diff --git a/.Rbuildignore b/.Rbuildignore
index 26f5c15..c1583de 100644
--- a/.Rbuildignore
+++ b/.Rbuildignore
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 .github
+^cran-comments\.md$
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b11399a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+name: release
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [main]
+jobs:
+  test:
+    name: Test for release
+    if: startsWith(github.event.head_commit.message, '[release:minor]') ||
+      startsWith(github.event.head_commit.message, '[release:major]') ||
+      startsWith(github.event.head_commit.message, '[release:patch]')
+    uses: flowr-analysis/flowr-r-adapter/.github/workflows/test.yml@main
+
+  release:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: [test]
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          token: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_TOKEN }}
+      - name: Configure git user
+        run: |
+          git config --local user.email "action@github.com"
+          git config --local user.name "GitHub Action"
+
+      - name: Install R
+        uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@v2
+        with:
+          r-version: ${{ matrix.r-version }}
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r-dependencies@v2
+        with:
+          extra-packages: devtools, usethis
+
+      - name: Bump version
+        id: version
+        run: |
+          step=$(echo "$MESSAGE" | sed -n -E 's/\[release:(patch|minor|major)].*/\1/p')
+          if [ -z "$step" ]; then
+            echo "fatal: Release step not found in commit message."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          Rscript -e "usethis::use_version(\"$step\", push = TRUE)"
+        env:
+          # putting the message into an env variable first sanitizes it
+          MESSAGE: ${{ github.event.head_commit.message }}
+
+      - name: GitHub release
+        run: Rscript -e 'usethis::use_github_release()'
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 29784cb..3569ead 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ on:
   pull_request:
     types: [opened, synchronize]
     branches: [main]
+  workflow_call:
 jobs:
   devtools-check:
     strategy:
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..204cddb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# flowr 0.0.1
+
+* Added a `NEWS.md` file to track changes to the package.
diff --git a/cran-comments.md b/cran-comments.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..858617d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cran-comments.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+## R CMD check results
+
+0 errors | 0 warnings | 1 note
+
+* This is a new release.