diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 6d73acb..f84761a 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.PHONY: all build lint fmt check audit test coverage bench clean deploy blog
+.PHONY: all build lint fmt check audit test coverage bench clean deploy blog release
 
 all: lint build test
 
@@ -33,6 +33,12 @@ blog:
 		echo "  $$f → site/blog/posts/$$name.html"; \
 	done
 
+release:
+ifndef VERSION
+	$(error Usage: make release VERSION=0.8.0)
+endif
+	./scripts/release.sh $(VERSION)
+
 clean:
 	cargo clean
 
diff --git a/scripts/release.sh b/scripts/release.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..d4ee882
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/release.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+if [ $# -ne 1 ]; then
+  echo "Usage: $0 <version>  (e.g. 0.7.0)" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+VERSION="$1"
+TAG="v$VERSION"
+
+# Sanity checks
+if ! git diff --quiet || ! git diff --cached --quiet; then
+  echo "ERROR: working tree is dirty — commit or stash first" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ "$(git branch --show-current)" != "main" ]; then
+  echo "ERROR: must be on main branch" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+if git tag -l "$TAG" | grep -q .; then
+  echo "ERROR: tag $TAG already exists" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+CURRENT=$(grep '^version = ' Cargo.toml | head -1 | sed 's/version = "\(.*\)"/\1/')
+echo "Bumping $CURRENT -> $VERSION"
+
+# Bump version
+sed -i.bak "s/^version = \"$CURRENT\"/version = \"$VERSION\"/" Cargo.toml
+rm -f Cargo.toml.bak
+cargo update --workspace
+
+# Commit, tag, push
+git add Cargo.toml Cargo.lock
+git commit -m "chore: bump version to $VERSION"
+git tag "$TAG"
+git push origin main --tags
+
+echo
+echo "Released $TAG — GitHub Actions will build, publish to crates.io, and create the release."