diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5ded0c65ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+name: release
+
+on:
+  push:
+    # Sequence of patterns matched against refs/tags
+    tags:
+    - 'v*' # Push events to matching v*, i.e. v1.0, v20.15.10
+
+permissions:
+  contents: write # Allow to create a release.
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    name: create draft release
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Set env
+        run:  echo "RELEASE_TAG=${GITHUB_REF:10}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+      - name: checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # tag=v4.2.2
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+      - name: Calculate go version
+        run: echo "go_version=$(make go-version)" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+      - name: Set up Go
+        uses: actions/setup-go@41dfa10bad2bb2ae585af6ee5bb4d7d973ad74ed # tag=v5.1.0
+        with:
+          go-version: ${{ env.go_version }}
+      - name: generate release artifacts
+        run: |
+          make release
+      - name: generate release notes
+        # Ignore failures for release-notes generation so they could still get
+        # generated manually before publishing.
+        run: |
+          make generate-release-notes || echo "Failed to generate release notes" >> _releasenotes/${{ env.RELEASE_TAG }}.md
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+      - name: Release
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@01570a1f39cb168c169c802c3bceb9e93fb10974 # tag=v2.1.0
+        with:
+          draft: true
+          files: out/*
+          body_path: _releasenotes/${{ env.RELEASE_TAG }}.md
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index dcedf6b2f3..fc57c85d5e 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -74,6 +74,9 @@ cscope.*
 *.test
 /hack/.test-cmd-auth
 
+# Generated release notes
+_releasenotes
+
 # JUnit test output from ginkgo e2e tests
 /junit*.xml
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index a584cefccb..197aea982f 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -23,6 +23,9 @@ include $(ROOT_DIR_RELATIVE)/common.mk
 export GO111MODULE=on
 unexport GOPATH
 
+# Go
+GO_VERSION ?= 1.22.7
+
 # Directories.
 ARTIFACTS ?= $(REPO_ROOT)/_artifacts
 TOOLS_DIR := hack/tools
@@ -378,8 +381,25 @@ staging-manifests:
 ##@ Release
 ## --------------------------------------
 
+ifneq (,$(findstring -,$(RELEASE_TAG)))                                                                                                 
+    PRE_RELEASE=true                                                                                                                    
+endif                                                                                                                                   
+PREVIOUS_TAG ?= $(shell git tag -l | grep -E "^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$$" | sort -V | grep -B1 $(RELEASE_TAG) | head -n 1 2>/dev/null)
+## set by Prow, ref name of the base branch, e.g., main
+RELEASE_DIR := out
+RELEASE_NOTES_DIR := _releasenotes
+
+.PHONY: $(RELEASE_DIR)
 $(RELEASE_DIR):
-	mkdir -p $@
+	mkdir -p $(RELEASE_DIR)/
+ 
+.PHONY: $(RELEASE_NOTES_DIR)
+$(RELEASE_NOTES_DIR):
+	mkdir -p $(RELEASE_NOTES_DIR)/
+ 
+.PHONY: $(BUILD_DIR)
+$(BUILD_DIR):
+	@mkdir -p $(BUILD_DIR)
 
 .PHONY: list-staging-releases
 list-staging-releases: ## List staging images for image promotion
@@ -454,9 +474,14 @@ upload-gh-artifacts: $(GH) ## Upload artifacts to Github release
 release-alias-tag: # Adds the tag to the last build tag.
 	gcloud container images add-tag -q $(CONTROLLER_IMG):$(TAG) $(CONTROLLER_IMG):$(RELEASE_ALIAS_TAG)
 
-.PHONY: release-notes
-release-notes: $(RELEASE_NOTES) ## Generate release notes
-	$(RELEASE_NOTES) $(RELEASE_NOTES_ARGS)
+.PHONY: generate-release-notes ## Generate release notes
+generate-release-notes: $(RELEASE_NOTES_DIR) $(RELEASE_NOTES)
+	# Reset the file
+	echo -n > $(RELEASE_NOTES_DIR)/$(RELEASE_TAG).md
+	if [ -n "${PRE_RELEASE}" ]; then \
+	echo -e ":rotating_light: This is a RELEASE CANDIDATE. Use it only for testing purposes. If you find any bugs, file an [issue](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api-provider-openstack/issues/new/choose).\n" >> $(RELEASE_NOTES_DIR)/$(RELEASE_TAG).md; \
+	fi
+	"$(RELEASE_NOTES)" --from=$(PREVIOUS_TAG) >> $(RELEASE_NOTES_DIR)/$(RELEASE_TAG).md
 
 .PHONY: templates
 templates: ## Generate cluster templates
@@ -570,3 +595,12 @@ compile-e2e: ## Test e2e compilation
 
 .PHONY: FORCE
 FORCE:
+
+## --------------------------------------    
+## Helpers
+## --------------------------------------
+
+##@ helpers:
+
+go-version: ## Print the go version we use to compile our binaries and images
+	@echo $(GO_VERSION)
diff --git a/RELEASE.md b/RELEASE.md
index a86fd79693..df00a8103b 100644
--- a/RELEASE.md
+++ b/RELEASE.md
@@ -70,10 +70,7 @@ The content of the release notes differs depending on the type of release, speci
    for review and the promotion of the image.
 1. Run `make release` to build artifacts to be attached to the GitHub release.
 1. Generate and finalize the release notes and save them for the next step.
-   - Run `make release-notes RELEASE_NOTES_ARGS="--from <tag>"`.
-     - Depending on the type of release, substitute `<tag>` with the following:
-       - Stable releases: tag of the last stable release
-       - Pre-releases*: tag of the latest pre-release (or last stable release if there isn't one)
+   - Run `make release-notes`.
    - Pay close attention to the `## :question: Sort these by hand` section, as it contains items that need to be manually sorted.
 1. Create a draft release in GitHub based on the tag created above
     - Name the release `Release [VERSION]` where VERSION is the full version string.