diff --git a/.github/workflows/buildpush.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
similarity index 50%
rename from .github/workflows/buildpush.yml
rename to .github/workflows/release.yml
index 7e82015..5f0bf9d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/buildpush.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 # separate terms of service, privacy policy, and support
 # documentation.
 
-name: Create and publish a Docker image
+name: Build and release the controller image
 
 on:
   push:
@@ -11,18 +11,29 @@ on:
 
 env:
   REGISTRY: ghcr.io
-  IMAGE_NAME: ${{ github.repository }}
+  IMAGE: ghcr.io/${{ github.repository }}
 
 jobs:
-  build-and-push-image:
+  build-and-release:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     permissions:
-      contents: read
+      issues: read
+      contents: write
       packages: write
 
     steps:
-      - name: Checkout repository
-        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+      - name: setup node
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v1
+        with:
+          node-version: 12
+          registry-url: https://registry.npmjs.org/
+
+      - name: setup release tools
+        run: npm install -g semantic-release@15 @semantic-release/exec
+
+      - name: Install make
+        run: sudo apt-get install -y make
 
       - name: Log in to the Container registry
         uses: docker/login-action@v1
@@ -31,9 +42,11 @@ jobs:
           username: ${{ github.actor }}
           password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
-      - name: Build and push Docker image
-        uses: docker/build-push-action@v2
-        with:
-          context: .
-          push: true
-          tags: ${{ env.REGISTRY }}/${{ env.IMAGE_NAME }}:latest
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+      - name: Push and release image
+        run: npx semantic-release
+        env:
+          IMAGE: ${{ env.IMAGE }}
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/test.yml b/.github/workflows/test.yml
index 30eafff..4d34982 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/test.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/test.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@ name: Test
 
 on:
   push:
-    branches:
+    branches-ignore:
+    - 'release'
+    tags-ignore:
     - '*'
   pull_request: {}
 
diff --git a/.releaserc b/.releaserc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4cbf9f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.releaserc
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{
+  "branch": "release",
+  "plugins": [
+    "@semantic-release/commit-analyzer",
+    ["@semantic-release/release-notes-generator", {
+      "writerOpts": {
+        "headerPartial": "# {{version}}\nImage: `ghcr.io/inovex/aws-auth-controller:{{version}}`"
+      }
+    }],
+    ["@semantic-release/exec", {
+      "publishCmd": "make release version=${nextRelease.version}"
+    }],
+    "@semantic-release/github"
+  ]
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 2c9255f..e668957 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 
 # Image URL to use all building/pushing image targets
-IMG ?= controller:latest
+version ?= test
+IMAGE ?= controller
+IMG ?= ${IMAGE}:${version}
 # Produce CRDs that work back to Kubernetes 1.11 (no version conversion)
 CRD_OPTIONS ?= "crd:trivialVersions=true,preserveUnknownFields=false"
 
@@ -60,12 +62,16 @@ build: generate fmt vet ## Build manager binary.
 run: manifests generate fmt vet ## Run a controller from your host.
 	go run ./main.go
 
-docker-build: test ## Build docker image with the manager.
+docker-build: ## Build docker image with the manager.
 	docker build -t ${IMG} .
 
 docker-push: ## Push docker image with the manager.
 	docker push ${IMG}
 
+##@ Release
+
+release: docker-build docker-push
+
 ##@ Deployment
 
 install: manifests kustomize ## Install CRDs into the K8s cluster specified in ~/.kube/config.