diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
index 6f6043ec31..c3ba8214e2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -1,44 +1,118 @@
-name: release
+# This code is borrowed from https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api/blob/main/.github/workflows/release.yaml
+name: Create Release
 
 on:
   push:
-    # Sequence of patterns matched against refs/tags
-    tags:
-    - 'v*' # Push events to matching v*, i.e. v1.0, v20.15.10
+    branches:
+    - main
+    paths:
+    - 'releasenotes/*.md'
 
-permissions:
-  contents: write # Allow to create a release.
+permissions: {}
 
 jobs:
-  build:
+  push_release_tags:
+    permissions:
+      contents: write # Allow to push tags
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    outputs:
+      release_tag: ${{ steps.release-version.outputs.release_version }}
+    if: github.repository == 'kubernetes-sigs/cluster-api-provider-openstack'
+    steps:
+    - name: Checkout code
+      uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # tag=v5.0.0
+      with:
+        fetch-depth: 0
+    - name: Get changed files
+      id: changed-files
+      uses: tj-actions/changed-files@ed68ef82c095e0d48ec87eccea555d944a631a4c # v46.0.5
+    - name: Get release version
+      id: release-version
+      run: |
+        if [[ ${{ steps.changed-files.outputs.all_changed_files_count }} != 1 ]]; then
+          echo "1 release notes file should be changed to create a release tag, found ${{ steps.changed-files.outputs.all_changed_files_count }}"
+          exit 1
+        fi
+        for changed_file in ${{ steps.changed-files.outputs.all_changed_files }}; do
+          export RELEASE_VERSION=$(echo "${changed_file}" | grep -oP '(?<=/)[^/]+(?=\.md)')
+          echo "RELEASE_VERSION=${RELEASE_VERSION}" >> ${GITHUB_ENV}
+          echo "RELEASE_VERSION=${RELEASE_VERSION}" >> ${GITHUB_OUTPUT}
+          if [[ "${RELEASE_VERSION}" =~ ^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(-[0-9A-Za-z-]+(\.[0-9A-Za-z-]+)*)?(\+[0-9A-Za-z-]+(\.[0-9A-Za-z-]+)*)?$ ]]; then
+            echo "Valid semver: ${RELEASE_VERSION}"
+          else
+            echo "Invalid semver: ${RELEASE_VERSION}"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+        done
+    - name: Determine the release branch to use
+      run: |
+        if [[ ${RELEASE_VERSION} =~ beta ]] || [[ ${RELEASE_VERSION} =~ alpha ]]; then
+          export RELEASE_BRANCH=main
+          echo "RELEASE_BRANCH=${RELEASE_BRANCH}" >> ${GITHUB_ENV}
+          echo "This is a beta or alpha release, will use release branch ${RELEASE_BRANCH}"
+        else
+          export RELEASE_BRANCH=release-$(echo ${RELEASE_VERSION} | sed -E 's/^v([0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)\..*$/\1.\2/')
+          echo "RELEASE_BRANCH=${RELEASE_BRANCH}" >> ${GITHUB_ENV}
+          echo "This is not a beta or alpha release, will use release branch ${RELEASE_BRANCH}"
+        fi
+    - name: Create or checkout release branch
+      run: |
+        if git show-ref --verify --quiet "refs/remotes/origin/${RELEASE_BRANCH}"; then
+          echo "Branch ${RELEASE_BRANCH} already exists"
+          git checkout "${RELEASE_BRANCH}"
+        else
+          git checkout -b "${RELEASE_BRANCH}"
+          git push origin "${RELEASE_BRANCH}"
+          echo "Created branch ${RELEASE_BRANCH}"
+        fi
+    - name: Validate tag does not already exist
+      run: |
+        if [[ -n "$(git tag -l "${RELEASE_VERSION}")" ]]; then
+          echo "Tag ${RELEASE_VERSION} already exists, exiting"
+          exit 1
+        fi
+    - name: Create Release Tag
+      run: |
+        git config user.name "${GITHUB_ACTOR}"
+        git config user.email "${GITHUB_ACTOR}@users.noreply.github.com"
+        git tag -a ${RELEASE_VERSION} -m ${RELEASE_VERSION}
+        git push origin ${RELEASE_VERSION}
+        echo "Created tags ${RELEASE_VERSION}"
+  release:
     name: create draft release
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: push_release_tags
+    permissions:
+      contents: write # Allow to create a release.
     steps:
-      - name: Set env
-        run:  echo "RELEASE_TAG=${GITHUB_REF:10}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-      - name: checkout code
-        uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # tag=v5.0.0
-        with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
-      - name: Calculate go version
-        run: echo "go_version=$(make go-version)" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-      - name: Set up Go
-        uses: actions/setup-go@44694675825211faa026b3c33043df3e48a5fa00 # tag=v6.0.0
-        with:
-          go-version: ${{ env.go_version }}
-      - name: generate release artifacts
-        run: |
-          make release
-      - name: generate release notes
-        # Ignore failures for release-notes generation so they could still get
-        # generated manually before publishing.
-        run: |
-          make generate-release-notes || echo "Failed to generate release notes" >> _releasenotes/${{ env.RELEASE_TAG }}.md
-        env:
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
-      - name: Release
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@6da8fa9354ddfdc4aeace5fc48d7f679b5214090 # tag=v2.4.1
-        with:
-          draft: true
-          files: out/*
-          body_path: _releasenotes/${{ env.RELEASE_TAG }}.md
+    - name: Set env
+      run: echo "RELEASE_TAG=${RELEASE_TAG}" >> ${GITHUB_ENV}
+      env:
+        RELEASE_TAG: ${{needs.push_release_tags.outputs.release_tag}}
+    - name: checkout code
+      uses: actions/checkout@08c6903cd8c0fde910a37f88322edcfb5dd907a8 # tag=v5.0.0
+      with:
+        fetch-depth: 0
+        ref: ${{ env.RELEASE_TAG }}
+    - name: Calculate go version
+      run: echo "go_version=$(make go-version)" >> ${GITHUB_ENV}
+    - name: Set up Go
+      uses: actions/setup-go@44694675825211faa026b3c33043df3e48a5fa00 # tag=v6.0.0
+      with:
+        go-version: ${{ env.go_version }}
+    - name: generate release artifacts
+      run: |
+        make release
+      env:
+        GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
+    - name: get release notes
+      run: |
+        curl -L "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/${{ github.repository }}/main/releasenotes/${{ env.RELEASE_TAG }}.md" \
+        -o "${{ env.RELEASE_TAG }}.md"
+    - name: Release
+      uses: softprops/action-gh-release@6da8fa9354ddfdc4aeace5fc48d7f679b5214090 # tag=v2.4.1
+      with:
+        draft: true
+        files: out/*
+        body_path: ${{ env.RELEASE_TAG }}.md
+        tag_name: ${{ env.RELEASE_TAG }}
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 6ccff05abf..3358f5d2c9 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -448,14 +448,13 @@ staging-manifests:
 ## --------------------------------------
 ##@ Release
 ## --------------------------------------
-
 ifneq (,$(findstring -,$(RELEASE_TAG)))
     PRE_RELEASE=true
 endif
 PREVIOUS_TAG ?= $(shell git tag -l | grep -E "^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$$" | sort -V | grep -B1 $(RELEASE_TAG) | head -n 1 2>/dev/null)
 ## set by Prow, ref name of the base branch, e.g., main
 RELEASE_DIR := out
-RELEASE_NOTES_DIR := _releasenotes
+RELEASE_NOTES_DIR := releasenotes
 
 .PHONY: $(RELEASE_DIR)
 $(RELEASE_DIR):
@@ -478,7 +477,7 @@ list-image:
 	gcloud container images list-tags $(STAGING_REGISTRY)/$(IMAGE) --filter="tags=('$(RELEASE_TAG)')" --format=json
 
 .PHONY: release
-release: $(RELEASE_NOTES) clean-release $(RELEASE_DIR)  ## Builds and push container images using the latest git tag for the commit.
+release: $(RELEASE_NOTES) $(RELEASE_DIR)  ## Builds and push container images using the latest git tag for the commit.
 	@if [ -z "${RELEASE_TAG}" ]; then echo "RELEASE_TAG is not set"; exit 1; fi
 	@if ! [ -z "$$(git status --porcelain)" ]; then echo "Your local git repository contains uncommitted changes, use git clean before proceeding."; fi
 	git checkout "${RELEASE_TAG}"
@@ -486,6 +485,7 @@ release: $(RELEASE_NOTES) clean-release $(RELEASE_DIR)  ## Builds and push conta
 	$(MAKE) manifest-modification REGISTRY=$(PROD_REGISTRY)
 	$(MAKE) release-manifests
 	$(MAKE) release-templates
+	$(MAKE) generate-release-notes
 
 .PHONY: manifest-modification
 manifest-modification: # Set the manifest images to the staging/production bucket.