diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy-staging.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy-staging.yml
index e708b71558..508a69e0d6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy-staging.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy-staging.yml
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ env:
   IMAGE: ${{ secrets.DOCKER_USERNAME }}/p5.js-web-editor-staging
 jobs:
   push_to_registry:
+    if: ${{ github.event.workflow_run.conclusion == 'success' }}
     environment: staging
     name: Push Docker image to Docker Hub
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
diff --git a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
index 08e8f4ffe5..51450c355b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/deploy.yml
@@ -1,11 +1,8 @@
 name: Deploy to production
 on:
-  workflow_run:
-    workflows: ["Test"]
-    branches:
-      - release
+  release:
     types:
-      - completed
+      - published
 env:
   PROJECT_ID: ${{ secrets.GKE_PROJECT }}
   GKE_CLUSTER: p5-gke-cluster
@@ -21,7 +18,7 @@ jobs:
       - name: Check out the repo
         uses: actions/checkout@v3
         with:
-          ref: release
+          ref: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
       - name: Set up Docker Buildx
         uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v2
         with:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-reminder.yml b/.github/workflows/release-reminder.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8781667963
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-reminder.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+name: Weekly release reminder
+
+on:
+  # Tuesdays 15:30 UTC
+  schedule:
+    - cron: "30 15 * * 2"
+  workflow_dispatch: {}
+
+permissions:
+  issues: write
+
+jobs:
+  remind:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Open release reminder issue
+        uses: actions/github-script@v7
+        with:
+          script: |
+            await github.rest.issues.create({
+              owner: context.repo.owner,
+              repo: context.repo.repo,
+              title: `Weekly release - ${new Date().toISOString().slice(0, 10)}`,
+              body: [
+                "1. Decide on any remaining PRs to merge into `develop`",
+                "2. Review what's merged into `develop` since the last release.",
+                "3. Decide the version bump (patch/minor/major).",
+                "4. Run the [Create a release](../actions/workflows/release.yml) workflow with that version.",
+                "",
+                "No release needed this week? Just close this issue."
+              ].join("\n")
+            });
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..182db29364
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,95 @@
+name: Create a release
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      newversion:
+        description: >
+          Version to release. Accepts an explicit semver (e.g. 2.22.0) or an
+          npm version keyword (patch, minor, major, prepatch, preminor,
+          premajor, prerelease). See https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/version
+        required: true
+        type: string
+
+permissions:
+  contents: write
+
+jobs:
+  verify:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Check out develop
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: develop
+
+      - name: Use Node.js
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: '18.20.x'
+          cache: 'npm'
+
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: npm ci
+
+      - name: Run tests
+        run: npm run test:ci
+
+      # future: deploy to staging (+stop deploying to staging upon merges to develop) + e2e test pointed at staging
+
+  release:
+    needs: verify
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    # Requires a maintainer to approve in the Actions UI before this job runs.
+    # Configure required reviewers under Settings > Environments > release-approval.
+    environment: release-approval
+    steps:
+      - name: Check out develop
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: develop
+
+      - name: Fetch release branch
+        run: git fetch origin release:release
+
+      - name: Configure git identity
+        run: |
+          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
+          git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+
+      - name: Create cut release branch
+        run: git checkout -b "release-${{ inputs.newversion }}"
+
+      - name: Bump version
+        id: bump
+        run: |
+          NEW_VERSION=$(npm version "${{ inputs.newversion }}" -m "v%s")
+          echo "version=$NEW_VERSION" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+      - name: Merge into release
+        run: |
+          git checkout release
+          git pull origin release
+          git merge --no-ff "release-${{ inputs.newversion }}" -m "Merge release-${{ inputs.newversion }} into release"
+          git push origin release
+          git push origin --tags
+
+      - name: Merge back into develop
+        run: |
+          git checkout develop
+          git pull origin develop
+          git merge --no-ff "release-${{ inputs.newversion }}" -m "Merge release-${{ inputs.newversion }} into develop"
+          git push origin develop
+
+      - name: Push cut release branch
+        run: git push origin "release-${{ inputs.newversion }}"
+
+      - name: Draft GitHub release
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          gh release create "${{ steps.bump.outputs.version }}" \
+            --target release \
+            --title "${{ steps.bump.outputs.version }}" \
+            --generate-notes \
+            --draft
diff --git a/contributor_docs/release.md b/contributor_docs/release.md
index d2e17f5501..f2619be02d 100644
--- a/contributor_docs/release.md
+++ b/contributor_docs/release.md
@@ -3,13 +3,39 @@
 A guide for deploying a release to the p5.js Editor production environment.
 
 ## Background
+
 This project's release guide is based on:
-* [git-flow](https://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/)
-* [Semantic Versioning (semver)](https://semver.org/)
-* [npm-version](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/version)
-* [Let's stop saying Master/Slave](https://medium.com/@mikebroberts/let-s-stop-saying-master-slave-10f1d1bf34df)
 
-## Steps
+- [git-flow](https://nvie.com/posts/a-successful-git-branching-model/)
+- [Semantic Versioning (semver)](https://semver.org/)
+- [npm-version](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/version)
+- [Let's stop saying Master/Slave](https://medium.com/@mikebroberts/let-s-stop-saying-master-slave-10f1d1bf34df)
+
+## Steps for a standard release:
+
+### via GHA:
+
+1. An issue titled "Weekly release - DATE" will be created every Tuesday at 15:30 UTC. Go to the [Issues tab](https://github.com/processing/p5.js-web-editor/issues) and click the link in the description to the [Create a release](../.github/workflows/release.yml) GitHub Actions workflow.
+2. Run the **Create a release** workflow via "Run workflow".
+3. Enter the `version` to release
+  1. `version` can be `major`, `minor`, `patch`, etc. (see [npm-version](https://docs.npmjs.com/cli/version) for valid values.
+4. Wait for the workflow to run the `verify` job. 
+  1. This tests the checkout code from `develop`. 
+  2. If tests fail, the workflow will stop & record its result as a failure. Devs should fix any test failures, then attempt the [Create a release](../.github/workflows/release.yml) workflow again.
+  3. If the tests succeed, the workflow will wait on maintainer approval for the `draft-release` job.
+5. Go to [Staging](https://stagingeditor.p5js.org) and perform any remaining manual checks. 
+6. If all looks good, approve the `release` job. 
+  1. This does the manual steps 5-12 below:
+    1. Merges the cut release into `release`
+    2. Merges `release` into `develop`
+    3. Creates a new draft GitHub release with auto-generated notes & version & tags.
+8. [Review the drafted release](https://github.com/processing/p5.js-web-editor/releases) and click **Publish release** when ready. This will then trigger the deployment to [Production](editor.p5js.org).
+9. **Manually** verify the release has completed successfully:
+  1. `$ kubectl get pods --namespace production` to check the pods are running (this might take a few minutes and you can rerun the command to check again).
+  2. Validate that [production](https://stagingeditor.p5js.org/) is working and you are finished!
+
+### Manually:
+
 1. `$ git checkout develop`
 2. `$ git pull origin develop`
 3. `$ git checkout -b release-<newversion>`
@@ -31,8 +57,11 @@ This project's release guide is based on:
 
 
 ## Steps for a Patch Release
+
 Sometimes you might need to push a release for an isolated and small bug fix without what's currently been merged into the `develop` branch. The steps for pushing a Patch Release are similar to a standard Release, except you work with the `release` branch as opposed to `develop`.
 
+This process is not yet automated by the Actions workflow above, so it's still done by hand.
+
 1. `$ git checkout release`
 2. `$ git pull origin release`
 3. `$ git checkout -b release-<newversion>` (increment patch version)