diff --git a/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml b/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 337730f6b..000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/pythonpackage.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
-# This workflow will install Python dependencies, run tests and lint with a variety of Python versions
-# For more information see: https://help.github.com/actions/language-and-framework-guides/using-python-with-github-actions
-
-name: Python package
-
-on:
-  push:
-    branches: [ main ]
-  pull_request:
-    branches: '*'
-
-jobs:
-  build:
-
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-
-    steps:
-    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-    - name: Set up Python
-      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
-      with:
-        python-version: 3.12
-    - name: Install dependencies
-      # TODO This installs reproschema from source and not from pypi
-      # This may not be the optimal way of doing it.
-      run: |
-        python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools
-        pip install git+https://github.com/ReproNim/reproschema-py.git
-    - name: Test with pyshacl
-      run: |
-        python scripts/jsonParser.py
-        reproschema validate examples
-    # TODO adapt make release
-    # TODO use mkdocs macro to update doc content
-    # - name: Make a release
-    #   run: |
-    #     python scripts/makeRelease.py ci-release
-    #     pip install pytablewriter
-    #     python scripts/editProperties.py ci-release
diff --git a/.github/workflows/validate_and_release.yml b/.github/workflows/validate_and_release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..30657fb88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/validate_and_release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# - validate the protocol and activities in the repo with reproschema.py
+# - triggers a release when a github release is published
+name: validate and release
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - main
+  pull_request:
+    branches: ['*']
+  # Allow to trigger the generation of release files automatically
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      version:
+        description: 'version number'
+        required: true
+        type: string
+
+jobs:
+  validate:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+    - name: Set up Python
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+      with:
+        python-version: 3.12
+    - name: Install dependencies
+      # TODO This installs reproschema from source and not from pypi
+      # This may not be the optimal way of doing it.
+      run: |
+        python -m pip install --upgrade pip setuptools
+        pip install git+https://github.com/ReproNim/reproschema-py.git
+    - name: Validate content
+      run: |
+        python scripts/jsonParser.py
+        reproschema validate examples
+
+  release:
+    needs: [validate]
+    if: github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch'
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+    - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+    - name: Set up Python
+      uses: actions/setup-python@v5
+      with:
+        python-version: 3.12
+
+    - name: Make a release
+      run: |
+        echo "Making a release ${{ inputs.version }}"
+        mkdir releases/${{ inputs.version }}
+        cp contexts/reproschema releases/${{ inputs.version }}/base
+    #     python scripts/makeRelease.py ${{ inputs.version }}
+
+    -   name: Open pull requests to add files
+        uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v6
+        with:
+            commit-message: "[REL] adding files to for release ${{ inputs.version }}"
+            base: main
+            token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+            delete-branch: true
+            title: "[REL] adding files to for release ${{ inputs.version }}"
+            body: done via this [GitHub Action](https://github.com/${{ github.repository_owner }}/reproschema/blob/main/.github/workflows/validate_and_release.yml)