diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 482acd685938..591a757169d1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -102,19 +102,7 @@ jobs:
           SONATYPE_KEY: ${{ secrets.SONATYPE_KEY }}
           GPG_PRIVATE_KEY: ${{ secrets.GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }}
           GPG_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSWORD }}
-        run: ./gradlew assemble spdxSbom publishToSonatype closeAndReleaseSonatypeStagingRepository
-
-      - name: Build and publish gradle plugins
-        env:
-          SONATYPE_USER: ${{ secrets.SONATYPE_USER }}
-          SONATYPE_KEY: ${{ secrets.SONATYPE_KEY }}
-          GRADLE_PUBLISH_KEY: ${{ secrets.GRADLE_PUBLISH_KEY }}
-          GRADLE_PUBLISH_SECRET: ${{ secrets.GRADLE_PUBLISH_SECRET }}
-          GPG_PRIVATE_KEY: ${{ secrets.GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }}
-          GPG_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSWORD }}
-        # Don't use publishToSonatype since we don't want to publish the marker artifact
-        run: ./gradlew build publishPlugins publishPluginMavenPublicationToSonatypeRepository closeAndReleaseSonatypeStagingRepository
-        working-directory: gradle-plugins
+        run: ./gradlew assemble spdxSbom
 
       - name: Collect SBOMs
         run: |
@@ -176,7 +164,7 @@ jobs:
           cp javaagent/build/libs/opentelemetry-javaagent-${VERSION}.jar opentelemetry-javaagent.jar
 
       - id: attest
-        uses: actions/attest-build-provenance@v2
+        uses: actions/attest-build-provenance@520d128f165991a6c774bcb264f323e3d70747f4 # v2
         with:
           subject-path: |
             opentelemetry-javaagent.jar
@@ -198,128 +186,3 @@ jobs:
                             opentelemetry-javaagent.jar \
                             opentelemetry-java-instrumentation-SBOM.zip \
                             attestations.intoto.jsonl
-
-          echo "version=$VERSION" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-          echo "prior-version=$PRIOR_VERSION" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-
-  merge-change-log-to-main:
-    permissions:
-      contents: write # for git push to PR branch
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs:
-      - release
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4.2.2
-
-      - name: Copy change log section from release branch
-        env:
-          VERSION: ${{ needs.release.outputs.version }}
-        run: |
-          sed -n "0,/^## Version $VERSION /d;/^## Version /q;p" CHANGELOG.md \
-            > /tmp/changelog-section.md
-
-      - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4.2.2
-        with:
-          ref: main
-
-      - name: Merge change log to main
-        env:
-          VERSION: ${{ needs.release.outputs.version }}
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-        run: |
-          release_date=$(gh release view v$VERSION --json publishedAt --jq .publishedAt | sed 's/T.*//')
-          RELEASE_DATE=$release_date .github/scripts/merge-change-log-after-release.sh
-
-      - name: Use CLA approved bot
-        run: .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-bot.sh
-
-      - uses: actions/create-github-app-token@67e27a7eb7db372a1c61a7f9bdab8699e9ee57f7 # v1.11.3
-        id: otelbot-token
-        with:
-          app-id: ${{ vars.OTELBOT_APP_ID }}
-          private-key: ${{ secrets.OTELBOT_PRIVATE_KEY }}
-
-      - name: Create pull request against main
-        env:
-          VERSION: ${{ needs.release.outputs.version }}
-          # not using secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN since pull requests from that token do not run workflows
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ steps.otelbot-token.outputs.token }}
-        run: |
-          if git diff --quiet; then
-            if [[ $VERSION == *.0 ]]; then
-              echo there are no updates to merge, not creating pull request
-              exit 0 # success
-            else
-              echo patch release notes did not get applied for some reason
-              exit 1 # failure
-            fi
-          fi
-
-          message="Merge change log updates from $GITHUB_REF_NAME"
-          body="Merge change log updates from \`$GITHUB_REF_NAME\`."
-          branch="otelbot/merge-change-log-updates-from-${GITHUB_REF_NAME//\//-}"
-
-          git checkout -b $branch
-          git commit -a -m "$message"
-          git push --set-upstream origin $branch
-          gh pr create --title "$message" \
-                       --body "$body" \
-                       --base main
-
-  update-apidiff-baseline-to-released-version:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs:
-      - release
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@11bd71901bbe5b1630ceea73d27597364c9af683 # v4.2.2
-        with:
-          ref: main
-
-      - name: Wait for release to be available in maven central
-        env:
-          VERSION: ${{ needs.release.outputs.version }}
-        run: |
-          until curl --silent \
-                     --show-error \
-                     --output /dev/null \
-                     --head \
-                     --fail \
-                     https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/io/opentelemetry/javaagent/opentelemetry-javaagent/$VERSION/opentelemetry-javaagent-$VERSION.jar
-          do
-            sleep 60
-          done
-
-      - name: Update apidiff baseline
-        env:
-          VERSION: ${{ needs.release.outputs.version }}
-          PRIOR_VERSION: ${{ needs.release.outputs.prior-version }}
-        run: |
-          ./gradlew japicmp -PapiBaseVersion=$PRIOR_VERSION -PapiNewVersion=$VERSION
-          ./gradlew --refresh-dependencies japicmp
-
-      - name: Use CLA approved bot
-        run: .github/scripts/use-cla-approved-bot.sh
-
-      - uses: actions/create-github-app-token@67e27a7eb7db372a1c61a7f9bdab8699e9ee57f7 # v1.11.3
-        id: otelbot-token
-        with:
-          app-id: ${{ vars.OTELBOT_APP_ID }}
-          private-key: ${{ secrets.OTELBOT_PRIVATE_KEY }}
-
-      - name: Create pull request against main
-        env:
-          VERSION: ${{ needs.release.outputs.version }}
-          # not using secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN since pull requests from that token do not run workflows
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ steps.otelbot-token.outputs.token }}
-        run: |
-          message="Update apidiff baseline to released version $VERSION"
-          body="Update apidiff baseline to released version \`$version\`."
-          branch="otelbot/update-apidiff-baseline-to-released-version-${VERSION}"
-
-          git checkout -b $branch
-          git add docs/apidiffs
-          git commit -m "$message"
-          git push --set-upstream origin $branch
-          gh pr create --title "$message" \
-                       --body "$body" \
-                       --base main