diff --git a/.github/workflows/post-release.yml b/.github/workflows/post-release.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 10798c8..0000000
--- a/.github/workflows/post-release.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,49 +0,0 @@
-name: Post-release SNAPSHOT Bump
-
-on:
-  release:
-    types: [published]
-
-permissions:
-  contents: write
-  pull-requests: write
-
-jobs:
-  bump-snapshot:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6
-        with:
-          persist-credentials: true  # required: this workflow pushes a branch
-
-      - name: Calculate next SNAPSHOT version
-        id: next
-        run: |
-          version=$(grep "^version=" gradle.properties | cut -d'=' -f2)
-          IFS='.' read -r major minor patch <<< "$version"
-          next_patch=$((patch + 1))
-          snapshot="${major}.${minor}.${next_patch}-SNAPSHOT"
-          echo "snapshot=${snapshot}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-
-      - name: Bump version in gradle.properties
-        env:
-          SNAPSHOT: ${{ steps.next.outputs.snapshot }}
-        run: |
-          sed -i "s/^version=.*/version=${SNAPSHOT}/" gradle.properties
-
-      - name: Create pull request
-        env:
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          SNAPSHOT: ${{ steps.next.outputs.snapshot }}
-        run: |
-          branch="chore/next-snapshot-${SNAPSHOT}"
-          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
-          git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
-          git checkout -b "${branch}"
-          git add gradle.properties
-          git commit -m "chore: prepare next development version ${SNAPSHOT}"
-          git push origin "${branch}"
-          gh pr create \
-            --title "chore: prepare next development version ${SNAPSHOT}" \
-            --body "Automated PR to bump version to next development SNAPSHOT after release." \
-            --label release
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-please.yml b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
index bfbeac5..49cc8eb 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
@@ -13,5 +13,40 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: googleapis/release-please-action@45996ed1f6d02564a971a2fa1b5860e934307cf7 # v5
+        id: release
         with:
           token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+      - uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6
+        if: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: true
+
+      - name: Calculate next SNAPSHOT version
+        id: next
+        if: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
+        env:
+          MAJOR: ${{ steps.release.outputs.major }}
+          MINOR: ${{ steps.release.outputs.minor }}
+          PATCH: ${{ steps.release.outputs.patch }}
+        run: |
+          next_patch=$(( PATCH + 1 ))
+          echo "snapshot=${MAJOR}.${MINOR}.${next_patch}-SNAPSHOT" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+      - name: Bump version to next SNAPSHOT
+        if: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          SNAPSHOT: ${{ steps.next.outputs.snapshot }}
+        run: |
+          branch="chore/next-snapshot-${SNAPSHOT}"
+          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
+          git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+          git checkout -b "${branch}"
+          sed -i "s/^detektExtensionVersion=.*/detektExtensionVersion=${SNAPSHOT}/" gradle.properties
+          git add gradle.properties
+          git commit -m "chore: prepare next development version ${SNAPSHOT}"
+          git push origin "${branch}"
+          gh pr create \
+            --title "chore: prepare next development version ${SNAPSHOT}" \
+            --body "Automated PR to bump version to next development SNAPSHOT after release."
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 29f3cb9..5bac37e 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -87,5 +87,16 @@ Merges are always fast-forward. The merged branch should be deleted at the time
 
 Merge commits are reserved for forward-merging release branches that have received patches.
 
+## Release Process
+
+Releases are automated via [release-please](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please):
+
+1. Merge conventional commits to `main`
+2. release-please opens or updates a release PR (bumps version in `gradle.properties`)
+3. Maintainer reviews and merges the release PR
+4. release-please creates a semver tag and GitHub Release with auto-generated notes
+5. The publish workflow publishes the release to Maven Central
+6. A follow-up PR is automatically created to bump to the next SNAPSHOT version
+
 ## Conversation
 Please file issues for this extension under github issues.
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index 1575275..bd9ad1d 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -14,7 +14,9 @@ org.gradle.caching=true
 org.gradle.jvmargs=-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8
 kotlin.code.style=official
 
+# x-release-please-start-version
 detektExtensionVersion=2.2.0-SNAPSHOT
+# x-release-please-end
 
 POM_NAME=Detekt Extensions
 POM_DESCRIPTION=A Detekt Extension Library
diff --git a/release-please-config.json b/release-please-config.json
index bc14414..a298150 100644
--- a/release-please-config.json
+++ b/release-please-config.json
@@ -4,24 +4,15 @@
   "include-component-in-tag": false,
   "tag-separator": "",
   "bump-patch-for-minor-pre-major": false,
-  "changelog-sections": [
-    {"type": "feat", "section": "### Added"},
-    {"type": "fix", "section": "### Fixed"},
-    {"type": "deps", "section": "### Changed"},
-    {"type": "chore", "section": "### Changed", "hidden": false}
-  ],
-  "extra-files": [
-    {
-      "type": "generic",
-      "path": "gradle.properties",
-      "search": "detektExtensionVersion=\\d+\\.\\d+\\.\\d+(-SNAPSHOT)?",
-      "replace": "detektExtensionVersion={{version}}"
-    }
-  ],
-    "packages": {
-        ".": {
-            "tag-prefix": "",
-            "generate-release-notes": true
+  "packages": {
+    ".": {
+      "tag-prefix": "",
+      "extra-files": [
+        {
+          "type": "generic",
+          "path": "gradle.properties"
         }
+      ]
     }
+  }
 }