diff --git a/.github/workflows/container.yml b/.github/workflows/container.yml
index 1f345daf8..36be5717e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/container.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/container.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,14 @@ on:
         required: false
         default: false
         type: boolean
+      ref:
+        description: 'Git ref to checkout (branch, tag, or SHA)'
+        required: false
+        type: string
+      custom_tag:
+        description: 'Custom tag for the container image (for manual builds)'
+        required: false
+        type: string
 env:
   REGISTRY: ghcr.io
   IMAGE_NAME: metaschema-framework/metaschema-cli
@@ -26,6 +34,7 @@ jobs:
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@8e8c483db84b4bee98b60c0593521ed34d9990e8
       with:
+        ref: ${{ inputs.ref || github.ref }}
         submodules: recursive
         filter: tree:0
     - name: Download build zip
@@ -59,6 +68,7 @@ jobs:
           type=ref,event=branch
           type=ref,event=tag
           type=ref,event=pr
+          type=raw,value=${{ inputs.custom_tag }},enable=${{ inputs.custom_tag != '' }}
         flavor: |
           latest=${{ github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' }}
         annotations: |
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index f722c8c55..846c963b5 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -51,6 +51,22 @@ jobs:
         MAVEN_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.OSSRH_USER }}
         MAVEN_CENTRAL_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.OSSRH_TOKEN }}
         MAVEN_GPG_PASSPHRASE: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
+    - name: Upload build zip archive
+      uses: actions/upload-artifact@b7c566a772e6b6bfb58ed0dc250532a479d7789f
+      with:
+        name: build_zip
+        path: ./metaschema-cli/target/*metaschema-cli.zip
+  build-container:
+    name: Container
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+      packages: write
+      attestations: write
+      id-token: write
+    needs: deploy-to-nexus
+    uses: ./.github/workflows/container.yml
+    with:
+      push: true
   deploy-website:
     name: Website Deployment
     runs-on: ubuntu-24.04