diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 2999759..356b03e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ name: Release
 
 on:
   push:
-    branches: [master]
+    branches: [master, next]
 
 permissions:
   contents: read
diff --git a/.github/workflows/workflow.yml b/.github/workflows/workflow.yml
index 40f260c..077085c 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/workflow.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/workflow.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ on:
   push:
     branches: [ master ]
   pull_request:
-    branches: [ master ]
+    branches: [ master, next ]
 
 jobs:
   build:
diff --git a/.releaserc.json b/.releaserc.json
index c090b4c..b340b30 100644
--- a/.releaserc.json
+++ b/.releaserc.json
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 {
   "tagFormat": "${version}",
+  "branches": ["master", { "name": "next", "prerelease": "rc" }],
   "plugins": [
     ["@semantic-release/commit-analyzer", { "preset": "conventionalcommits" }],
     ["@semantic-release/release-notes-generator", { "preset": "conventionalcommits" }],
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d37c005..c4dada5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -199,6 +199,22 @@ publishes the GitHub release with the generated notes. The package version comes
 If publishing fails, the tag and a draft release already exist: re-run the failed jobs of that run
 (not the whole run) before anything else is merged.
 
+### Release candidates
+
+Every push to `next` releases a pre-release of the next version, tagged `X.Y.Z-rc.N`
+(`6.0.0-rc.1` once a breaking change is in).
+It goes to PyPI as a pre-release, `X.Y.ZrcN` (setuptools-scm normalizes the tag to PEP 440), so
+`pip install visual-regression-tracker` keeps installing the last stable release and
+`pip install --pre visual-regression-tracker` installs the candidate.
+Its GitHub release is marked as a pre-release.
+
+Breaking changes go into `next` through pull requests that target it. Merge `master` into `next` when
+`master` gets new commits.
+
+To release the final version, merge `next` into `master` with a merge commit, not a squash, so that
+semantic-release still sees the breaking commits. That push releases it. The repository deletes merged
+branches, so create `next` again from `master` before the next round of candidates.
+
 ## Links
 
 - [Visual Regression Tracker](https://github.com/Visual-Regression-Tracker/Visual-Regression-Tracker): the server and how to run it