXT | `false` | `true` |
+| 2.97.0 | `false` | `true` |
 
 
 ### @aws-cdk/aws-rds:auroraClusterChangeScopeOfInstanceParameterGroupWithEachParameters
@@ -1139,6 +1139,7 @@ Note that for existing source api associations created with this flag disabled,
 When this feature flag is enabled, a scope of `InstanceParameterGroup` for
 `AuroraClusterInstance` with each parameters will change to AuroraClusterInstance
 from AuroraCluster.
+
 If the flag is set to false then it can only make one `AuroraClusterInstance`
 with each `InstanceParameterGroup` in the AuroraCluster.
 
@@ -1146,7 +1147,7 @@ with each `InstanceParameterGroup` in the AuroraCluster.
 | Since | Default | Recommended |
 | ----- | ----- | ----- |
 | (not in v1) |  |  |
-| V2NEXT | `false` | `true` |
+| 2.97.0 | `false` | `true` |
 
 
 <!-- END details -->
diff --git a/packages/aws-cdk-lib/cx-api/lib/features.ts b/packages/aws-cdk-lib/cx-api/lib/features.ts
index 7f3da88f525df..74ebe0a171452 100644
--- a/packages/aws-cdk-lib/cx-api/lib/features.ts
+++ b/packages/aws-cdk-lib/cx-api/lib/features.ts
@@ -921,7 +921,7 @@ export const FLAGS: Record<string, FlagInfo> = {
       If the flag is set to false then it can only make one \`AuroraClusterInstance\`
       with each \`InstanceParameterGroup\` in the AuroraCluster.
     `,
-    introducedIn: { v2: 'V2NEXT' },
+    introducedIn: { v2: '2.97.0' },
     recommendedValue: true,
   },
 
@@ -934,7 +934,7 @@ export const FLAGS: Record<string, FlagInfo> = {
       the GraphqlApi construct. Using the ARN allows the association to support an association with a source api or merged api in another account.
       Note that for existing source api associations created with this flag disabled, enabling the flag will lead to a resource replacement. 
     `,
-    introducedIn: { v2: 'V2NEXT' },
+    introducedIn: { v2: '2.97.0' },
     recommendedValue: true,
   },
 };
diff --git a/version.v2.json b/version.v2.json
index 7989e246e1af2..aa61adfa55773 100644
--- a/version.v2.json
+++ b/version.v2.json
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 {
-  "version": "2.96.2",
-  "alphaVersion": "2.96.2-alpha.0"
+  "version": "2.97.0",
+  "alphaVersion": "2.97.0-alpha.0"
 }
\ No newline at end of file