diff --git a/.github/workflows/bump-version-PR.yml b/.github/workflows/bump-version-PR.yml
index b439ad29..d0ea36da 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/bump-version-PR.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/bump-version-PR.yml
@@ -10,6 +10,8 @@ on:
           - hotfix
         required: true
         default: 'release'
+      # NOTE: For a `release` branch, only specify the `major.minor` version. This branch will be persistent across patches,
+      # so any patch number specified in this case will be dropped. For a hotfix, specify the full `major.minor.patch` version
       version:
         description: 'Version'
         required: true
@@ -22,18 +24,50 @@ jobs:
       CRATES: './aptos/aptos-programs,./aptos/core,./aptos/light-client,./aptos/programs/inclusion,./aptos/programs/epoch-change,./aptos/proof-server'
 
     steps:
+      - name: Git config
+        run: |
+          git config --global user.name "github-actions[bot]"
+          git config --global user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+
+          git config --global url."https://${{ secrets.REPO_TOKEN }}@github.com/".insteadOf ssh://git@github.com
+          git config --global url."https://${{ secrets.REPO_TOKEN }}@github.com".insteadOf https://github.com
+
       - name: Checkout code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
+      # The `release/1.0` branch is always truncated, so that patch version merges still are valid Semver
+      # However, when we make the initial `release/1.0` version bump, we include the full `1.0.0` in `Cargo.toml`
+      # and the release for clarity 
+      - name: Set branches
+        run: |
+          BASE_VERSION_SHORT=$(echo "${{ inputs.version }}" | cut -d'.' -f1-2)
+          BASE_VERSION="${BASE_VERSION_SHORT}.0"
+          if [[ "${{ inputs.type }}" == "hotfix" ]]; then
+            VERSION=${{ inputs.version }}
+            BASE_BRANCH="release/$BASE_VERSION_SHORT"
+            PR_BRANCH="${{ inputs.type }}/${{ inputs.version }}"
+            git checkout ${{ env.PR_BRANCH }}
+          else
+            VERSION=$BASE_VERSION
+            BASE_BRANCH="main"
+            PR_BRANCH="release/$BASE_VERSION_SHORT"
+            git checkout -b ${{ env.PR_BRANCH }}
+          fi
+
+          echo "BASE_BRANCH=$BASE_BRANCH" | tee -a $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo "PR_BRANCH=$PR_BRANCH" | tee -a $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo "PR_DESCRIPTION=chore: Release $VERSION" | tee -a $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo "VERSION=$VERSION" | tee -a $GITHUB_ENV
+
       # Regex from https://semver.org/#is-there-a-suggested-regular-expression-regex-to-check-a-semver-string
       - name: Validate version
         run: |
-          echo "Validating version ${{ github.event.inputs.version }}..."
+          echo "Validating version ${{ env.VERSION }}..."
           D='0|[1-9][0-9]*'
           PW='[0-9]*[a-zA-Z-][0-9a-zA-Z-]*'
           MW='[0-9a-zA-Z-]+'
-          if [[ "${{ github.event.inputs.version }}" =~ ^($D)\.($D)\.($D)(-(($D|$PW)(\.($D|$PW))*))?(\+($MW(\.$MW)*))?$ ]]; then
-            echo "Version ${{ github.event.inputs.version }} is valid."
+          if [[ "${{ env.VERSION }}" =~ ^($D)\.($D)\.($D)(-(($D|$PW)(\.($D|$PW))*))?(\+($MW(\.$MW)*))?$ ]]; then
+            echo "Version ${{ env.VERSION }} is valid."
           else
             echo "Version is not valid SemVer. Aborting..."
             exit 1
@@ -46,19 +80,33 @@ jobs:
           for path in "${CRATE_PATHS[@]}"; do
             cd $path
             OLD_VERSION=$(grep -oP 'version = "\K[^"]+' Cargo.toml)
-            if [[ "${{ inputs.version }}" > "$OLD_VERSION" ]]; then
-              sed -i 's/version = "'$OLD_VERSION'"/version = "${{ inputs.version }}"/' Cargo.toml
+            if [[ "${{ env.VERSION }}" > "$OLD_VERSION" ]]; then
+              sed -i 's/version = "'$OLD_VERSION'"/version = "${{ env.VERSION }}"/' Cargo.toml
             else
               echo "New version is not greater than the current version for $path. Aborting..."
               exit 1
             fi
             cd $GITHUB_WORKSPACE
           done
+      
+      - name: Commit changes
+        run: |
+          git add .
+          git commit -m "${{ env.PR_DESCRIPTION }}"
+          git push origin ${{ env.PR_BRANCH }}
+
+      # Note: Can't use `peter-evans/create-pull-request` because for hotfixes we need to make the PR with an existing branch
+      # The former always creates a new one for single-commit PRs, thus overwriting the actual hotfix
+      - name: Create PR
+        run: |
+          cat << 'EOF' > body.md
+          This is an automated release PR for version `${ env.VERSION }}`.
+
+          On merge, this will trigger the [release publish workflow](${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}/actions/workflows/tag-release.yml), which will upload a new GitHub release with tag `${{ env.VERSION }}`.
+
+          [Workflow run](${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }})
+          EOF
 
-      - name: Create Pull Request
-        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v5
-        with:
-          title: "${{ inputs.type == 'release' && 'Release' || 'Hotfix' }} ${{ inputs.version }}"
-          branch: "${{ inputs.type }}/${{ inputs.version }}"
-          commit-message: "chore: ${{ inputs.type == 'release' && 'release' || 'hotfix' }} ${{ inputs.version }}"
-          base: ${{ github.ref }}
\ No newline at end of file
+          gh pr create --title "${{ env.PR_DESCRIPTION }}" --body-file ./body.md --head ${{ env.PR_BRANCH }} --base ${{ env.BASE_BRANCH }}
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/tag-release.yml b/.github/workflows/tag-release.yml
index 5d66452c..9b809cc6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/tag-release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/tag-release.yml
@@ -15,8 +15,15 @@ jobs:
       ((startsWith(github.event.pull_request.head.ref, 'release/') && github.event.pull_request.base.ref == 'dev') ||
       (startsWith(github.event.pull_request.head.ref, 'hotfix/') && startsWith(github.event.pull_request.base.ref, 'release/')))
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-
     steps:
+      - name: Git config
+        run: |
+          git config --global user.name "github-actions[bot]"
+          git config --global user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+
+          git config --global url."https://${{ secrets.REPO_TOKEN }}@github.com/".insteadOf ssh://git@github.com
+          git config --global url."https://${{ secrets.REPO_TOKEN }}@github.com".insteadOf https://github.com
+
       - name: Checkout code
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
@@ -24,7 +31,12 @@ jobs:
         id: get-version
         run: |
           VERSION=$(echo "${{ github.event.pull_request.head.ref }}" | cut -d'/' -f 2)
-          echo "version=${VERSION}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          RELEASE_BRANCH="${{ startsWith(github.event.pull_request.head.ref, 'release/') && github.event.pull_request.head.ref || github.event.pull_request.base.ref }}"
+
+          git tag -a $VERSION -m "$VERSION" $RELEASE_BRANCH
+          git push origin $VERSION -f
+          echo "version=$VERSION" | tee -a "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "RELEASE_BRANCH=$RELEASE_BRANCH" | tee -a "$GITHUB_ENV"
 
       - name: Build Changelog
         id: github_release
@@ -35,8 +47,9 @@ jobs:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
       - name: Create Release
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
+        uses: ncipollo/release-action@v1
         with:
-          body: ${{steps.github_release.outputs.changelog}}
-          tag_name: ${{ steps.get-version.outputs.version }}
-          target_commitish: ${{ startsWith(github.event.pull_request.head.ref, 'release/') && github.event.pull_request.head.ref || github.event.pull_request.base.ref }}
\ No newline at end of file
+          body: ${{ steps.github_release.outputs.changelog }}
+          tag: ${{ steps.get-version.outputs.version }}
+          commit: ${{ env.RELEASE_BRANCH }}
+          allowUpdates: true