diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index eaa523ab77..565e8a112b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/), and this project
 tries to adhere to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+
 ## [0.47.0] - 2025-09-06
 
 ### BREAKING
diff --git a/dev/releases/config.toml b/dev/releases/config.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d5ef05366a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev/releases/config.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+majorversion = 0
+reponame = "Nemocas/AbstractAlgebra.jl"
+enabletwolevel = false
+requiretwolevel = false
+
+[topics]
+"release notes: highlight" = "Highlights"
+breaking = "Breaking Changes"
+renaming = "Renamings"
+serialization = "Changes related to serializing data in the MRDI file format"
+enhancement = "New features or extended functionality"
+experimental = "Only changes experimental parts of OSCAR"
+optimization = "Performance improvements or improved testing"
+"bug: wrong result" = "Fixed bugs that returned incorrect results"
+"bug: crash" = "Fixed bugs that could lead to crashes"
+"bug: unexpected error" = "Fixed bugs that resulted in unexpected errors"
+bug = "Other fixed bugs"
+doc = "Improvements or additions to documentation"
diff --git a/dev/releases/release_notes.py b/dev/releases/release_notes.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..d090949a1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev/releases/release_notes.py
@@ -0,0 +1,462 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+#############################################################################
+# Usage:
+#     ./release_notes.py [VERSION]
+#
+# For example
+#     ./release_notes.py 4.13.1
+#
+# This assumes that the tags named v4.13.1, 4.13dev (?) and v4.13.0 (???) already exists.
+#
+# A version ending in .0 is consider MAJOR, any other MINOR
+# Don't use this with versions like 4.13.0-beta1
+
+import json
+import os
+import re
+import copy
+import subprocess
+import sys
+from datetime import datetime
+from typing import Any, Dict, List
+import tomli
+
+ownpath = os.path.abspath(sys.argv[0])
+dirpath = os.path.dirname(ownpath)
+repopath = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(ownpath)))
+NEWFILE = f"{dirpath}/new.md"
+FINALFILE = f"{repopath}/CHANGELOG.md"
+
+# read config file
+with open('config.toml', 'rb') as conffile:
+    conf = tomli.load(conffile)
+
+MAJORVERSION = conf['majorversion']
+REPONAME = conf['reponame']
+PROJECTNAME = REPONAME.split('/')[-1]
+ENABLE_TWOLEVEL = conf["enabletwolevel"]
+REQUIRE_TWOLEVEL = False
+if ENABLE_TWOLEVEL:
+    REQUIRE_TWOLEVEL = conf['requiretwolevel']
+
+# the following loads a dict of {LABEL: DESCRIPTION}; the first entry is the name of a GitHub label
+# (be careful to match them precisely), the second is a headline for a section the release notes;
+# any PR with the given label is put into the corresponding section; each PR is put into only one
+# section, the first one one from this list it fits in.
+# See also <https://github.com/gap-system/gap/issues/4257>.
+
+TOPICS = conf['topics']
+PRTYPES = {}
+if ENABLE_TWOLEVEL:
+    PRTYPES = conf['prtypes']
+
+
+def usage(name: str) -> None:
+    print(f"Usage: `{name} [NEWVERSION]`")
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+
+def is_existing_tag(tag: str) -> bool:
+    print(tag)
+    res = subprocess.run(
+        [
+            "gh",
+            "release",
+            "list",
+            "--json=name",
+            "-q",
+            f""".[] | select(.name | contains("{tag.strip()}"))"""
+        ],
+        shell=False,
+        check=False, # this subprocess is allowed to fail
+        capture_output=True
+    )
+    return res.stdout.decode() != ""
+
+
+def find_previous_version(version: str) -> str:
+    major, minor, patchlevel = map(int, version.split("."))
+    if major != MAJORVERSION:
+        error(f"unexpected {PROJECTNAME} version, not starting with '{MAJORVERSION}.'")
+    if patchlevel != 0:
+        patchlevel -= 1
+        return f"{major}.{minor}.{patchlevel}"
+    minor -= 1
+    patchlevel = 0
+    while True:
+        v = f"{major}.{minor}.{patchlevel}"
+        if not is_existing_tag("v" + v):
+            break
+        patchlevel += 1
+    if patchlevel == 0:
+        error("could not determine previous version")
+    patchlevel -= 1
+    return f"{major}.{minor}.{patchlevel}"
+
+def notice(s):
+    print(s)
+
+def error(s):
+    print(s)
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+def warning(s):
+    print('===================================================')
+    print(s)
+    print('===================================================')
+
+
+
+def get_tag_date(tag: str) -> str:
+    if is_existing_tag(tag):
+        res = subprocess.run(
+            [
+                "gh",
+                "release",
+                "view",
+                f"{tag}",
+                "--json=createdAt"
+            ],
+            shell=False,
+            check=True,
+            capture_output=True
+        )
+        res = json.loads(res.stdout.decode())
+    else:
+        error("tag does not exist!")
+    return res['createdAt'][0:10]
+
+
+def get_pr_list(date: str, extra: str) -> List[Dict[str, Any]]:
+    query = (
+        f'merged:>={date} -label:"release notes: not needed" -label:"release notes: added"'
+        f'base:master {extra}'
+    )
+    print("query: ", query)
+    res = subprocess.run(
+        [
+            "gh",
+            "pr",
+            "list",
+            "--search",
+            query,
+            "--json",
+            "number,title,closedAt,labels,mergedAt,body",
+            "--limit",
+            "200",
+        ],
+        check=True,
+        capture_output=True,
+        text=True,
+    )
+    json_list = json.loads(res.stdout.strip())
+    json_list = sorted(json_list, key=lambda d: d['number']) # sort by ascending PR number
+    return json_list
+
+
+def pr_to_md(pr: Dict[str, Any]) -> str:
+    """Returns markdown string for the PR entry"""
+    k = pr["number"]
+    if has_label(pr, 'release notes: use body'):
+        mdstring = re.sub(
+            r'^- ', f"- [#{k}](https://github.com/{REPONAME}/pull/{k}) ",
+            pr["body"]
+        )
+    else:
+        title = pr["title"]
+        mdstring = f"- [#{k}](https://github.com/{REPONAME}/pull/{k}) {title}\n"
+    return mdstring
+
+def body_to_release_notes(pr):
+    body = pr['body']
+    index1 = body.lower().find("## release notes")
+    if index1 == -1:
+        ## not found
+        ## complain and return fallback
+        print(f"Release notes section not found in PR number {pr['number']}!!")
+        return body
+    index2 = body.find('\n', index1) + 1 # the first line after the release notes line
+    bodylines = body[index2:].splitlines()
+    mdstring = ""
+    for line in bodylines:
+        line = line.rstrip()
+        if not line:
+            continue
+        if line.startswith('- '):
+            mdstring = f"{mdstring}\n{line}"
+        else:
+            break
+    if not mdstring:
+        warning(f"Empty release notes section for PR #{pr['number']} !")
+    return mdstring
+
+
+def has_label(pr: Dict[str, Any], label: str) -> bool:
+    return any(x["name"] == label for x in pr["labels"])
+
+
+def changes_overview(
+    prs: List[Dict[str, Any]], new_version: str
+) -> None:
+    """Writes files with information for release notes."""
+
+    date = datetime.now().strftime("%Y-%m-%d")
+    release_url = f"https://github.com/{REPONAME}/releases/tag/v{new_version}"
+
+    # Could also introduce some consistency checks here for wrong combinations of labels
+    notice("Writing release notes into file " + NEWFILE)
+    with open(NEWFILE, "w", encoding="utf-8") as relnotes_file:
+        prs_with_use_title = [
+            pr for pr in prs if
+            has_label(pr, "release notes: use title") or
+            has_label(pr, "release notes: use body")
+        ]
+        # Write out all PRs with 'use title'
+        relnotes_file.write(
+            f"""# Changelog
+
+All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
+
+The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/), and this project
+tries to adhere to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
+
+## [{new_version}]({release_url}) - {date}
+
+The following gives an overview of the changes compared to the previous release. This list is not
+complete, many more internal or minor changes were made, but we tried to only list those changes
+which we think might affect some users directly.
+
+"""
+        )
+        totalPRs = len(prs)
+        print(f"Total number of PRs: {totalPRs}")
+        countedPRs = 0
+        for priorityobject in TOPICS:
+            matches = [
+                pr for pr in prs_with_use_title if has_label(pr, priorityobject)
+            ]
+            original_length = len(matches)
+            print("PRs with label '" + priorityobject + "': ", len(matches))
+            countedPRs = countedPRs + len(matches)
+            if len(matches) == 0:
+                continue
+            relnotes_file.write("### " + TOPICS[priorityobject] + "\n\n")
+            if priorityobject == "breaking":
+                relnotes_file.write("> !These changes break compatibility from previous versions!")
+                relnotes_file.write("\n\n")
+            if priorityobject in ['release notes: highlight', 'breaking']:
+                itervar = TOPICS
+            else:
+                itervar = PRTYPES
+            for typeobject in itervar:
+                if typeobject == priorityobject:
+                    continue
+                matches_type = [
+                    pr for pr in matches if has_label(pr, typeobject)
+                ]
+                print(
+                    f"PRs with label '{priorityobject}' and type '{typeobject}': "
+                    f"{len(matches_type)}"
+                )
+                if len(matches_type) == 0:
+                    continue
+                relnotes_file.write(f"#### {itervar[typeobject]}\n\n")
+                for pr in matches_type:
+                    relnotes_file.write(pr_to_md(pr))
+                    prs_with_use_title.remove(pr)
+                    matches.remove(pr)
+                relnotes_file.write('\n')
+            # Items without a type label
+            if len(matches) > 0:
+                if len(matches) != original_length:
+                    relnotes_file.write("#### Miscellaneous changes\n\n")
+                for pr in matches:
+                    relnotes_file.write(pr_to_md(pr))
+                    prs_with_use_title.remove(pr)
+                relnotes_file.write('\n')
+
+        print(f"Remaining PRs: {totalPRs - countedPRs}")
+        # The remaining PRs have no "kind" or "topic" label from the priority list
+        # (may have other "kind" or "topic" label outside the priority list).
+        # Check their list in the release notes, and adjust labels if appropriate.
+        if len(prs_with_use_title) > 0 and ENABLE_TWOLEVEL:
+            relnotes_file.write("### Other changes\n\n")
+            for typeobject in PRTYPES:
+                matches_type = [
+                    pr for pr in prs_with_use_title if has_label(pr, typeobject)
+                ]
+                len(matches_type)
+                print("PRs with type '" + typeobject + "': ", len(matches_type))
+                if len(matches_type) == 0:
+                    continue
+                relnotes_file.write("#### " + PRTYPES[typeobject] + "\n\n")
+
+                for pr in matches_type:
+                    relnotes_file.write(pr_to_md(pr))
+                    prs_with_use_title.remove(pr)
+                relnotes_file.write("\n")
+
+        # Report PRs that have to be updated before inclusion into release notes.
+        prs_to_be_added = [pr for pr in prs if has_label(pr, "release notes: to be added")]
+        if len(prs_to_be_added) > 0:
+            relnotes_file.write("### **TODO** release notes: to be added" + "\n\n")
+            relnotes_file.write(
+                "If there are any PRs listed below, check their title and labels.\n"
+            )
+            relnotes_file.write(
+                'When done, change their label to "release notes: use title".\n\n'
+            )
+            for pr in prs_to_be_added:
+                relnotes_file.write(pr_to_md(pr))
+            relnotes_file.write("\n")
+        if len(prs_with_use_title) > 0:
+            relnotes_file.write(
+                "### **TODO** insufficient labels for automatic classification\n\n"
+                "The following PRs have neither a topic label assigned to them, nor a PR type. \n"
+                "**Manual intervention required.**\n\n")
+            for pr in prs_with_use_title:
+                relnotes_file.write(pr_to_md(pr))
+                relnotes_file.write('\n')
+            relnotes_file.write('\n')
+
+        # remove PRs already handled earlier
+        prs = [pr for pr in prs if not has_label(pr, "release notes: to be added")]
+        prs = [pr for pr in prs if not has_label(pr, "release notes: added")]
+        prs = [pr for pr in prs if not has_label(pr, "release notes: use title")]
+        prs = [pr for pr in prs if not has_label(pr, "release notes: use body")]
+
+        # Report PRs that have neither "to be added" nor "added" or "use title" label
+        if len(prs) > 0:
+            relnotes_file.write("### **TODO** Uncategorized PR" + "\n\n")
+            relnotes_file.write(
+                "If there are any PRs listed below, either apply the same steps\n"
+            )
+            relnotes_file.write(
+                'as above, or change their label to "release notes: not needed".\n\n'
+            )
+            for pr in prs:
+                relnotes_file.write(pr_to_md(pr))
+            relnotes_file.write('\n')
+
+        # now read back the rest of changelog.md into newfile
+        with open(FINALFILE, 'r', encoding='ascii') as oldchangelog:
+            oldchangelog.seek(262)
+            for line in oldchangelog.readlines():
+                relnotes_file.write(line)
+        # finally copy over this new file to changelog.md
+        os.rename(NEWFILE, FINALFILE)
+
+def split_pr_into_changelog(prs: List):
+    childprlist = []
+    toremovelist = []
+    for pr in prs:
+        if has_label(pr, 'release notes: use body'):
+            mdstring = body_to_release_notes(pr).strip()
+            mdlines = mdstring.split('\n')
+            pattern = r'\{.*\}$'
+            for line in mdlines:
+                cpr = copy.deepcopy(pr)
+                mans = re.search(pattern, line)
+                if mans:
+                    label_list = mans.group().strip('{').strip('}').split(',')
+                    for label in label_list:
+                        label = label.strip()
+                        if not (label in PRTYPES or label in TOPICS):
+                            warning(
+                                f"PR number #{pr['number']}'s changelog body has label {label}, "
+                                "which is not a label we recognize ! We are ignoring this label. "
+                                "This might result in a TODO changelog item!"
+                            )
+                            continue
+                        cpr['labels'].append({'name': label})
+                    mindex = mans.span()[0]
+                    line = line[0:mindex]
+                else:
+                    warning(f"PR number #{pr['number']} is tagged as \"Use Body\", but the body "
+                            "does not provide tags! This will result in TODO changelog items!")
+                cpr['body'] = f'{line.strip()}\n'
+                childprlist.append(cpr)
+                if pr not in toremovelist:
+                    toremovelist.append(pr)
+    prs.extend(childprlist)
+    prlist = [pr for pr in prs if pr not in toremovelist]
+    return prlist
+
+def main(new_version: str) -> None:
+    major, minor, patchlevel = map(int, new_version.split("."))
+    extra = ""
+    release_type = 0 # 0 by default, 1 for point release, 2 for patch release
+    if major != MAJORVERSION:
+        error(f"unexpected {PROJECTNAME} version, not starting with '{MAJORVERSION}.'")
+    if patchlevel == 0:
+        # "major" OSCAR release which changes just the minor version
+        release_type = 1
+        previous_minor = minor - 1
+        basetag = f"v{major}.{minor}dev"
+        # *exclude* PRs backported to previous stable-1.X branch
+        #extra = f'-label:"backport {major}.{previous_minor}.x done"'
+    else:
+        # "minor" OSCAR release which changes just the patchlevel
+        release_type = 2
+        previous_patchlevel = patchlevel - 1
+        basetag = f"v{major}.{minor}.{previous_patchlevel}"
+        # *include* PRs backported to current stable-4.X branch
+        #extra = f'label:"backport {major}.{minor}.x done"'
+
+    if release_type == 2:
+        timestamp = get_tag_date(basetag)
+    else:
+        # Find the timestamp of the last shared commit
+        shared_commit = subprocess.run([
+            "git",
+            "merge-base",
+            basetag,
+            "HEAD"
+        ], shell=False, check=True, capture_output=True).stdout.decode().strip()
+        timestamp = subprocess.run([
+            "git",
+            "show",
+            "-s",
+            "--format=\"%cI\"",
+            shared_commit
+        ], shell=False, check=True, capture_output=True).stdout.decode().strip().replace('"', '')
+    print("Base tag is", basetag)
+    print("Last common commit at ", timestamp)
+
+    print("Downloading filtered PR list")
+    prs = get_pr_list(timestamp, extra)
+    prs = split_pr_into_changelog(prs)
+    # print(json.dumps(prs, sort_keys=True, indent=4))
+
+    # reset changelog file to state tracked in git
+
+    subprocess.run(f'git checkout -- {FINALFILE}'.split(), check=True)
+
+    changes_overview(prs, new_version)
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    # the argument is the new version
+    if len(sys.argv) == 1:
+        itag = subprocess.run(
+            [
+                "gh",
+                "release",
+                "list",
+                "--json=name,isLatest",
+                "-q",
+                ".[] | select(.isLatest == true)"
+            ],
+            shell=False,
+            check=True,
+            capture_output=True
+        )
+        itag = json.loads(itag.stdout.decode())["name"][1:]
+        itag = itag.split('.')
+        itag[-1] = str(int(itag[-1])+1)
+        itag = ".".join(itag)
+        main(itag)
+    elif len(sys.argv) != 2:
+        usage(sys.argv[0])
+    else:
+        main(sys.argv[1])
diff --git a/dev/releases/requirements.txt b/dev/releases/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..7efb948aa0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev/releases/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+tomli
+