diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yml b/.github/workflows/publish.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 3e74077..0000000
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,57 +0,0 @@
-name: Publish to PyPI
-
-on:
-  release:
-    types: [published]
-
-permissions:
-  contents: read
-
-jobs:
-  test:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    strategy:
-      matrix:
-        python-version: ["3.11", "3.12", "3.13"]
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
-      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v6
-        with:
-          python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
-
-      - name: Install dependencies
-        run: uv sync --extra dev
-
-      - name: Lint
-        run: uv run ruff check .
-
-      - name: Type check
-        run: uv run mypy src/
-
-      - name: Test
-        run: uv run pytest
-
-  publish:
-    needs: test
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    environment: pypi
-    permissions:
-      contents: read
-      id-token: write
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
-      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v6
-
-      - name: Set version from release tag
-        run: |
-          VERSION="${GITHUB_REF_NAME#v}"
-          echo "Publishing version: $VERSION"
-          sed -i "s/^version = \".*\"/version = \"$VERSION\"/" pyproject.toml
-
-      - name: Build package
-        run: uv build
-
-      - name: Publish to PyPI
-        uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-please.yml b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b61d81d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+name: Release
+
+# Independent release automation for this SDK (decoupled from the gateway's own
+# releases). release-please watches main: each merged conventional commit
+# accumulates into a release PR that bumps the version in pyproject.toml and
+# updates CHANGELOG.md. Merging that release PR tags the release and creates a
+# GitHub Release, and the publish job below ships it to PyPI in the same run
+# (so no PAT is needed to chain a separate workflow off the release event).
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [main]
+
+permissions:
+  contents: write
+  pull-requests: write
+
+jobs:
+  release-please:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    outputs:
+      release_created: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
+    steps:
+      - uses: googleapis/release-please-action@v4
+        id: release
+        with:
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+  publish:
+    needs: release-please
+    if: ${{ needs.release-please.outputs.release_created == 'true' }}
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    environment: pypi
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+      id-token: write
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v6
+
+      - name: Build package
+        # release-please already committed the version bump to pyproject.toml on
+        # main, so the build picks it up with no tag-to-file patching needed.
+        run: uv build
+
+      - name: Publish to PyPI
+        uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..466df71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  ".": "0.1.0"
+}
diff --git a/RELEASE.md b/RELEASE.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..46d7c3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/RELEASE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+# Releasing
+
+This SDK is versioned independently of the otari gateway, with its own semver.
+Releases are automated with [release-please](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please).
+
+## How a release happens
+
+1. Merge changes to `main` using [Conventional Commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/)
+   (`feat:`, `fix:`, etc.). This includes the gateway codegen's regeneration PRs
+   and ordinary shell PRs.
+2. release-please opens or updates a single **release PR** that bumps the version
+   in `pyproject.toml` (`[project].version`) and writes `CHANGELOG.md`.
+3. Review and merge the release PR. That tags the release and creates a GitHub
+   Release.
+4. The same workflow run (`.github/workflows/release-please.yml`, gated on
+   `release_created`) builds the package and publishes it to PyPI.
+
+## Configuration
+
+- **Registry:** PyPI (`otari`).
+- **Auth:** PyPI trusted publishing via OIDC (`environment: pypi`, `id-token: write`).
+  No API token secret is stored; the trusted publisher must be configured on PyPI.
+- **Version file:** `pyproject.toml` `[project].version` (the only place to change
+  the version; do not edit it by hand, release-please owns it).
+
+## Prerequisites (one time, repo settings)
+
+- Enable **Settings to Actions: "Allow GitHub Actions to create and approve pull
+  requests"** so release-please can open its release PR.
+- Configure the PyPI trusted publisher for this repo and the `pypi` environment.
+
+## If the publish fails
+
+The release tag and GitHub Release already exist, so re-run the failed `publish`
+job from the Actions tab to retry publishing the same version. Avoid cutting a
+release by hand; the automated path keeps `pyproject.toml`, the tag, and the
+changelog in sync.
+
+See the gateway's [SDK release coordination and compatibility](https://github.com/mozilla-ai/otari/blob/main/docs/sdk-compatibility.md)
+for the cross-repo policy, the spec-version model, and the end-to-end flow.
diff --git a/release-please-config.json b/release-please-config.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0dde12b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release-please-config.json
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/googleapis/release-please/main/schemas/config.json",
+  "include-v-in-tag": false,
+  "packages": {
+    ".": {
+      "release-type": "python",
+      "package-name": "otari"
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/otari/__init__.py b/src/otari/__init__.py
index f6e9895..29a5bed 100644
--- a/src/otari/__init__.py
+++ b/src/otari/__init__.py
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@
 
 from importlib.metadata import PackageNotFoundError, version
 
+# Gateway/spec version the generated core was built from, stamped into the core by
+# the gateway codegen pipeline. Surfaced here so callers can check which gateway
+# spec this SDK targets (see https://github.com/mozilla-ai/otari spec compatibility).
+from otari._client._spec_version import __spec_version__ as __spec_version__
 from otari.async_client import AsyncOtariClient
 from otari.client import OtariClient
 from otari.control_plane import ControlPlane
diff --git a/src/otari/_client/_spec_version.py b/src/otari/_client/_spec_version.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cdc514d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/otari/_client/_spec_version.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+__spec_version__ = "0.0.0-dev"
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_spec_version.py b/tests/unit/test_spec_version.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7b41de7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_spec_version.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+"""The gateway/spec version is surfaced on the public package.
+
+The gateway codegen stamps the spec version into the generated core
+(``otari._client._spec_version``); the package re-exports it as
+``otari.__spec_version__`` so callers can tell which gateway spec this SDK
+targets. This guards the wiring (a stale literal in ``__init__`` would diverge
+from the generated marker).
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import otari
+from otari._client._spec_version import __spec_version__ as marker
+
+
+def test_spec_version_is_surfaced() -> None:
+    assert otari.__spec_version__ == marker
+    assert isinstance(otari.__spec_version__, str)
+    assert otari.__spec_version__