diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d3f7774
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,196 @@
+name: Release
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      dry_run:
+        description: 'Dry run only (no git push, no tags, no npm publish)'
+        required: false
+        default: true
+        type: boolean
+
+permissions:
+  contents: write
+  id-token: write
+  issues: write
+  pull-requests: write
+
+# Allow GitHub Actions to bypass branch protection
+# This is required for semantic-release to push version updates
+
+jobs:
+  release:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Verify admin permissions
+        run: |
+          # Use the repository's permission endpoint which works for both personal and org repos
+          RESPONSE=$(curl -s -H "Authorization: token ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" \
+            -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
+            "https://api.github.com/repos/${{ github.repository }}/collaborators/${{ github.actor }}/permission")
+
+          # Extract permission using jq if available, otherwise use grep
+          if command -v jq &> /dev/null; then
+            PERMISSION=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | jq -r '.permission // empty')
+          else
+            PERMISSION=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | grep -o '"permission":"[^"]*"' | head -1 | cut -d'"' -f4)
+          fi
+
+          if [ -z "$PERMISSION" ]; then
+            echo "Warning: Could not determine permission level. Response: $RESPONSE"
+            echo "Note: workflow_dispatch requires write access, proceeding..."
+            exit 0
+          fi
+
+          if [ "$PERMISSION" != "admin" ]; then
+            echo "Error: Only repository admins can trigger releases. Current permission: $PERMISSION"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          echo "✓ Verified admin permission for ${{ github.actor }}"
+
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: main
+          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-tags: true
+          token: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_TOKEN }}
+
+      - name: Setup git branch
+        run: |
+          git fetch --all --tags --force
+          git fetch origin '+refs/notes/*:refs/notes/*' || true
+          git checkout -B main
+          git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/main main
+
+      - name: Ensure master branch exists (for semantic-release validation)
+        run: |
+          # semantic-release requires at least one release branch that exists; repo uses main, we declare "master"
+          if ! git ls-remote --heads origin master 2>/dev/null | grep -q .; then
+            git checkout -b master
+            git push origin master
+            git checkout main
+          fi
+
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: '20'
+          registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org'
+          always-auth: true
+
+      - run: npm ci
+
+      - run: npm test --if-present
+
+      - name: Configure git
+        run: |
+          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
+          git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+
+      - name: Add semantic-release note (dry run only)
+        if: github.event.inputs.dry_run == 'true'
+        run: |
+          set -e
+          if ! git rev-parse --verify v1.0.0-beta.1 >/dev/null 2>&1; then exit 0; fi
+          git notes --ref semantic-release-v1.0.0-beta.1 add -f -m '{"channels":["beta"]}' v1.0.0-beta.1
+          echo "Added semantic-release note to v1.0.0-beta.1 (local only for dry run)."
+
+      - name: Dry run mode notice
+        if: github.event.inputs.dry_run == 'true'
+        run: |
+          echo "=============================================="
+          echo "  DRY RUN MODE - No commits, tags, or publish"
+          echo "=============================================="
+          echo "Semantic-release will show what WOULD happen."
+          echo "To perform a real release, run again and uncheck 'Dry run only'."
+          echo ""
+
+      - name: Ensure v1.0.0-beta.1 exists locally (dry run only)
+        if: github.event.inputs.dry_run == 'true'
+        run: |
+          if ! git rev-parse --verify "v1.0.0-beta.1" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            # So semantic-release sees a "previous release" and suggests 1.0.0-beta.2 for new commits
+            PARENT=$(git rev-parse HEAD~1 2>/dev/null || git rev-parse HEAD)
+            git tag -a "v1.0.0-beta.1" "$PARENT" -m "chore: initial beta release (dry-run placeholder)"
+            echo "Created local tag v1.0.0-beta.1 at $PARENT so semantic-release can compute next version (1.0.0-beta.2)."
+          else
+            echo "Tag v1.0.0-beta.1 already exists."
+          fi
+
+      - name: Get version before semantic-release
+        id: version-before
+        run: |
+          VERSION_BEFORE=$(node -p "require('./package.json').version")
+          echo "version=$VERSION_BEFORE" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "Current version: $VERSION_BEFORE"
+
+      - name: Release with semantic-release
+        id: release
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          set -e
+          if [ "${{ github.event.inputs.dry_run }}" = "true" ]; then
+            echo "Running semantic-release in DRY RUN mode..."
+            npx semantic-release --dry-run 2>&1 | tee semantic-release.log || true
+            grep -oE "The next release version is [^[:space:]]+" semantic-release.log 2>/dev/null | sed 's/The next release version is //' > next-version.txt || echo "" > next-version.txt
+          else
+            npx semantic-release
+          fi
+
+      # npm publish uses OIDC (id-token: write + --provenance). No NPM_TOKEN needed.
+      # Require on npmjs.com: Package → Package settings → Trusted publishers →
+      #   Add: GitHub Actions, org cloudinary-devs, repo create-cloudinary-next, workflow release.yml
+      # npm trusted publishing (OIDC) requires npm CLI 11.5.1+; Node 20 ships with npm 9.x.
+      # Force OIDC-only: override NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG so npm ignores setup-node's .npmrc (which may reference a stale token).
+      - name: Publish to npm using trusted publishing
+        if: github.event.inputs.dry_run != 'true'
+        env:
+          NODE_AUTH_TOKEN: ''
+          NPM_TOKEN: ''
+          NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG: '${{ runner.temp }}/.npmrc-oidc'
+        run: |
+          echo "=== Publishing to npm with trusted publishing (OIDC) ==="
+          unset NODE_AUTH_TOKEN NPM_TOKEN 2>/dev/null || true
+          # Config that has only registry — no _authToken — so npm uses OIDC
+          echo "registry=https://registry.npmjs.org/" > "$NPM_CONFIG_USERCONFIG"
+          # OIDC for publish requires npm 11.5.1+ (Node 20 ships with npm 9.x)
+          npm install -g npm@latest
+          npm --version
+
+          # Get versions
+          VERSION_BEFORE="${{ steps.version-before.outputs.version }}"
+          VERSION_AFTER=$(node -p "require('./package.json').version")
+
+          echo "Version before: $VERSION_BEFORE"
+          echo "Version after: $VERSION_AFTER"
+
+          # Only publish if semantic-release created a new version
+          if [ "$VERSION_BEFORE" != "$VERSION_AFTER" ]; then
+            echo "✓ New version detected: $VERSION_AFTER"
+            echo "Publishing to npm..."
+
+            # Publish using npm publish which supports OIDC/trusted publishing
+            # --tag latest so installers get the most recent version (npm i create-cloudinary-next / npx create-cloudinary-next)
+            npm publish --provenance --access public --tag latest
+            echo "✓ Published $VERSION_AFTER to npm"
+          else
+            echo "No version change detected (version: $VERSION_AFTER)"
+            echo "Skipping npm publish - no new release was created"
+          fi
+
+      - name: Dry run - skip npm publish
+        if: github.event.inputs.dry_run == 'true'
+        run: |
+          echo "=============================================="
+          echo "  DRY RUN - Skipping npm publish"
+          echo "=============================================="
+          NEXT_VERSION=$(cat next-version.txt 2>/dev/null || echo "")
+          if [ -n "$NEXT_VERSION" ]; then
+            echo "Version that WOULD have been published: $NEXT_VERSION"
+          else
+            echo "Version that WOULD have been published: (check semantic-release output above; might be no new release)"
+            echo "Current package.json: $(node -p "require('./package.json').version")"
+          fi
+          echo ""
+          echo "To publish for real, run the workflow again with 'Dry run only' unchecked."
diff --git a/.husky/commit-msg b/.husky/commit-msg
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..0398b7a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.husky/commit-msg
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+npx --no -- commitlint --edit ${1}
diff --git a/.releaserc.json b/.releaserc.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f580732
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.releaserc.json
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+{
+  "branches": [
+    "master",
+    {
+      "name": "main",
+      "prerelease": "beta"
+    }
+  ],
+  "tagFormat": "v${version}",
+  "plugins": [
+    "@semantic-release/commit-analyzer",
+    "@semantic-release/release-notes-generator",
+    "@semantic-release/changelog",
+    [
+      "@semantic-release/npm",
+      {
+        "npmPublish": false,
+        "tarballDir": "dist"
+      }
+    ],
+    [
+      "@semantic-release/git",
+      {
+        "assets": ["package.json", "CHANGELOG.md"],
+        "message": "chore(release): ${nextRelease.version} [skip ci]\n\n${nextRelease.notes}"
+      }
+    ],
+    "@semantic-release/github"
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/commitlint.config.js b/commitlint.config.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee9db56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/commitlint.config.js
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+export default {
+  extends: ['@commitlint/config-conventional'],
+  rules: {
+    'type-enum': [
+      2,
+      'always',
+      [
+        'feat',     // New feature
+        'fix',      // Bug fix
+        'docs',     // Documentation changes
+        'style',    // Code style changes (formatting, etc.)
+        'refactor', // Code refactoring
+        'perf',     // Performance improvements
+        'test',     // Adding or updating tests
+        'build',    // Build system changes
+        'ci',       // CI configuration changes
+        'chore',    // Other changes that don't modify src or test files
+        'revert',   // Revert a previous commit
+      ],
+    ],
+    'subject-case': [2, 'never', ['start-case', 'pascal-case', 'upper-case']],
+  },
+};
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 459b516..eae4404 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   "description": "Scaffold a Cloudinary Next.js project with interactive setup",
   "type": "module",
   "bin": {
-    "create-cloudinary-react": "./cli.js"
+    "create-cloudinary-next": "./cli.js"
   },
   "keywords": [
     "cloudinary",
@@ -14,6 +14,12 @@
   ],
   "author": "",
   "license": "MIT",
+  "engines": {
+    "node": ">=18.0.0"
+  },
+  "scripts": {
+    "semantic-release": "semantic-release"
+  },
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
     "url": "https://github.com/cloudinary-devs/create-cloudinary-next.git"
@@ -21,5 +27,13 @@
   "homepage": "https://github.com/cloudinary-devs/create-cloudinary-next#readme",
   "bugs": {
     "url": "https://github.com/cloudinary-devs/create-cloudinary-next/issues"
+  },
+  "devDependencies": {
+    "@commitlint/cli": "^19.6.0",
+    "@commitlint/config-conventional": "^19.6.0",
+    "@semantic-release/changelog": "^6.0.3",
+    "@semantic-release/git": "^10.0.1",
+    "husky": "^9.1.7",
+    "semantic-release": "^23.0.0"
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file