diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index ac16106..65eaab5 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,13 +5,19 @@ All notable changes to the Specify CLI will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
-## [0.0.10] - 2025-09-20
+## [0.0.11] - 2025-09-20
 
 ### Added
 
-- Codex CLI support across the Specify CLI, documentation, and bootstrap scripts, including automatic slash-command provisioning and prompt mirroring into `${CODEX_HOME:-~/.codex}/prompts`.
+- Codex CLI support (thank you [@honjo-hiroaki-gtt](https://github.com/honjo-hiroaki-gtt) for the contribution in [#14](https://github.com/github/spec-kit/pull/14))
 - Codex-aware context update tooling (Bash and PowerShell) so feature plans refresh `AGENTS.md` alongside existing assistants without manual edits.
 
+## [0.0.10] - 2025-09-20
+
+### Fixed
+
+- Addressed [#378](https://github.com/github/spec-kit/issues/378) where a GitHub token may be attached to the request when it was empty.
+
 ## [0.0.9] - 2025-09-19
 
 ### Changed
@@ -23,7 +29,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ### Added
 
 - Windsurf IDE support as additional AI assistant option
-- GitHub token support for API requests to handle corporate environments and rate limiting (contributed by @zryfish in #243)
+- GitHub token support for API requests to handle corporate environments and rate limiting (contributed by [@zryfish](https://github.com/@zryfish) in [#243](https://github.com/github/spec-kit/pull/243))
 
 ### Changed
 
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index f5853a7..bac1910 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "specify-cli"
-version = "0.0.9"
+version = "0.0.10"
 description = "Specify CLI, part of GitHub Spec Kit. A tool to bootstrap your projects for Spec-Driven Development (SDD)."
 requires-python = ">=3.11"
 dependencies = [
diff --git a/src/specify_cli/__init__.py b/src/specify_cli/__init__.py
index da903c6..e026104 100644
--- a/src/specify_cli/__init__.py
+++ b/src/specify_cli/__init__.py
@@ -53,17 +53,13 @@ ssl_context = truststore.SSLContext(ssl.PROTOCOL_TLS_CLIENT)
 client = httpx.Client(verify=ssl_context)
 
 def _github_token(cli_token: str | None = None) -> str | None:
-    return cli_token or os.getenv("GH_TOKEN") or os.getenv("GITHUB_TOKEN")
+    """Return sanitized GitHub token (cli arg takes precedence) or None."""
+    return ((cli_token or os.getenv("GH_TOKEN") or os.getenv("GITHUB_TOKEN") or "").strip()) or None
 
 def _github_auth_headers(cli_token: str | None = None) -> dict:
-    """Headers for GitHub REST API requests.
-    - Uses Bearer auth if token present
-    """
-    headers = {}
+    """Return Authorization header dict only when a non-empty token exists."""
     token = _github_token(cli_token)
-    if token:
-        headers["Authorization"] = f"Bearer {token}"
-    return headers
+    return {"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"} if token else {}
 
 # Constants
 AI_CHOICES = {
@@ -598,7 +594,7 @@ def download_template_from_github(ai_assistant: str, download_dir: Path, *, scri
             api_url,
             timeout=30,
             follow_redirects=True,
-            headers=_github_auth_headers(github_token) or None,
+            headers=_github_auth_headers(github_token),
         )
         status = response.status_code
         if status != 200:
@@ -667,7 +663,7 @@ def download_template_from_github(ai_assistant: str, download_dir: Path, *, scri
             download_url,
             timeout=60,
             follow_redirects=True,
-            headers=_github_auth_headers(github_token) or None,
+            headers=_github_auth_headers(github_token),
         ) as response:
             if response.status_code != 200:
                 body_sample = response.text[:400]