diff --git a/.ci-dockerfiles/aarch64-unknown-linux-ubuntu20.04-builder/Dockerfile b/.ci-dockerfiles/aarch64-unknown-linux-ubuntu20.04-builder/Dockerfile
index 3466f041d1..f515b086a6 100644
--- a/.ci-dockerfiles/aarch64-unknown-linux-ubuntu20.04-builder/Dockerfile
+++ b/.ci-dockerfiles/aarch64-unknown-linux-ubuntu20.04-builder/Dockerfile
@@ -26,7 +26,10 @@ RUN apt-get update \
 RUN curl --output cmake-3.25.1-linux-x86_64.sh https://cmake.org/files/v3.25/cmake-3.25.1-linux-x86_64.sh \
  && sh cmake-3.25.1-linux-x86_64.sh --prefix=/usr/local --exclude-subdir
 
+# needed for GitHub actions
+RUN git config --global --add safe.directory /__w/ponyc/ponyc
+
 # add user pony in order to not run tests as root
-RUN useradd -ms /bin/bash -d /home/pony -g root pony
+RUN useradd -u 1001 -ms /bin/bash -d /home/pony -g root pony
 USER pony
 WORKDIR /home/pony
diff --git a/.ci-dockerfiles/x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder/Dockerfile b/.ci-dockerfiles/x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder/Dockerfile
index ac9c16cc5c..8c0ab80b70 100644
--- a/.ci-dockerfiles/x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder/Dockerfile
+++ b/.ci-dockerfiles/x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder/Dockerfile
@@ -23,7 +23,10 @@ RUN apt-get update \
  && apt-get -y clean \
  && pip3 install cloudsmith-cli
 
+# needed for GitHub actions
+RUN git config --global --add safe.directory /__w/ponyc/ponyc
+
 # add user pony in order to not run tests as root
-RUN useradd -ms /bin/bash -d /home/pony -g root pony
+RUN useradd -u 1001 -ms /bin/bash -d /home/pony -g root pony
 USER pony
 WORKDIR /home/pony
diff --git a/.cirrus.yml b/.cirrus.yml
index 9e4513b8c3..cee54ab401 100644
--- a/.cirrus.yml
+++ b/.cirrus.yml
@@ -8,12 +8,6 @@ task:
   timeout_in: 120m
 
   matrix:
-  - name: "x86-64 Linux glibc"
-    container:
-      image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20220720
-    environment:
-      IMAGE: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20220720
-      DEBUGGER: lldb
   - name: "x86-64 Linux musl"
     container:
       image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-musl-builder:20220807
@@ -291,20 +285,6 @@ task:
   timeout_in: 120m
 
   matrix:
-    - name: "nightly: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu20.04"
-      container:
-        image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu20.04-builder:20230115
-      environment:
-        IMAGE: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu20.04-builder:20230115
-        TRIPLE_VENDOR: unknown
-        TRIPLE_OS: linux-ubuntu20.04
-    - name: "nightly: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04"
-      container:
-        image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20220720
-      environment:
-        IMAGE: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20220720
-        TRIPLE_VENDOR: unknown
-        TRIPLE_OS: linux-ubuntu22.04
     - name: "nightly: x86-64-unknown-linux-musl"
       container:
         image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-musl-builder:20220807
@@ -439,20 +419,6 @@ task:
   timeout_in: 120m
 
   matrix:
-    - name: "release: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu20.04"
-      container:
-        image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu20.04-builder:20230115
-      environment:
-        IMAGE: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu20.04-builder:20230115
-        TRIPLE_VENDOR: unknown
-        TRIPLE_OS: linux-ubuntu20.04
-    - name: "release: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04"
-      container:
-        image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20220720
-      environment:
-        IMAGE: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20220720
-        TRIPLE_VENDOR: unknown
-        TRIPLE_OS: linux-ubuntu22.04
     - name: "release: x86-64-unknown-linux-musl"
       container:
         image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-musl-builder:20220807
@@ -586,22 +552,6 @@ task:
   timeout_in: 120m
 
   matrix:
-  - name: "Stress Test: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04 [release]"
-    container:
-      image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20220720
-    environment:
-      IMAGE: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20220720
-      TARGET: test-stress-release
-      DEBUGGER: lldb
-  - name: "Stress Test: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04 [debug]"
-    container:
-      image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20220720
-    environment:
-      IMAGE: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20220720
-      TARGET: test-stress-debug
-      DEBUGGER: lldb
-    depends_on:
-      - "Stress Test: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04 [release]"
   - name: "Stress Test: x86-64-unknown-linux-musl [release]"
     container:
       image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-musl-builder:20220807
@@ -618,22 +568,6 @@ task:
       DEBUGGER: gdb
     depends_on:
       - "Stress Test: x86-64-unknown-linux-musl [release]"
-  - name: "Stress Test: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04 [cd] [release]"
-    container:
-      image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20220720
-    environment:
-      IMAGE: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20220720
-      TARGET: test-stress-with-cd-release
-      DEBUGGER: lldb
-  - name: "Stress Test: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04 [cd] [debug]"
-    container:
-      image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20220720
-    environment:
-      IMAGE: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20220720
-      TARGET: test-stress-with-cd-debug
-      DEBUGGER: lldb
-    depends_on:
-      - "Stress Test: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04 [cd] [release]"
   - name: "Stress Test: x86-64-unknown-linux-musl [cd] [release]"
     container:
       image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-musl-builder:20220807
diff --git a/.github/workflows/nightlies.yml b/.github/workflows/nightlies.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1238877140
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/nightlies.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+name: Nightlies
+
+on:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: "0 0 * * *"
+
+jobs:
+  x86_64-linux:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          - image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20230806
+            name: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04
+            triple-os: linux-ubuntu22.04
+            triple-vendor: unknown
+          - image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu20.04-builder:20230807
+            name: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu20.04
+            triple-os: linux-ubuntu20.04
+            triple-vendor: unknown
+
+    name: ${{ matrix.name }}
+    container:
+      image: ${{ matrix.image }}
+      options: --user pony
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - name: Cache Libs
+        id: cache-libs
+        uses: actions/cache@v3
+        with:
+          path: build/libs
+          key: libs-${{ matrix.image }}-${{ hashFiles('Makefile', 'CMakeLists.txt', 'libs/CMakeLists.txt') }}
+      - name: Build Libs
+        if: steps.cache-libs.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+        run: make libs build_flags=-j8
+      - name: Nightly
+        run: bash .ci-scripts/x86-64-nightly.bash
+        env:
+          CLOUDSMITH_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.CLOUDSMITH_API_KEY }}
+          TRIPLE_VENDOR: ${{ matrix.triple-vendor }}
+          TRIPLE_OS: ${{ matrix.triple-os }}
+      - name: Send alert on failure
+        if: ${{ failure() }}
+        uses: zulip/github-actions-zulip@35d7ad8e98444f894dcfe1d4e17332581d28ebeb
+        with:
+          api-key: ${{ secrets.ZULIP_SCHEDULED_JOB_FAILURE_API_KEY }}
+          email: ${{ secrets.ZULIP_SCHEDULED_JOB_FAILURE_EMAIL }}
+          organization-url: 'https://ponylang.zulipchat.com/'
+          to: notifications
+          type: stream
+          topic: ${{ github.repository }} scheduled job failure
+          content: ${{ github.server_url}}/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }} failed.
diff --git a/.github/workflows/pr.yml b/.github/workflows/pr.yml
index 2ce454e5f9..65950d434d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pr.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pr.yml
@@ -75,3 +75,41 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v2
       - name: Verify CHANGELOG
         run: changelog-tool verify
+
+  x86_64-linux:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          - image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20230806
+            name: x86-64 Linux glibc
+
+    name: ${{ matrix.name }}
+    container:
+      image: ${{ matrix.image }}
+      options: --user pony --cap-add=SYS_PTRACE --security-opt seccomp=unconfined
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - name: Cache Libs
+        id: cache-libs
+        uses: actions/cache@v3
+        with:
+          path: build/libs
+          key: libs-${{ matrix.image }}-${{ hashFiles('Makefile', 'CMakeLists.txt', 'libs/CMakeLists.txt') }}
+      - name: Build Libs
+        if: steps.cache-libs.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+        run: make libs build_flags=-j8
+      - name: Configure Debug Runtime
+        run: make configure arch=x86-64 config=debug
+      - name: Build Debug Runtime
+        run: make build config=debug
+      - name: Test with Debug Runtime
+        run: make test-ci config=debug usedebugger='lldb'
+      - name: Configure Release Runtime
+        run: make configure arch=x86-64 config=release
+      - name: Build Release Runtime
+        run: make build config=release
+      - name: Test with Release Runtime
+        run: make test-ci config=release usedebugger='lldb'
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5068f2a515
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+name: Release
+
+on:
+  push:
+    tags:
+      - \d+.\d+.\d+
+
+concurrency: release
+
+jobs:
+  # validation to assure that we should in fact continue with the release should
+  # be done here. the primary reason for this step is to verify that the release
+  # was started correctly by pushing a `release-X.Y.Z` tag rather than `X.Y.Z`.
+  pre-artefact-creation:
+    name: Tasks to run before artefact creation
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout main
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        with:
+          ref: "main"
+          token: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_TOKEN }}
+      - name: Validate CHANGELOG
+        uses: ponylang/release-bot-action@0.6.1
+        with:
+          entrypoint: pre-artefact-changelog-check
+
+  x86_64-linux:
+    needs:
+      - pre-artefact-creation
+
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          - image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20230806
+            name: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04
+            triple-os: linux-ubuntu22.04
+            triple-vendor: unknown
+          - image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu20.04-builder:20230807
+            name: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu20.04
+            triple-os: linux-ubuntu20.04
+            triple-vendor: unknown
+
+    name: ${{ matrix.name }}
+    container:
+      image: ${{ matrix.image }}
+      options: --user pony
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - name: Cache Libs
+        id: cache-libs
+        uses: actions/cache@v3
+        with:
+          path: build/libs
+          key: libs-${{ matrix.image }}-${{ hashFiles('Makefile', 'CMakeLists.txt', 'libs/CMakeLists.txt') }}
+      - name: Build Libs
+        if: steps.cache-libs.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+        run: make libs build_flags=-j8
+      - name: Release
+        run: bash .ci-scripts/x86-64-release.bash
+        env:
+          CLOUDSMITH_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.CLOUDSMITH_API_KEY }}
+          TRIPLE_VENDOR: ${{ matrix.triple-vendor }}
+          TRIPLE_OS: ${{ matrix.triple-os }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/stress-test-runtime.yml b/.github/workflows/stress-test-runtime.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..38add0bda0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/stress-test-runtime.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+name: Nightlies
+
+on:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: "30 2 * * *"
+
+jobs:
+  x86_64-linux:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          - image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20230806
+            name: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04 [release]
+            target: test-stress-release
+          - image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20230806
+            name: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04 [debug]
+            target: test-stress-debug
+          - image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20230806
+            name: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04 [cd] [release]
+            target: test-stress-cd-release
+          - image: ponylang/ponyc-ci-x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04-builder:20230806
+            name: x86-64-unknown-linux-ubuntu22.04 [cd] [debug]
+            target: test-stress-cd-debug
+
+    name: ${{ matrix.name }}
+    container:
+      image: ${{ matrix.image }}
+      options: --user pony
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - name: Cache Libs
+        id: cache-libs
+        uses: actions/cache@v3
+        with:
+          path: build/libs
+          key: libs-${{ matrix.image }}-${{ hashFiles('Makefile', 'CMakeLists.txt', 'libs/CMakeLists.txt') }}
+      - name: Build Libs
+        if: steps.cache-libs.outputs.cache-hit != 'true'
+        run: make libs build_flags=-j8
+      - name: Configure Debug Runtime
+        run: make configure config=debug
+      - name: Build Debug Runtime
+        run: make build config=debug
+      - name: Run Stress Test
+        run: make ${{ matrix.target }} config=debug usedebugger='lldb'
+      - name: Send alert on failure
+        if: ${{ failure() }}
+        uses: zulip/github-actions-zulip@35d7ad8e98444f894dcfe1d4e17332581d28ebeb
+        with:
+          api-key: ${{ secrets.ZULIP_SCHEDULED_JOB_FAILURE_API_KEY }}
+          email: ${{ secrets.ZULIP_SCHEDULED_JOB_FAILURE_EMAIL }}
+          organization-url: 'https://ponylang.zulipchat.com/'
+          to: notifications
+          type: stream
+          topic: ${{ github.repository }} scheduled job failure
+          content: ${{ github.server_url}}/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }} failed.