diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index 941998d..96bbd54 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -15,6 +15,21 @@ concurrency:
   cancel-in-progress: true
 
 jobs:
+  release-source-gate:
+    # PRs targeting `release` are only allowed from `main`. GitHub branch
+    # protection has no "restrict source branch" setting, so we enforce it
+    # here as a required check. Make this a required status check on the
+    # `release` branch so the PR can't merge without it.
+    if: github.event_name == 'pull_request' && github.base_ref == 'release'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: PRs to release must come from main
+        run: |
+          if [ "$GITHUB_HEAD_REF" != "main" ]; then
+            echo "::error::PRs to release must come from main, got '$GITHUB_HEAD_REF'."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
   ci:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b850f6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+name: Release
+
+on:
+  push:
+    tags: ['v*']
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  gate:
+    # Enforce that the tag points to the current tip of `release`. The
+    # release-branch CI (ci.yml) runs Tier 1 + Tier 2 on every push to
+    # release, so tip-of-release is the SHA on which full CI passed.
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+
+      - name: Tag must point to the tip of release
+        run: |
+          git fetch origin release --depth=1
+          expected=$(git rev-parse FETCH_HEAD)
+          if [ "$GITHUB_SHA" != "$expected" ]; then
+            echo "::error::Tag $GITHUB_REF_NAME ($GITHUB_SHA) is not the tip of release ($expected). See RELEASING.md."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+  linux:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: gate
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        target: [x86_64, aarch64]
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+
+      - uses: PyO3/maturin-action@v1
+        with:
+          target: ${{ matrix.target }}
+          manylinux: auto
+          args: --release --out dist -i python3.11 -i python3.12 -i python3.13
+
+      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: wheels-linux-${{ matrix.target }}
+          path: dist
+
+  macos:
+    needs: gate
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        target: [x86_64, aarch64]
+        python-version: ['3.11', '3.12', '3.13']
+        include:
+          - target: x86_64
+            runner: macos-13
+          - target: aarch64
+            runner: macos-14
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.runner }}
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+
+      - uses: PyO3/maturin-action@v1
+        with:
+          target: ${{ matrix.target }}
+          args: --release --out dist -i python${{ matrix.python-version }}
+
+      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: wheels-macos-${{ matrix.target }}-py${{ matrix.python-version }}
+          path: dist
+
+  windows:
+    runs-on: windows-latest
+    needs: gate
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      matrix:
+        target: [x64]
+        python-version: ['3.11', '3.12', '3.13']
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: ${{ matrix.python-version }}
+          architecture: ${{ matrix.target }}
+
+      - uses: PyO3/maturin-action@v1
+        with:
+          target: ${{ matrix.target }}
+          args: --release --out dist
+
+      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: wheels-windows-${{ matrix.target }}-py${{ matrix.python-version }}
+          path: dist
+
+  sdist:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: gate
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+
+      - uses: PyO3/maturin-action@v1
+        with:
+          command: sdist
+          args: --out dist
+
+      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: sdist
+          path: dist
+
+  publish:
+    name: Publish to PyPI
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: [linux, macos, windows, sdist]
+    if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v')
+    environment:
+      name: pypi
+      url: https://pypi.org/p/pyharfrust
+    permissions:
+      # Required for PyPI trusted publishing (OIDC). Configure the publisher
+      # at https://pypi.org/manage/account/publishing/ before tagging a release.
+      id-token: write
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          path: dist
+          merge-multiple: true
+
+      - uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
+        with:
+          packages-dir: dist
+          skip-existing: true
diff --git a/RELEASING.md b/RELEASING.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3e49cb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/RELEASING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+# Releasing
+
+Releases are cut from the `release` branch. The `ci.yml` workflow runs full
+CI (Tier 1 + Tier 2 against the pinned harfrust corpus) on every push to
+`release`. The `release.yml` workflow gates on tag-equals-release-tip, so
+the SHA being released has demonstrably passed full CI.
+
+## Guarantees in place
+
+- **Branch protection on `release`** — direct pushes blocked, all commits
+  must come through a PR with the `ci` and `release-source-gate` checks
+  passing, branch must be up to date with base, no force pushes.
+- **`release-source-gate` job (`ci.yml`)** — rejects any PR targeting
+  `release` whose head ref isn't `main`. Required check.
+- **`gate` job (`release.yml`)** — rejects any tag whose SHA isn't the
+  current tip of `release`. Together with the protections above, this
+  means tip-of-release = "full CI + Tier 2 passed on this exact SHA."
+- **PyPI trusted publishing** — the `publish` job uploads via OIDC, no
+  API tokens in GitHub secrets.
+
+## Release procedure
+
+1. Open a PR from `main` to `release`. Wait for CI (including Tier 2) to
+   go green. Merge.
+2. Tag the tip of `release`:
+   ```bash
+   git checkout release
+   git pull --ff-only
+   git tag -a vX.Y.Z -m "vX.Y.Z"
+   git push origin vX.Y.Z
+   ```
+3. The tag push triggers `release.yml`. The `gate` job verifies
+   `vX.Y.Z` points to the current tip of `release`. If it doesn't, the
+   whole workflow fails — fix and re-tag.
+4. Wheel jobs build for Linux (x86_64, aarch64), macOS (x86_64, aarch64),
+   Windows (x64) across CPython 3.11/3.12/3.13. The `sdist` job builds
+   the source distribution.
+5. The `publish` job uploads everything to PyPI via OIDC. `skip-existing`
+   makes re-runs idempotent.
+
+## Common issues
+
+**Gate fails: "tag is not the tip of release."** Someone else merged to
+`release` between when you fetched and when you pushed the tag, or you
+tagged the wrong branch. Delete the tag locally and on origin, pull
+`release`, retag.
+
+```bash
+git tag -d vX.Y.Z
+git push origin :refs/tags/vX.Y.Z
+git checkout release && git pull --ff-only
+git tag -a vX.Y.Z -m "vX.Y.Z" && git push origin vX.Y.Z
+```
+
+**Publish fails on PyPI.** Most often the version in `pyproject.toml`
+hasn't been bumped (PyPI rejects re-uploads of an existing version).
+Bump the version on `main`, merge to `release`, retag.