diff --git a/tools/release.js b/tools/release.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cbcf739
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/release.js
@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+const exec = require('child_process').execSync;
+const resolve = require('path').resolve;
+
+const getSHA = (s) => s.match(/^\s*([0-9a-fA-F]{40})\s*$/)[1];
+
+const inherit = { stdio: 'inherit' };
+const utf8 = { encoding: 'utf8' };
+
+let stdout;
+
+const version = process.argv[2];
+if (!/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+$/.test(version))
+    throw new Error('usage: release.js {version}');
+
+const distTag = `v${version}`;
+
+const projectRootDir = resolve(__dirname, '..');
+process.chdir(projectRootDir);
+
+stdout = exec('git.exe status --porcelain -uno', utf8);
+if (stdout.match(/\S/))
+    throw new Error('git index or working directory not clean');
+
+exec('cmake.exe --build . --target dist', inherit);
+
+stdout = exec('git rev-parse --verify HEAD', utf8);
+const sourceCommit = getSHA(stdout);
+
+stdout = exec('git write-tree', utf8);
+const sourceTree = getSHA(stdout);
+
+stdout = exec('git log --pretty="%D"', utf8);
+const previousTag = stdout.match(/tag: ([^\s,;]+)/)[1];
+
+stdout = exec(`git rev-list -n 1 ${previousTag}`, utf8);
+const previousTagCommit = getSHA(stdout);
+
+exec('git add -f dist/');
+
+stdout = exec('git write-tree --prefix=dist/', utf8);
+const distTree = getSHA(stdout);
+
+exec('git reset');
+
+stdout = exec(`git commit-tree ${distTree} ` + 
+              `-p ${previousTagCommit} ` + 
+              `-p ${sourceCommit} ` +
+              `-m "version ${version}"`, utf8);
+const distCommit = stdout.match(/[\w+]+/)[0];
+          
+stdout = exec(`git commit-tree ${sourceTree} ` + 
+              `-p ${sourceCommit} ` + 
+              `-p ${distCommit} ` +
+              `-m "dist: merge release tag ${distTag}"`, utf8);
+const mergeCommit = stdout.match(/[\w+]+/)[0];
+
+exec(`git diff --stat ${previousTagCommit}..${distCommit}`, inherit);
+
+console.log('');
+console.log(`Previous release tag: ${previousTag}`);
+console.log(`New release tag ${distTag}`);
+
+exec(`git tag ${distTag} ${distCommit} ` +
+     `-sm "version ${version}"`, inherit);
+
+exec(`git branch -f dist ${distCommit}`, inherit);
+exec(`git update-ref HEAD ${mergeCommit}`, inherit);
+
+exec('git log --graph --decorate -n 3', inherit);