diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5fb341c30
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+name: Release to Maven Central
+
+on:
+  # Manual trigger
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      release_version:
+        description: 'Version to release (if empty, derive from project version)'
+        required: false
+  # Automatic trigger on pushing a version tag (e.g., "v1.2.3")
+  push:
+    tags:
+      - 'v*'
+
+jobs:
+  release:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    container:
+      image: adoptopenjdk/openjdk11:jdk-11.0.10_9
+    steps:
+      - name: Check out code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+
+      - name: Install necessary tooling
+        env:
+          APACHE_THRIFT_VERSION: 0.9.3
+        run: |
+          apt-get update &&apt-get install -y wget gcc make build-essential git
+
+          wget https://archive.apache.org/dist/thrift/${APACHE_THRIFT_VERSION}/thrift-${APACHE_THRIFT_VERSION}.tar.gz && \
+          tar -xvf thrift-${APACHE_THRIFT_VERSION}.tar.gz && \
+          rm thrift-${APACHE_THRIFT_VERSION}.tar.gz && \
+          cd thrift-${APACHE_THRIFT_VERSION}/ && \
+          ./configure --enable-libs=no --enable-tests=no --enable-tutorial=no --with-cpp=no --with-c_glib=no --with-java=yes --with-ruby=no --with-erlang=no --with-go=no --with-nodejs=no --with-python=no && \
+          make && \
+          make install && \
+          cd .. && \
+          rm -rf thrift-${APACHE_THRIFT_VERSION}
+
+      - name: Determine release version
+        id: vars
+        run: |
+          # Read version from build.gradle
+          RELEASE_VERSION=$(grep -E 'version\s*=' build.gradle | sed "s/[[:space:]]*version[[:space:]]*=[[:space:]]*'\(.*\)'/\1/")
+          echo "RELEASE_VERSION=$RELEASE_VERSION" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+
+      - name: Publish to Sonatype OSSRH (Maven Central)
+        env:
+          SIGNING_KEY_ID: ${{ secrets.SIGNING_KEY_ID }}
+          SIGNING_KEY: ${{ secrets.SIGNING_KEY }}
+          SIGNING_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.SIGNING_PASSWORD }}
+          OSSATUBER_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.OSSATUBER_PASSWORD }}
+          OSSATUBER_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.OSSATUBER_USERNAME }}
+        run: | # TODO old way of setting the properties from environment variables in gradle
+          ./gradlew publishToSonatype closeSonatypeStagingRepository --info \
+           -Psigning.keyId="${SIGNING_KEY_ID}" \
+            -Psigning.password="${SIGNING_PASSWORD}" \
+            -Psigning.key="${SIGNING_KEY}" \
+            -PossrhPassword="${OSSATUBER_PASSWORD}" \
+            -PossrhUsername="${OSSATUBER_USERNAME}"
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index e0ff07f93..62530450f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -13,4 +13,5 @@ src/main/idls/*
 /bin
 .classpath
 .project
-.settings
\ No newline at end of file
+.settings
+.vscode
diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 242ddd4c7..d545579e2 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -12,6 +12,15 @@ plugins {
     id 'java-library'
     id 'jacoco'
     id 'com.google.protobuf' version '0.8.11'
+    id("io.github.gradle-nexus.publish-plugin") version "1.3.0"  // Nexus publishing
+}
+
+ext {
+    ossrhUsername = findProperty('ossrhUsername')
+    ossrhPassword = findProperty('ossrhPassword')
+    signingKeyId = findProperty('signing.keyId')
+    signingKey = findProperty('signing.key')
+    signingPassword = findProperty('signing.password')
 }
 
 repositories {
@@ -38,7 +47,7 @@ googleJavaFormat {
 tasks.googleJavaFormat.dependsOn 'license'
 
 group = 'com.uber.cadence'
-version = '3.12.6'
+version = '3.12.7-SNAPSHOT'
 
 description = '''Uber Cadence Java Client'''
 
@@ -214,9 +223,6 @@ artifacts {
     archives javadocJar, sourcesJar
 }
 
-def ossrhUsername = hasProperty('ossrhUsername') ? property('ossrhUsername') : ''
-def ossrhPassword = hasProperty('ossrhPassword') ? property('ossrhPassword') : ''
-
 publishing {
     publications {
         mavenJava(MavenPublication) {
@@ -268,11 +274,34 @@ publishing {
     }
 }
 
-if (hasProperty('signing.keyId')) {
+nexusPublishing {
+    repositories {
+        sonatype {
+            username.set(ossrhUsername)
+            password.set(ossrhPassword)
+            nexusUrl.set(uri("https://oss.sonatype.org/service/local/"))
+            snapshotRepositoryUrl.set(uri("https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/"))
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+if (signingKeyId) {
     apply plugin: 'signing'
-    signing {
-        sign configurations.archives
-        sign publishing.publications.mavenJava
+    if (signingKey) { // for CI
+        signing {
+            useInMemoryPgpKeys(
+                signingKeyId,
+                signingKey.replace('\\n','\n'),
+                signingPassword
+            )
+            sign configurations.archives
+            sign publishing.publications.mavenJava
+        }
+    } else {
+        signing {
+            sign configurations.archives
+            sign publishing.publications.mavenJava
+        }
     }
 }