diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..87ebdd2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+name: release
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      version:
+        required: true
+        default: 'x.y.z'
+
+permissions:
+  contents: write
+  pull-requests: write
+
+jobs:
+  checks:
+    name: Version check
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    steps:
+    - name: Checkout repository
+      id: repo
+      uses: actions/checkout@8e8c483db84b4bee98b60c0593521ed34d9990e8 # v6
+
+    - name: Set up Python
+      uses: actions/setup-python@83679a892e2d95755f2dac6acb0bfd1e9ac5d548 # v6.1.0
+      with:
+        python-version: 3.14.0
+
+    - name: Get latest release from pip
+      id: latestreleased
+      run: |
+        PREVIOUS_VERSION=$(python -m pip index versions CCPBioSim-Python-Template | grep "CCPBioSim-Python-Template" | cut -d "(" -f2 | cut -d ")" -f1)
+        echo "pip_tag=$PREVIOUS_VERSION" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+        echo $PREVIOUS_VERSION
+
+    - name: version comparison
+      id: compare
+      run: |
+        pip3 install semver
+        output=$(pysemver compare ${{ steps.latestreleased.outputs.pip_tag }} ${{ github.event.inputs.version }})
+        if [ $output -ge 0 ]; then exit 1; fi
+
+  version:
+    name: prepare ${{ github.event.inputs.version }}
+    needs: checks
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    steps:
+
+      - name: checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@8e8c483db84b4bee98b60c0593521ed34d9990e8 # v6
+
+      - name: Change version in repo and CITATION.cff
+        run: |
+          # Update Python package version
+          sed -i "s/__version__ =.*/__version__ = \"${{ github.event.inputs.version }}\"/g" src/example_package_YOUR_USERNAME_HERE/__init__.py
+
+          # Update CITATION.cff version and date-released
+          if [ -f CITATION.cff ]; then
+            sed -i -E "s/^(version:\s*).*/\1${{ github.event.inputs.version }}/" CITATION.cff
+            sed -i -E "s/^(date-released:\s*).*/\1'$(date -u +%F)'/" CITATION.cff
+          fi
+
+      - name: send PR
+        id: pr_id
+        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@98357b18bf14b5342f975ff684046ec3b2a07725 # v8.0.0
+        with:
+          commit-message: Update version to ${{ github.event.inputs.version }}
+          branch: version-update
+          title: "Update to version ${{ github.event.inputs.version }}"
+          body: |
+            Update version
+            - Update the __init__.py with new release
+            - Update CITATION.cff version & date-released
+            - Auto-generated by [CI]
+          committer: version-updater <vu.bot@users.noreply.github.com>
+          author: version-updater <vu.bot@users.noreply.github.com>
+          base: main
+          signoff: false
+          draft: false
+
+      - name: auto approve review
+        uses: hmarr/auto-approve-action@f0939ea97e9205ef24d872e76833fa908a770363 # v4.0.0
+        with:
+          pull-request-number: ${{ steps.pr_id.outputs.pull-request-number }}
+          review-message: "Auto approved version bump PR"
+          github-token: ${{ secrets.AUTO_PR_MERGE }}
+
+      - name: merge PR
+        run: gh pr merge --merge --delete-branch --auto "${{ steps.pr_id.outputs.pull-request-number }}"
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+  tag:
+    name: tag release
+    needs: version
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@8e8c483db84b4bee98b60c0593521ed34d9990e8 # v6
+        with:
+          ref: main
+
+      - name: tag v${{ github.event.inputs.version }}
+        run: |
+          git config user.name github-actions
+          git config user.email github-actions@github.com
+          git tag ${{ github.event.inputs.version }}
+          git push origin tag ${{ github.event.inputs.version }}
+
+  release:
+    name: make github release
+    needs: tag
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    steps:
+
+      - name: create release
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@a06a81a03ee405af7f2048a818ed3f03bbf83c7b # v2.5.0
+        with:
+          name: v${{ github.event.inputs.version }}
+          generate_release_notes: true
+          tag_name: ${{ github.event.inputs.version }}
+
+  pypi:
+    name: make pypi release
+    needs: [tag, release]
+    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04
+    steps:
+
+    - name: checkout
+      uses: actions/checkout@8e8c483db84b4bee98b60c0593521ed34d9990e8 # v6
+      with:
+        ref: main
+
+    - name: Set up Python
+      uses: actions/setup-python@83679a892e2d95755f2dac6acb0bfd1e9ac5d548 # v6.1.0
+      with:
+        python-version: 3.14.0
+
+    - name: Install flit
+      run: |
+        python -m pip install --upgrade pip
+        python -m pip install flit~=3.9
+
+    - name: Build and publish
+      run: |
+        flit publish
+      env:
+        FLIT_USERNAME: __token__
+        FLIT_PASSWORD:  ${{ secrets.PYPI_API_TOKEN }}