diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-please.yml b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64a3938
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - main
+
+permissions:
+  contents: write
+  issues: write
+  pull-requests: write
+
+name: release-please
+
+jobs:
+  release-please:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: googleapis/release-please-action@v4
+        with:
+          release-type: simple
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/version.txt b/version.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f0bb29e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/version.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+1.3.0
diff --git a/workflow/Snakefile b/workflow/Snakefile
index 97381f5..d51459d 100644
--- a/workflow/Snakefile
+++ b/workflow/Snakefile
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@ import subprocess
 
 min_version("7.19")
 
-__version__ = "1.3.0"
+with open(Path(workflow.basedir).parent / "version.txt") as f:
+    __version__ = f.read()
 
 containerized: "docker://ahmig/vipera:v" + __version__