diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
index b2816de..d9fb485 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 name: Publish
 
-# The human gate.
+# The step that reaches somebody.
 #
 # Everything else in this repository is allowed to merge itself: a Dependabot
-# bump or an automated compatibility fix that goes green on `main` needs no
-# review, because `main` reaches nobody. This workflow is the step that does
-# reach somebody, so it is the one a person has to perform — by drafting a
-# GitHub release and pressing publish.
+# bump or an automated compatibility fix that goes green needs no review,
+# because `main` reaches nobody. Publishing does, so it happens only from a
+# tag a person decided to create — either by merging the release pull request
+# (see release.yml) or by drafting a release by hand.
 #
 # Deliberately NOT `on: push: branches: [main]`. That trigger would collapse
 # the merge gate and the release gate into one, and the whole safety of
@@ -14,6 +14,12 @@ name: Publish
 on:
   release:
     types: [published]
+  workflow_call:
+    inputs:
+      tag:
+        description: "Tag to publish. Required when called; taken from the release otherwise."
+        required: true
+        type: string
 
 permissions: {}
 
@@ -28,9 +34,36 @@ jobs:
       # this workflow from this commit, which is checkable by anyone.
       id-token: write
     steps:
+      - name: resolve the tag
+        id: tag
+        env:
+          CALLED: ${{ inputs.tag }}
+          FROM_RELEASE: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
+          MARKED_PRERELEASE: ${{ github.event.release.prerelease }}
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          TAG="${CALLED:-$FROM_RELEASE}"
+          if [ -z "$TAG" ]; then
+            echo "::error::no tag to publish"; exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "name=$TAG" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+          # Prerelease if the semver says so or the release was marked as one.
+          # The union rather than either alone: a hyphenated version published
+          # as `latest` would be handed to everyone running a plain install,
+          # and a release somebody deliberately marked prerelease should be
+          # honoured whatever its tag looks like.
+          case "$TAG" in
+            *-*) PRE=true ;;
+            *)   PRE="${MARKED_PRERELEASE:-false}" ;;
+          esac
+          [ "$PRE" = "true" ] || PRE=false
+          echo "prerelease=$PRE" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "publishing $TAG (prerelease=$PRE)"
+
       - uses: actions/checkout@v6
         with:
-          ref: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
+          ref: ${{ steps.tag.outputs.name }}
           persist-credentials: false
       - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
         with:
@@ -38,12 +71,12 @@ jobs:
           cache: npm
           registry-url: https://registry.npmjs.org
 
-      # A release tag that disagrees with package.json publishes a version
-      # nobody asked for, under a git ref that does not contain it. Cheaper to
-      # refuse here than to deprecate afterwards.
+      # A tag that disagrees with package.json publishes a version nobody
+      # asked for, under a git ref that does not contain it. Cheaper to refuse
+      # here than to deprecate afterwards.
       - name: check the tag against package.json
         env:
-          TAG: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
+          TAG: ${{ steps.tag.outputs.name }}
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           PKG=$(node -p "require('./package.json').version")
@@ -53,20 +86,18 @@ jobs:
           fi
           echo "publishing $PKG from $TAG"
 
-      # The same checks `main` had to pass, run once more against the tagged
-      # tree. A release can be cut from any ref, so being green on `main` is
-      # not by itself evidence about what is in the tarball.
+      # The same checks main had to pass, run once more against the tagged
+      # tree. A release can be cut from any ref, so being green on main is not
+      # by itself evidence about what is in the tarball.
       - run: npm ci
       - run: npm run build
       - run: npx tsc --noEmit -p tsconfig.test.json
       - run: npm test
 
-      # A prerelease goes out under the `next` tag, so `npm i @bitrouter/opencode`
-      # keeps resolving to the last stable one.
       - name: publish
         env:
           NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
-          PRERELEASE: ${{ github.event.release.prerelease }}
+          PRERELEASE: ${{ steps.tag.outputs.prerelease }}
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           if [ "$PRERELEASE" = "true" ]; then
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..59cf9c9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+name: Release
+
+# Turns merged work into a released version, in two steps with a person
+# between them.
+#
+# release-please keeps one pull request open against `main`, holding the next
+# version and the changelog entries it derived from the commit subjects since
+# the last release. It rewrites that pull request as more lands. Nothing is
+# published while it sits there.
+#
+# Merging it is the decision to ship — the one step this whole maintenance
+# system asks a person to perform. That merge creates the tag and the GitHub
+# release, and this workflow then publishes to npm from the tag.
+#
+# The release pull request is deliberately NOT in plugin-automerge's list of
+# automation branches. It is the gate; a gate that opens itself is furniture.
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [main]
+  schedule:
+    # A merge performed by GitHub's auto-merge is attributed to
+    # `github-actions[bot]`, and a push from that token does not trigger
+    # workflows — so a Dependabot bump that merges itself never reaches the
+    # `push` trigger above. Without this, the release pull request would
+    # silently stop reflecting anything that merged on its own.
+    - cron: "0 6 * * *"
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+permissions: {}
+
+jobs:
+  prepare:
+    name: keep the release pull request current
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
+      pull-requests: write
+    outputs:
+      released: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
+      tag: ${{ steps.release.outputs.tag_name }}
+    steps:
+      - uses: googleapis/release-please-action@45996ed1f6d02564a971a2fa1b5860e934307cf7 # v5.0.0
+        id: release
+        with:
+          config-file: release-please-config.json
+          manifest-file: .release-please-manifest.json
+
+  # Called rather than left to `publish.yml`'s own `release: published`
+  # trigger: release-please creates that release with GITHUB_TOKEN, and a
+  # release created by that token does not trigger workflows. The publish has
+  # to be invoked, not waited for.
+  publish:
+    needs: prepare
+    if: needs.prepare.outputs.released == 'true'
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/publish.yml
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+      id-token: write
+    secrets: inherit
+    with:
+      tag: ${{ needs.prepare.outputs.tag }}
diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..466df71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  ".": "0.1.0"
+}
diff --git a/release-please-config.json b/release-please-config.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1650357
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release-please-config.json
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/googleapis/release-please/main/schemas/config.json",
+  "$comment": "Release PRs are the human gate. Everything else in this repository may merge itself; merging one of these is the decision to ship, and it is the only one a person makes.",
+  "packages": {
+    ".": {
+      "release-type": "node",
+      "changelog-path": "CHANGELOG.md",
+      "include-v-in-tag": true,
+      "bump-minor-pre-major": true,
+      "bump-patch-for-minor-pre-major": false,
+      "draft": false,
+      "prerelease": false
+    }
+  }
+}