diff --git a/.github/release.yml b/.github/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..191ccd628f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+changelog:
+  exclude:
+    labels:
+      - skip-changelog
+  categories:
+    - title: 🚀 Features
+      labels:
+        - enhancement
+    - title: 💣 Breaking Changes
+      labels:
+        - change
+    - title: 🐛 Bug Fixes
+      labels:
+        - bug
+    - title: 📝 Documentation
+      labels:
+        - documentation
+    - title: 🧪 Tests
+      labels:
+        - tests
+    - title: 🔨 Maintenance
+      labels:
+        - chore
+    - title: ⬆️ Dependencies
+      labels:
+        - dependencies
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index c365e8cc7e..354bde9b1b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -3,9 +3,10 @@ name: Continuous Integration
 on:
   push:
     branches:
-      - 'main'
+      - main
+      - release-*
     tags:
-      - 'v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+'
+      - 'v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+*'
     paths-ignore:
       - '**.md'
   pull_request:
@@ -119,16 +120,37 @@ jobs:
           key: nginx-kubernetes-gateway-${{ github.run_id }}-${{ github.run_number }}
       - name: Docker Buildx
         uses: docker/setup-buildx-action@v2
+      - name: Login to GitHub Container Registry
+        uses: docker/login-action@v2
+        if: ${{ startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags') }}
+        with:
+          registry: ghcr.io
+          username: ${{ github.repository_owner }}
+          password: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+      - name: Docker meta
+        id: meta
+        uses: docker/metadata-action@v4
+        with:
+          images: |
+            name=ghcr.io/nginxinc/nginx-kubernetes-gateway
+          tags: |
+            type=semver,pattern={{version}}
+            type=edge
+            type=ref,event=pr
+            type=ref,event=branch,enable=${{ startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/heads/release') }}
+          flavor: |
+            latest=true
       - name: Build Image Debian
         uses: docker/build-push-action@v3
         with:
           file: build/Dockerfile
           context: '.'
           target: local
-          load: true
+          tags: ${{ steps.meta.outputs.tags }}
+          load: ${{ !startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags') }}
+          push: ${{ startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags') }}
           cache-from: type=gha
           cache-to: type=gha,mode=max
-          tags: nginx/nginx-kubernetes-gateway:${{ needs.vars.outputs.sha }}
           build-args: |
             VERSION=${{ needs.vars.outputs.version }}
             GIT_COMMIT=${{ needs.vars.outputs.sha }}
@@ -137,7 +159,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: aquasecurity/trivy-action@0.2.3
         continue-on-error: true
         with:
-          image-ref: nginx/nginx-kubernetes-gateway:${{ needs.vars.outputs.sha }}
+          image-ref: ghcr.io/nginxinc/nginx-kubernetes-gateway:${{ steps.meta.outputs.version }}
           format: 'template'
           template: '@/contrib/sarif.tpl'
           output: 'trivy-results-nginx-kubernetes-gateway.sarif'
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4921286bac
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+name: Create Draft Release
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - release-*
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      tagFrom:
+        description: The tag to create the release from.
+        required: true
+        type: string
+      tagTo:
+        description: The tag to create the release to.
+        required: true
+        type: string
+      branch:
+        description: The branch where the release will be created.
+        required: true
+        type: string
+
+jobs:
+
+  binary:
+    name: Create Draft Release
+    runs-on: ubuntu-20.04
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/setup-node@v3
+      - run: npm install semver
+      - uses: actions/github-script@v6
+        continue-on-error: true
+        with:
+          script: |
+            const semver = require('semver');
+            const ref = context.ref.split("/")[2]
+
+            const releases = (await github.rest.repos.listReleases({
+              owner: context.payload.repository.owner.login,
+              repo: context.payload.repository.name,
+              per_page: 100,
+            })).data
+
+            let latest_release
+            const latest_release_current_branch = releases.find(release => !release.draft && release.tag_name.startsWith("v" + ref.split("-")[1]))
+
+            if (latest_release_current_branch === undefined){
+              latest_release = (await github.rest.repos.getLatestRelease({
+                owner: context.payload.repository.owner.login,
+                repo: context.payload.repository.name,
+              })).data.tag_name
+            } else {
+              latest_release = latest_release_current_branch.tag_name
+            }
+
+            let tagFrom, tagTo, branch
+            if (context.eventName === 'workflow_dispatch'){
+              console.log(`Dispatch run with inputs: ${JSON.stringify(context.payload.inputs)}`)
+              ;({ tagFrom, tagTo, branch } = context.payload.inputs)
+            } else {
+              ;({ tagFrom, tagTo, branch } = {
+                tagFrom: latest_release,
+                tagTo: 'next',
+                branch: ref,
+              })
+              console.log(`Push run with: { tagFrom: ${tagFrom}, tagTo: ${tagTo}, branch: ${branch} }`)
+            }
+            console.log(`The latest release was ${tagFrom}`)
+
+            let version = tagTo.replace('v', '')
+            if (version === 'next'){
+              const temp_notes = (await github.rest.repos.generateReleaseNotes({
+                owner: context.payload.repository.owner.login,
+                repo: context.payload.repository.name,
+                tag_name: tagTo,
+                previous_tag_name: tagFrom,
+                target_commitish: branch,
+              })).data.body
+
+              let level
+              temp_notes.includes("### 🚀 Features") ? level = 'minor' : level = 'patch'
+              temp_notes.includes("### 💣 Breaking Changes") ? level = 'major' : level = level
+              version = semver.inc(tagFrom, level)
+              console.log(`The level of the release is ${level}`)
+            }
+            const draft = releases.find((r) => r.draft && r.tag_name === "v"+version)
+            const draft_found = !(draft === undefined)
+
+            console.log(`The next version is v${version}`)
+
+            const release_notes = (await github.rest.repos.generateReleaseNotes({
+              owner: context.payload.repository.owner.login,
+              repo: context.payload.repository.name,
+              tag_name: 'v' + version,
+              previous_tag_name: tagFrom,
+              target_commitish: branch,
+            }))
+
+            let release
+            if (draft_found){
+              console.log("Draft found")
+              release = (await github.rest.repos.updateRelease({
+                owner: context.payload.repository.owner.login,
+                repo: context.payload.repository.name,
+                release_id: draft.id,
+                tag_name: 'v' + version,
+                target_commitish: branch,
+                name: 'v' + version,
+                body: release_notes.data.body,
+                draft: true,
+              }))
+            } else {
+              console.log("Draft not found")
+              release = (await github.rest.repos.createRelease({
+                owner: context.payload.repository.owner.login,
+                repo: context.payload.repository.name,
+                tag_name: 'v' + version,
+                target_commitish: ref,
+                name: 'v' + version,
+                body: release_notes.data.body,
+                draft: true,
+              }))
+            }
+
+            console.log(`Release created: ${release.data.html_url}`)
+            console.log(`Release notes: ${release_notes.data.body}`)