diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ab544ee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+name: Release
+
+on:
+  push:
+    tags:
+      - 'v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+*'
+
+permissions:
+  contents: write
+
+jobs:
+  build-and-release:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+        with:
+          python-version: '3.11'
+
+      - name: Install build tool
+        run: pip install build
+
+      - name: Build sdist and wheel
+        run: python -m build
+
+      - name: Determine prerelease flag
+        id: prerelease
+        run: |
+          TAG="${GITHUB_REF_NAME}"
+          if [[ "$TAG" =~ (a|b|rc)[0-9]+$ ]]; then
+            echo "is_prerelease=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          else
+            echo "is_prerelease=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          fi
+
+      - name: Create GitHub Release
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
+        with:
+          files: dist/*
+          generate_release_notes: true
+          prerelease: ${{ steps.prerelease.outputs.is_prerelease }}
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 8d29416..9d414d1 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -333,5 +333,10 @@ __pycache__/
 *bore.zip
 *bore_bin
 
+# Build artifacts
+dist/
+build/
+*.egg-info/
+
 # minichain data dir
 .minichain/
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bc9a221
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+[build-system]
+requires = ["setuptools>=68", "wheel"]
+build-backend = "setuptools.build_meta"
+
+[project]
+name = "minichain"
+version = "0.1.0-beta"
+description = "MiniChain — a minimal proof-of-work blockchain node"
+readme = "README.md"
+requires-python = ">=3.10"
+license = { text = "MIT" }
+dependencies = [
+    "pynacl==1.6.2",
+    "trie>=3.1.0",
+    "libp2p",
+    "aiohttp>=3.10.11",
+    "multiaddr",
+]
+
+[project.optional-dependencies]
+test = [
+    "pytest>=7.0.0",
+    "pytest-asyncio>=0.21.0",
+    "pytest-cov>=4.0.0",
+]
+
+[project.scripts]
+minichain = "main:main"
+
+[project.urls]
+Homepage = "https://github.com/StabilityNexus/MiniChain"
+
+[tool.setuptools]
+py-modules = ["main"]
+
+[tool.setuptools.packages.find]
+include = ["minichain*"]