diff --git a/.github/workflows/create-release-draft.yaml b/.github/workflows/create-release-draft.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..af0931dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/create-release-draft.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+name: Create release draft
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+  pull_request:
+    branches:
+    - 'release-*'
+
+jobs:
+  create-draft:
+    name: Create release draft
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Get version
+        id: version
+        run: |
+          echo version=$(cat VERSION) >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+      - name: Setup Golang
+        uses: actions/setup-go@v5
+        with:
+          go-version: '1.22'
+
+      - name: Build binaries
+        id: binaries
+        run: |
+          make release-binaries
+
+      - name: Create release draft
+        id: create-release
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          gh release create "v${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}" \
+            --title "v${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}" \
+            --generate-notes \
+            --draft \
+            dist/release/*
diff --git a/hack/create-release-pr.sh b/hack/create-release-pr.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..063fe856
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hack/create-release-pr.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+RELEASE_BRANCH="$(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD || true)"
+set -eux
+set -o pipefail
+
+### look for latest on-branch tag
+PREVIOUS_TAG=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 --match "*${RELEASE_BRANCH##release-}*" 2>/dev/null || true)
+
+if [ -n "$PREVIOUS_TAG" ]; then
+    NEW_VERSION=$(semver-cli inc patch $PREVIOUS_TAG)
+else
+    NEW_VERSION="${RELEASE_BRANCH##release-}.0"
+fi
+
+echo $NEW_VERSION > VERSION
+
+IMAGE_TAG="v${NEW_VERSION}"
+make manifests
+
+git checkout -b "feat/new-version-${NEW_VERSION}"
+git commit -m "Release ${NEW_VERSION}" VERSION manifests/
+git push
+gh label --repo $(git remote get-url origin) create --force release
+gh pr --repo $(git remote get-url origin) \
+    create \
+    --base ${RELEASE_BRANCH} \
+    --title "Release ${NEW_VERSION}" \
+    --body  "Release ${NEW_VERSION}" \
+    --label release
+git checkout -