diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
index 9f6af2402..caa535f62 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yaml
@@ -169,10 +169,3 @@ jobs:
       - name: Dependency barrier
         if: contains(needs.*.result, 'failure') || contains(needs.*.result, 'cancelled')
         run: exit 1
-
-  tag-minor-release:
-    if: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/master' }}
-    needs:
-      - all
-    uses: ./.github/workflows/tag-minor-release.yaml
-    secrets: inherit
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-please.yaml b/.github/workflows/release-please.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f30786dbe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-please.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, RWTH Aachen University
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+name: Release Please
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [master]
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+permissions:
+  actions: write
+  contents: write
+  pull-requests: write
+
+jobs:
+  release-please:
+    name: Prepare Release
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - id: release
+        uses: googleapis/release-please-action@v4
+        with:
+          token: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN || secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          target-branch: master
+
+      # A tag pushed with GITHUB_TOKEN starts no workflow, but a dispatch always does.
+      - name: Start the release pipeline
+        if: steps.release.outputs.release_created == 'true'
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          TAG: ${{ steps.release.outputs.tag_name }}
+        run: gh workflow run ci.yaml --repo "${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}" --ref "${TAG}"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/tag-minor-release.yaml b/.github/workflows/tag-minor-release.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 26ef0fee1..000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/tag-minor-release.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,60 +0,0 @@
-# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Institute for Automation of Complex Power Systems, RWTH Aachen University
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
-
-name: Tag Minor Release
-
-on:
-    workflow_call: {}
-
-jobs:
-    tag-minor-release:
-        name: Tag Next Minor Version
-        runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-        permissions:
-            contents: write
-        steps:
-            - name: Checkout
-              uses: actions/checkout@v7
-              with:
-                  fetch-depth: 0
-                  fetch-tags: true
-
-            - name: Determine and create next minor tag
-              id: next_tag
-              run: |
-                  set -euo pipefail
-
-                  git fetch --tags --force
-
-                  latest_tag=$(git tag --list 'v*' | grep -E '^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$' | sort -V | tail -n1 || true)
-
-                  if [[ -z "${latest_tag}" ]]; then
-                    next_tag="v0.1.0"
-                  else
-                    version="${latest_tag#v}"
-                    major="${version%%.*}"
-                    rest="${version#*.}"
-                    minor="${rest%%.*}"
-                    next_tag="v${major}.$((minor + 1)).0"
-                  fi
-
-                  if git rev-parse "${next_tag}" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-                    echo "Tag ${next_tag} already exists. Skipping creation."
-                    echo "created=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-                    echo "tag=${next_tag}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-                    exit 0
-                  fi
-
-                  git tag -a "${next_tag}" -m "Release ${next_tag}"
-                  git push origin "${next_tag}"
-
-                  echo "created=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-                  echo "tag=${next_tag}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-
-            - name: Report created tag
-              run: |
-                  if [[ "${{ steps.next_tag.outputs.created }}" == "true" ]]; then
-                    echo "Created and pushed tag: ${{ steps.next_tag.outputs.tag }}"
-                  else
-                    echo "No new tag created. Existing tag: ${{ steps.next_tag.outputs.tag }}"
-                  fi
diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 71fbea36b..ea814d294 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ repos:
     rev: "v0.13.0"
     hooks:
       - id: markdownlint
-        exclude: ^paper\.md$
+        exclude: ^paper\.md$|^CHANGELOG\.md$
         args: [-r, "~MD013,~MD033,~MD024"]
 
   - repo: local
diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8d7e5f136
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  ".": "1.0.1"
+}
diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index f795c0a65..8b7e8d5d4 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.14)
 
 project(villas-node
-    VERSION 1.1.0
+    VERSION 1.1.0 # x-release-please-version
     DESCRIPTION "Open-Source Real-time Multi-protocol Gateway"
     HOMEPAGE_URL "https://www.fein-aachen.org/projects/villas-node/"
     LANGUAGES C CXX
diff --git a/REUSE.toml b/REUSE.toml
index e3507eccf..f00a14d32 100644
--- a/REUSE.toml
+++ b/REUSE.toml
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ SPDX-PackageDownloadLocation = "https://fein-aachen.org/en/projects/villas-node/
 
 [[annotations]]
 path = [
+    "CHANGELOG.md",
     "**.prefs",
     "**.vi",
     "**.opal",
diff --git a/release-please-config.json b/release-please-config.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..31aebf9ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release-please-config.json
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/googleapis/release-please/main/schemas/config.json",
+  "release-type": "simple",
+  "packages": {
+    ".": {
+      "extra-files": [
+        "CMakeLists.txt",
+        {
+          "type": "toml",
+          "path": "python/pyproject.toml",
+          "jsonpath": "$.project.version"
+        },
+        {
+          "type": "json",
+          "path": "doc/package.json",
+          "jsonpath": "$.version"
+        }
+      ]
+    }
+  }
+}