diff --git a/.fernignore b/.fernignore
index 5b3cc70..7f697f3 100644
--- a/.fernignore
+++ b/.fernignore
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 # Specify files that shouldn't be modified by Fern
+
+# Legacy CI workflow replaced by release-please.yml — keep listed so Fern
+# does not regenerate the file after deletion.
 .github/workflows/ci.yml
 
+# Release-please owns versioning, releases, and npm publish.
+.github/workflows/release-please.yml
+release-please-config.json
+.release-please-manifest.json
+CHANGELOG.md
+
 # ignore context7 config file
 context7.json
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 9dfc527..0000000
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,65 +0,0 @@
-name: ci
-
-on: [push]
-
-jobs:
-  compile:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout repo
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
-      - name: Set up node
-        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
-        with:
-          node-version: '24'
-
-      - name: Compile
-        run: yarn && yarn build
-
-  test:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout repo
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
-      - name: Set up node
-        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
-        with:
-          node-version: '24'
-
-      - name: Test
-        run: yarn && yarn test
-
-  publish:
-    needs: [compile, test]
-    if: github.event_name == 'push' && contains(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    permissions:
-      contents: read
-      id-token: write
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout repo
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-
-      - name: Set up node
-        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
-        with:
-          node-version: '24'
-          registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org'
-
-      - name: Install dependencies
-        run: yarn install
-
-      - name: Build
-        run: yarn build
-
-      - name: Publish to npm
-        run: |
-          if [[ ${GITHUB_REF} == *alpha* ]]; then
-            npm publish --provenance --access public --tag alpha
-          elif [[ ${GITHUB_REF} == *beta* ]]; then
-            npm publish --provenance --access public --tag beta
-          else
-            npm publish --provenance --access public
-          fi
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-please.yml b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ea27959
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-please.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+name: release-please
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [master]
+  pull_request:
+    branches: [master]
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  compile:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - name: Set up node
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: "24"
+      - name: Compile
+        run: yarn && yarn build
+
+  test:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - name: Set up node
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: "24"
+      - name: Test
+        run: yarn && yarn test
+
+  release-please:
+    needs: [compile, test]
+    if: github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/master'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
+      pull-requests: write
+    outputs:
+      release_created: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
+      tag_name: ${{ steps.release.outputs.tag_name }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Run release-please
+        id: release
+        uses: googleapis/release-please-action@v4
+        with:
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          config-file: release-please-config.json
+          manifest-file: .release-please-manifest.json
+
+  publish:
+    needs: release-please
+    if: needs.release-please.outputs.release_created == 'true'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+      id-token: write
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repo
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+      - name: Set up node
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: "24"
+          registry-url: "https://registry.npmjs.org"
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: yarn install
+      - name: Build
+        run: yarn build
+      - name: Publish to npm
+        env:
+          TAG_NAME: ${{ needs.release-please.outputs.tag_name }}
+        run: |
+          if [[ "$TAG_NAME" == *alpha* ]]; then
+            npm publish --provenance --access public --tag alpha
+          elif [[ "$TAG_NAME" == *beta* ]]; then
+            npm publish --provenance --access public --tag beta
+          else
+            npm publish --provenance --access public
+          fi
diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b870c5e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.release-please-manifest.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  ".": "1.0.2"
+}
diff --git a/release-please-config.json b/release-please-config.json
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8f382fb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release-please-config.json
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/googleapis/release-please/main/schemas/config.json",
+  "release-type": "node",
+  "include-v-in-tag": false,
+  "include-component-in-tag": false,
+  "packages": {
+    ".": {
+      "package-name": "@speechify/api",
+      "extra-files": [
+        {
+          "type": "generic",
+          "path": "src/version.ts"
+        }
+      ]
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/version.ts b/src/version.ts
index 8c6c142..b75d17c 100644
--- a/src/version.ts
+++ b/src/version.ts
@@ -1 +1 @@
-export const SDK_VERSION = "1.0.2";
+export const SDK_VERSION = "1.0.2"; // x-release-please-version