diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..753fca4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,173 @@
+name: Release
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - master
+      - v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+*
+  release:
+    types:
+      - published
+jobs:
+  prep:
+    name: Prepare release
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    if: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref_name != 'master' }}
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
+      pull-requests: write
+    defaults:
+      run:
+        shell: bash
+    steps:
+
+      - name: Checkout release branch
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Setup Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        with:
+          python-version: 3.9
+          cache: 'pip'
+          cache-dependency-path: pyproject.toml
+
+      - name: Install Python dependencies
+        run: |
+          pip install --upgrade pip
+          pip install build twine
+          pip install .
+
+      - name: Make code.md
+        run: make-code-json
+
+      - name: Upload code.md
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v3
+        with:
+          name: code.md
+          path: code.md
+
+      - name: Update version
+        id: version
+        run: |
+          ref="${{ github.ref_name }}"
+          version="${ref#"v"}"
+          python scripts/update_version.py -v "$version"
+          python -c "import pymake; print('Version: ', pymake.__version__)"
+          echo "version=$version" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+      - name: Lint
+        run: ruff check .
+
+      - name: Format
+        run: ruff format .
+
+      - name: Push release branch
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+        run: |
+          ver="${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}"
+          
+          # commit and push changes
+          git config core.sharedRepository true
+          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
+          git config user.email "41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+          git add pymake
+          git commit -m "ci(release): set version to ${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}"
+          git push origin "${{ github.ref_name }}"
+
+          title="Release $ver"
+          body='
+          # Release '$ver'
+          
+          The release can be approved by merging this pull request into `master`. This will trigger a job to publish the release to PyPI.
+          '
+          gh pr create -B "master" -H "${{ github.ref_name }}" --title "$title" --draft --body "$body"
+
+  release:
+    name: Draft release
+    # runs only when changes are merged to master
+    if: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref_name == 'master' }}
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
+      pull-requests: write
+    steps:
+
+      - name: Checkout repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        with:
+          ref: master
+        
+      - name: Setup Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        with:
+          python-version: 3.9
+
+      - name: Install Python dependencies
+        run: |
+          pip install --upgrade pip
+          pip install .
+          pip install ".[test]"
+
+      - name: Download artifacts
+        uses: dawidd6/action-download-artifact@v2
+
+      - name: Draft release
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+        run: |
+          version=$(python scripts/update_version.py -g)
+          title="pymake $version"
+          notes=$(cat code.md)
+          gh release create "$version" \
+            --target master \
+            --title "$title" \
+            --notes "$notes" \
+            --draft \
+            --latest
+
+  publish:
+    name: Publish package
+    # runs only after release is published (manually promoted from draft)
+    if: github.event_name == 'release' && github.repository_owner == 'modflowpy'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
+      pull-requests: write
+      id-token: write
+    environment:  # requires a 'release' environment in repo settings
+      name: release
+      url: https://pypi.org/p/mfpymake
+    steps:
+
+      - name: Checkout master branch
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        with:
+          ref: master
+
+      - name: Setup Python
+        uses: actions/setup-python@v4
+        with:
+          python-version: 3.9
+
+      - name: Install Python dependencies
+        run: |
+          pip install --upgrade pip
+          pip install build twine
+          pip install .
+
+      - name: Build package
+        run: python -m build
+      
+      - name: Check package
+        run: twine check --strict dist/*
+      
+      - name: Upload package
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: dist
+          path: dist
+
+      - name: Publish to PyPI
+        uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
diff --git a/autotest/pytest.ini b/autotest/pytest.ini
index 00fcab6..950aeb6 100644
--- a/autotest/pytest.ini
+++ b/autotest/pytest.ini
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 [pytest]
+addopts = --color=yes
 markers =
     base: base tests
     dependency: tests that depend on other tests (via pytest-dependency)