diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
index 4082132ee33..887616f4e4f 100644
--- a/.gitattributes
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -1,6 +1,15 @@
 * text=auto
 *.php eol=lf
+
+/resources/dist/**/* linguist-generated=true
+/resources/dist-dev/**/* linguist-generated=true
+/resources/dist-frontend/**/* linguist-generated=true
+/resources/dist-package/**/* linguist-generated=true
+
 /.github export-ignore
+/resources/js export-ignore
+/resources/css export-ignore
+/packages export-ignore
 /tests export-ignore
 .babelrc export-ignore
 .gitattributes export-ignore
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 8142160c878..dd0827e9f0f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -1,22 +1,59 @@
 name: Create Release
 
 on: # zizmor: ignore[concurrency-limits]
-  push:
-    tags:
-      - 'v*'
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      version:
+        description: 'Release version, without the v prefix (e.g. 6.2.0)'
+        required: true
+        type: string
 
 permissions: {}
 
 jobs:
-  build: # zizmor: ignore[anonymous-definition]
+  release:
+    name: Create Release
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    permissions:
-      contents: write # create GitHub release and upload assets
+    environment: Releases
+    permissions: {} # all writes go through the App token; GITHUB_TOKEN needs no scopes
     steps:
-      - name: Checkout code
+      - name: Resolve and validate version
+        env:
+          INPUT_VERSION: ${{ inputs.version }}
+          BRANCH: ${{ github.ref_name }}
+        run: |
+          version="${INPUT_VERSION#v}"
+
+          if [[ ! "$version" =~ ^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(-[0-9A-Za-z.]+)?$ ]]; then
+            echo "::error::Version must look like 6.2.0 (got: $INPUT_VERSION)"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          if [ "${version%%.*}" != "${BRANCH%%.*}" ]; then
+            echo "::error::Version $version does not belong on the $BRANCH branch"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          echo "TAG=v$version" >> "$GITHUB_ENV"
+
+      - name: Get release bot token
+        id: app-token
+        uses: actions/create-github-app-token@bcd2ba49218906704ab6c1aa796996da409d3eb1 # v3.2.0
+        with:
+          client-id: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_APP_CLIENT_ID }}
+          private-key: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_APP_PRIVATE_KEY }}
+          permission-contents: write
+
+      - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@df4cb1c069e1874edd31b4311f1884172cec0e10 # v6.0.3
         with:
-          persist-credentials: false
+          token: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.token }}
+          persist-credentials: true # zizmor: ignore[artipacked] App token is needed to push the tag
+
+      - name: Assert tag does not already exist
+        run: |
+          existing="$(git ls-remote --tags origin "$TAG")"
+          [ -z "$existing" ] || { echo "::error::Tag $TAG already exists on remote. Aborting."; exit 1; }
 
       - name: Use Node.js 20.19.0
         uses: actions/setup-node@48b55a011bda9f5d6aeb4c2d9c7362e8dae4041e # v6.4.0
@@ -30,25 +67,48 @@ jobs:
       - name: Build release assets
         run: bash ./scripts/build-release.sh
 
+      - name: Create the build commit
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.token }}
+          APP_SLUG: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.app-slug }}
+        run: |
+          USER_ID="$(gh api "/users/${APP_SLUG}[bot]" --jq .id)"
+          git config user.name "${APP_SLUG}[bot]"
+          git config user.email "${USER_ID}+${APP_SLUG}[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+          git add --force \
+            resources/dist \
+            resources/dist-dev \
+            resources/dist-frontend \
+            resources/dist-package
+          git commit -m "Build assets for $TAG"
+
+      - name: Tag and push the build commit
+        run: |
+          git tag "$TAG"
+          git push origin "$TAG"
+
       - name: Get Changelog
         id: changelog
         uses: statamic/changelog-action@5d112d0d790cdeeb5adca3e584e37edc474ab51b # v1.0.2
         with:
-          version: ${{ github.ref }}
+          version: ${{ env.TAG }}
 
       - name: Create release
         env:
-          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          RELEASE_VERSION: ${{ steps.changelog.outputs.version }}
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.token }}
           RELEASE_NOTES: ${{ steps.changelog.outputs.text }}
+          IS_DEFAULT_BRANCH: ${{ github.ref_name == github.event.repository.default_branch }}
         run: |
-          gh release create "$RELEASE_VERSION" \
-            --title "$RELEASE_VERSION" \
+          latest="$IS_DEFAULT_BRANCH"
+          prerelease=false
+          case "$TAG" in
+            *-*) prerelease=true; latest=false ;;
+          esac
+          gh release create "$TAG" \
+            --title "$TAG" \
             --notes "$RELEASE_NOTES" \
-            ./resources/dist.tar.gz \
-            ./resources/dist-dev.tar.gz \
-            ./resources/dist-frontend.tar.gz \
-            ./resources/dist-package.tar.gz
+            --latest="$latest" \
+            --prerelease="$prerelease"
 
       - name: Deploy Storybook to Forge
         continue-on-error: true
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index b287fe28eb7..910d28b14e1 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@
         "maennchen/zipstream-php": "^3.1",
         "michelf/php-smartypants": "^1.8.1",
         "nesbot/carbon": "^3.0",
-        "pixelfear/composer-dist-plugin": "^0.1.4",
         "pragmarx/google2fa": "^8.0 || ^9.0",
         "rebing/graphql-laravel": "^9.15",
         "rhukster/dom-sanitizer": "^1.0.10",
@@ -63,29 +62,10 @@
         "preferred-install": "dist",
         "sort-packages": true,
         "allow-plugins": {
-            "composer/package-versions-deprecated": true,
-            "pixelfear/composer-dist-plugin": true
+            "composer/package-versions-deprecated": true
         }
     },
     "extra": {
-        "download-dist": [
-            {
-                "url": "https://github.com/statamic/cms/releases/download/{$version}/dist.tar.gz",
-                "path": "resources/dist"
-            },
-            {
-                "url": "https://github.com/statamic/cms/releases/download/{$version}/dist-dev.tar.gz",
-                "path": "resources/dist-dev"
-            },
-            {
-                "url": "https://github.com/statamic/cms/releases/download/{$version}/dist-frontend.tar.gz",
-                "path": "resources/dist-frontend"
-            },
-            {
-                "url": "https://github.com/statamic/cms/releases/download/{$version}/dist-package.tar.gz",
-                "path": "resources/dist-package"
-            }
-        ],
         "laravel": {
             "providers": [
                 "Statamic\\Providers\\StatamicServiceProvider"
diff --git a/scripts/build-release.sh b/scripts/build-release.sh
index dc9f6cacad8..e3af82e2c51 100644
--- a/scripts/build-release.sh
+++ b/scripts/build-release.sh
@@ -10,16 +10,7 @@ npm run build
 npm run build-dev
 npm run frontend-build
 
-# Create tarballs for the Laravel package
-cd resources
-tar -czvf dist.tar.gz dist
-tar -czvf dist-dev.tar.gz dist-dev
-tar -czvf dist-frontend.tar.gz dist-frontend
-cd ..
-
-# Create a tarball for @statamic/cms
+# Populate resources/dist-package from packages/cms
 cp resources/css/ui.css packages/cms/src/ui.css
-cd packages/cms
-tar -czvf ../../resources/dist-package.tar.gz *
-cd ../..
+rsync -a --delete packages/cms/ resources/dist-package/