diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8fd6d03..6f6e1aa 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [1.4.6] - 2026-01-01
+
+### Changed
+
+- Code cleanup: move inline `re` import to top of auth/service.py
+
 ## [1.4.5] - 2026-01-01
 
 ### Fixed
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index d16023d..198304d 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [project]
 name = "core-api"
-version = "1.4.5"
+version = "1.4.6"
 description = "Core Code API - Infrastructure management and tools API"
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.12"
diff --git a/src/auth/service.py b/src/auth/service.py
index 0117944..b738f29 100644
--- a/src/auth/service.py
+++ b/src/auth/service.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ Authentication Service
 
 Business logic for user synchronization from Authentik.
 """
+import re
 import uuid
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 from typing import Optional
@@ -251,7 +252,6 @@ class AuthService:
 
     def _extract_cookie(self, headers: httpx.Headers, cookie_name: str) -> str:
         """Extract a specific cookie value from Set-Cookie headers"""
-        import re
         for header in headers.get_list('set-cookie'):
             if header.startswith(f'{cookie_name}='):
                 match = re.match(rf'{cookie_name}=([^;]+)', header)