diff --git a/.github/workflows/prod-deploy.yml b/.github/workflows/prod-deploy.yml
index 6cdf4000a..202a0b148 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/prod-deploy.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/prod-deploy.yml
@@ -1,14 +1,110 @@
 name: Deploy to prod
 
 on:
+  workflow_dispatch:  
   schedule:
     # Weekdays Mon-Fri @ 18:00 UTC (10AM PST [winter] / 11AM PDT [summer])
     - cron: '0 18 * * 1-5'
 permissions:
+  contents: write
   id-token: write
-  contents: read
+  pull-requests: write
 
 jobs:
+  create-frontend-release:
+    concurrency:
+      group: create-frontend-release-${{ github.ref }}
+      cancel-in-progress: true
+
+    outputs:
+      pr: ${{ steps.release.outputs.pr }}
+      prs_created: ${{ steps.release.outputs.prs_created }}
+
+    name: generate frontend changelog
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    if: github.repository == 'chanzuckerberg/cryoet-data-portal'
+    steps:
+      - name: create changelog
+        uses: google-github-actions/release-please-action@v4
+        id: release
+        with:
+          # TODO Configuring using manifest file as workaround until we move the frontend to its own repo
+          config-file: release-please.config.json
+          manifest-file: release-please.manifest.json
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+  tag-frontend-release:
+    concurrency:
+      group: tag-frontend-release-${{ github.ref }}
+      cancel-in-progress: true
+
+    outputs:
+      tag: frontend-v${{ steps.extract-version.outputs.result }}
+
+    name: tag frontend release
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    if: ${{ (github.repository == 'chanzuckerberg/cryoet-data-portal') && (needs.create-frontend-release.outputs.prs_created == 'true') }}
+    needs: create-frontend-release
+    steps:
+      - name: merge release PR
+        uses: actions/github-script@v7
+        id: merge-release-pr
+        with:
+          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          result-encoding: string
+          script: |
+            const pr = ${{ needs.create-frontend-release.outputs.pr }}
+            console.log(`Merging release PR #${pr.number}`)
+
+            const [owner, repo] = '${{ github.repository }}'.split('/')
+
+            const [mergeResponse] = await Promise.all([
+              github.rest.pulls.merge({
+                owner,
+                repo,
+                pull_number: pr.number,
+                merge_method: 'squash',
+              }),
+
+              github.rest.issues.removeLabel({
+                owner,
+                repo,
+                issue_number: pr.number,
+                name: 'autorelease: pending'
+              }),
+
+              github.rest.issues.addLabels({
+                owner,
+                repo,
+                issue_number: pr.number,
+                labels: ['autorelease: tagged']
+              }),
+            ])
+
+            return mergeResponse.data.sha
+
+      - name: checkout repo for tagging
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ steps.merge-release-pr.outputs.result }}
+
+      - name: extract version
+        id: extract-version
+        uses: actions/github-script@v7
+        with:
+          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          result-encoding: string
+          script: |
+            const pr = ${{ needs.create-frontend-release.outputs.pr }}
+            const version = pr.title.split(' ').at(-1)
+            return version
+
+      - name: tag release
+        run: |
+          git config user.name github-actions[bot]
+          git config user.email github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com
+          git tag -a frontend-v${{ steps.extract-version.outputs.result }} -m "Release frontend v${{ steps.extract-version.outputs.result }}"
+          git push origin frontend-v${{ steps.extract-version.outputs.result }}
 
   run-staging-e2e-test:
     name: Run e2e test on staging
@@ -27,7 +123,8 @@ jobs:
     needs: run-staging-e2e-test
     environment: prod
     # The secret IS_DEPLOY_ALLOWED can be used to gate the prod deploys
-    if: ${{ github.repository == 'chanzuckerberg/cryoet-data-portal' && secrets.IS_DEPLOY_ALLOWED == 'true' }}
+    if: ${{ (github.repository == 'chanzuckerberg/cryoet-data-portal') && (secrets.IS_DEPLOY_ALLOWED == 'true') && (needs.create-frontend-release.outputs.prs_created == 'true') }}
+    needs: tag-frontend-release
     steps:
       - name: Configure AWS Credentials
         uses: aws-actions/configure-aws-credentials@v4
diff --git a/frontend/package.json b/frontend/package.json
index ce76c66fb..d6a4fb87b 100644
--- a/frontend/package.json
+++ b/frontend/package.json
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "cryoet-data-portal",
+  "version": "1.0.0",
   "scripts": {
     "preinstall": "npx only-allow pnpm",
     "build": "pnpm -r build",
diff --git a/release-please.config.json b/release-please.config.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9fd94f2cf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release-please.config.json
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+{
+  "bootstrap-sha": "79825da91dd20c3be2f47912285e2c977848af32",
+  "skip-github-release": true,
+  "changelog-sections": [
+    { "type": "feat", "section": "✨ Features" },
+    { "type": "fix", "section": "🐞 Bug Fixes" },
+    { "type": "perf", "section": "⚡️ Performance Improvements" },
+    { "type": "revert", "section": "↩️ Reverts" },
+    { "type": "docs", "section": "📝 Documentation" },
+    { "type": "style", "section": "💅 Styles" },
+    { "type": "chore", "section": "🧹 Miscellaneous Chores" },
+    { "type": "refactor", "section": "♻️ Code Refactoring" },
+    { "type": "test", "section": "🧪 Tests" },
+    { "type": "build", "section": "🛠️ Build System" },
+    { "type": "ci", "section": "⚙ Continuous Integration" }
+  ],
+  "packages": {
+    "frontend": {
+      "release-type": "node"
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/release-please.manifest.json b/release-please.manifest.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ce1b92adf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release-please.manifest.json
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  "frontend": "1.0.0"
+}