diff --git a/RELEASING.md b/RELEASING.md
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/RELEASING.md
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+# Releasing
+
+How to cut a release of OpenTimsTDF (the `opentimstdf` crate on crates.io and
+the `opentimstdf` package on PyPI, both built from this one repo and tag).
+
+## 1. Confirm CI and audit are green
+
+Before doing anything else, confirm the commit you're about to release is
+actually clean:
+
+```
+scripts/check-release-ready.sh
+```
+
+This checks the most recent `ci.yml` and `audit.yml` runs for `HEAD` (pass a
+ref/SHA to check something other than `HEAD`) and exits non-zero if either
+hasn't run, is still in progress, or failed. `publish.yml` triggers on any
+`v*` tag push with no dependency on CI or audit passing - GitHub Actions has
+no way for one workflow file to `needs:` a job in another - so this check is
+the only thing standing between a red commit and a live publish. Don't tag
+until it passes.
+
+## 2. Bump the version
+
+The crate version lives in one place, `[workspace.package].version` in the
+root `Cargo.toml` (both `crates/opentimstdf` and `crates/opentimstdf-py` use
+`version.workspace = true`). The PyPI package version is derived from the
+same Cargo workspace version by maturin (`pyproject.toml` declares
+`dynamic = ["version"]`), so there's nothing to bump there separately.
+
+1. Edit `version` in `Cargo.toml`.
+2. Run `cargo build` (or `cargo check`) so `Cargo.lock` picks up the new
+   `opentimstdf`/`opentimstdf-py` version entries.
+
+## 3. Update the changelog
+
+In `CHANGELOG.md`, turn the `## [Unreleased]` section into a dated release
+section (`## [X.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD`), and leave a fresh empty `## [Unreleased]`
+heading above it for future entries.
+
+## 4. Commit
+
+Commit the version bump and changelog together:
+
+```
+git add Cargo.toml Cargo.lock CHANGELOG.md
+git commit -m "release: vX.Y.Z"
+```
+
+(See recent `release: vX.Y.Z` commits in `git log` for the style - a short
+body summarizing what's bundled is welcome but not required.)
+
+## 5. Tag and push
+
+```
+git tag -a vX.Y.Z -m vX.Y.Z
+git push origin main
+git push origin vX.Y.Z
+```
+
+Pushing the tag is what triggers `.github/workflows/publish.yml`
+(`cargo publish` to crates.io, plus building and publishing wheels/sdist to
+PyPI).
+
+## 6. Verify
+
+- Check the `Publish` workflow run for the new tag went green:
+  `gh run list -w publish.yml -c $(git rev-parse vX.Y.Z)`
+- Confirm the new version shows up on
+  [crates.io](https://crates.io/crates/opentimstdf) and
+  [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/opentimstdf/).
diff --git a/scripts/check-release-ready.sh b/scripts/check-release-ready.sh
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+++ b/scripts/check-release-ready.sh
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+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Checks that CI and the dependency audit are both green for a commit before
+# it gets tagged for release. GitHub Actions has no way for publish.yml to
+# `needs:` a job defined in ci.yml/audit.yml (separate workflow files can't
+# depend on each other), so this has to be run by hand before `git tag`.
+#
+# Usage: scripts/check-release-ready.sh [ref]
+#   ref defaults to HEAD.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+REF="${1:-HEAD}"
+
+# `^{commit}` peels annotated tags to the commit they point at; git rev-parse
+# on an annotated tag alone returns the tag object's own SHA, which never
+# matches a workflow run's head SHA.
+SHA="$(git rev-parse "${REF}^{commit}")"
+
+check_workflow() {
+    local workflow="$1"
+    local run_json
+    run_json="$(gh run list -w "$workflow" -c "$SHA" --json status,conclusion,url -L 1)"
+
+    if [[ "$run_json" == "[]" ]]; then
+        echo "FAIL: no run of $workflow found for commit $SHA"
+        return 1
+    fi
+
+    local status conclusion url
+    status="$(echo "$run_json" | jq -r '.[0].status')"
+    conclusion="$(echo "$run_json" | jq -r '.[0].conclusion')"
+    url="$(echo "$run_json" | jq -r '.[0].url')"
+
+    if [[ "$status" != "completed" ]]; then
+        echo "FAIL: latest $workflow run for $SHA is not completed (status: $status) - $url"
+        return 1
+    fi
+
+    if [[ "$conclusion" != "success" ]]; then
+        echo "FAIL: latest $workflow run for $SHA did not succeed (conclusion: $conclusion) - $url"
+        return 1
+    fi
+
+    echo "OK: $workflow succeeded for $SHA - $url"
+    return 0
+}
+
+ci_ok=0
+audit_ok=0
+
+check_workflow "ci.yml" || ci_ok=1
+check_workflow "audit.yml" || audit_ok=1
+
+if [[ "$ci_ok" -ne 0 || "$audit_ok" -ne 0 ]]; then
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "Release ready: ci.yml and audit.yml both succeeded for $SHA"
+exit 0