diff --git a/maintainers/release-process.md b/maintainers/release-process.md
index d85266b81..e542d8be5 100644
--- a/maintainers/release-process.md
+++ b/maintainers/release-process.md
@@ -24,34 +24,23 @@ release:
 * In a checkout of the Nix repo, make sure you're on `master` and run
   `git pull`.
 
-* Move the contents of `doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-next.md`
-  (except the first line) to
-  `doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-$VERSION.md` (where `$VERSION` is
-  the contents of `.version` *without* the patch level, e.g. `2.12`
-  rather than `2.12.0`).
-
-* Add a header to `doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-$VERSION.md` like
-
-  ```
-  # Release 2.12 (2022-12-06)
-  ```
-
-* Proof-read / edit / rearrange the release notes. Breaking changes
-  and highlights should go to the top.
-
-* Add a link to the release notes to `doc/manual/src/SUMMARY.md.in`
-  (*not* `SUMMARY.md`), e.g.
-
-  ```
-  - [Release 2.12 (2022-12-06)](release-notes/rl-2.12.md)
-  ```
-
-* Run
+* Compile the release notes by running
 
   ```console
   $ git checkout -b release-notes
-  $ git add doc/manual/src/release-notes/rl-$VERSION.md
-  $ git commit -a -m 'Release notes'
+  $ VERSION=X.YY ./scripts/release-notes
+  ```
+
+  where `X.YY` is *without* the patch level, e.g. `2.12` rather than ~~`2.12.0`~~.
+
+  A commit is created.
+
+* Proof-read / edit / rearrange the release notes if needed. Breaking changes
+  and highlights should go to the top.
+
+* Push.
+
+  ```console
   $ git push --set-upstream $REMOTE release-notes
   ```
 
@@ -67,15 +56,17 @@ release:
   $ git checkout -b $VERSION-maintenance
   ```
 
-* Mark the release as stable:
+* Mark the release as official:
 
   ```console
-  $ git cherry-pick f673551e71942a52b6d7ae66af8b67140904a76a
+  $ sed -e 's/officialRelease = false;/officialRelease = true;/' -i flake.nix
   ```
 
   This removes the link to `rl-next.md` from the manual and sets
   `officialRelease = true` in `flake.nix`.
 
+* Commit
+
 * Push the release branch:
 
   ```console
diff --git a/scripts/release-notes b/scripts/release-notes
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..e5ee39d11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/release-notes
@@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env nix-shell
+#!nix-shell -i bash ../shell.nix -I nixpkgs=channel:nixos-unstable-small
+#                                   ^^^^^^^
+#                Only used for bash. shell.nix goes to the flake.
+
+# --- CONFIGURATION ---
+
+# This does double duty for
+# - including rl-next
+# - marking where to insert new links (right after)
+SUMMARY_MARKER_LINE='{{#include ./SUMMARY-rl-next.md}}'
+
+# --- LIB ---
+
+log() {
+  echo 1>&2 "release-notes:" "$@"
+}
+logcmd() {
+  local cmd="$1"
+  shift
+  logcmd2 "$cmd" "${*@Q}" "$cmd" "$@"
+}
+logcmd2() {
+  local fakecmd="$1"
+  local fakeargs="$2"
+  shift
+  shift
+  printf 1>&2 "release-notes: \033[34;1m$fakecmd\033[0m "
+  echo "$fakeargs" 1>&2
+  "$@"
+}
+die() {
+  # ANSI red
+  printf 1>&2 "release-notes: \033[31;1merror:\033[0m"
+  echo 1>&2 "" "$@"
+  exit 1
+}
+confirm() {
+  local answer
+  echo 1>&2 "$@" "[y/n]"
+  read -r answer
+  case "$answer" in
+    y|Y|yes|Yes|YES)
+      return 0
+      ;;
+    n|N|no|No|NO)
+      return 1
+      ;;
+    *)
+      echo 1>&2 "please answer y or n"
+      confirm "$@"
+      ;;
+  esac
+}
+report_done() {
+  logcmd2 "git" "show" git -c pager.show=false show
+  printf 1>&2 "release-notes: \033[32;1mdone\033[0m\n"
+}
+
+# --- PARSE ARGS ---
+
+if [[ $# -gt 0 ]]; then
+  die "Release notes takes no arguments, but make sure to set VERSION."
+fi
+
+# --- CHECKS ---
+
+if [[ ! -e flake.nix ]] || [[ ! -e .git ]]; then
+  die "must run in repo root"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# repo must be clean
+if ! git diff --quiet; then
+  die "repo is dirty, please commit or stash changes"
+fi
+
+if ! git diff --quiet --cached; then
+  die "repo has staged changes, please commit or stash them"
+fi
+
+if ! grep "$SUMMARY_MARKER_LINE" doc/manual/src/SUMMARY.md.in >/dev/null; then
+  # would have been nice to catch this early, but won't be worth the extra infra
+  die "SUMMARY.md.in is missing the marker line '$SUMMARY_MARKER_LINE', which would be used for inserting a new release notes page. Please fix the script."
+fi
+
+if [[ ! -n "${VERSION:-}" ]]; then
+  die "please set the VERSION environment variable before invoking this script"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+case "$VERSION" in
+  # FIXME: accepts "." without any real digits
+  [[:digit:]]*.[[:digit:]]*)
+    ;;
+  *)
+    die "VERSION must be MAJOR.MINOR, where each is a number, e.g. 2.20 (VERSION was set to $VERSION)"
+    ;;
+esac
+
+# --- DEFAULTS ---
+
+if [[ ! -n "${DATE:-}" ]]; then
+  DATE="$(date +%Y-%m-%d)"
+  log "DATE not set, using $DATE"
+fi
+
+case "$DATE" in
+  [[:digit:]]*-[[:digit:]]*-[[:digit:]]*)
+    ;;
+  *)
+    die "DATE must be YYYY-MM-DD, e.g. 2021-12-31 (DATE was set to $DATE)"
+    ;;
+esac
+
+# --- DO THE WORK ---
+
+basename=rl-$VERSION.md
+file=doc/manual/src/release-notes/$basename
+title="Release $VERSION ($DATE)"
+
+(
+  # TODO add minor number, and append?
+  echo "# $title"
+  echo
+  changelog-d doc/manual/rl-next | sed -e 's/ *$//'
+) > $file
+
+log "Wrote $file"
+
+NEW_SUMMARY_LINE="  - [$title](release-notes/$basename)"
+
+# find the marker line, insert new link after it
+escaped_marker="$(echo "$SUMMARY_MARKER_LINE" | sed -e 's/\//\\\//g' -e 's/ /\\ /g')"
+escaped_line="$(echo "$NEW_SUMMARY_LINE" | sed -e 's/\//\\\//g' -e 's/ /\\ /g')"
+logcmd sed -i -e "/$escaped_marker/a $escaped_line" doc/manual/src/SUMMARY.md.in
+
+for f in doc/manual/rl-next/*.md; do
+  if [[ config != "$(basename $f)" ]]; then
+    logcmd git rm $f
+  fi
+done
+
+logcmd git add $file doc/manual/src/SUMMARY.md.in
+logcmd git status
+logcmd git commit -m "release notes: $VERSION"
+
+report_done