diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 894a6ec..ad826b8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -1,45 +1,25 @@
 name: Release
 
-# release-please keeps a release PR open on main from the conventional commit messages. Merging
-# it tags vX.Y.Z, updates CHANGELOG.md and the version, and the publish job uploads the package
-# to PyPI with trusted publishing (OIDC). A tag pushed by hand (git tag v1.2.3 && git push --tags)
-# publishes too.
-
 on:
   push:
-    branches: ["main"]
-    tags: ["v*"]
-  workflow_dispatch:
+    branches: [main]
+
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: false
 
 permissions:
-  contents: write
-  pull-requests: write
+  contents: read
 
 jobs:
-  release-please:
-    if: github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    outputs:
-      release_created: ${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
-    steps:
-      - id: release
-        uses: googleapis/release-please-action@v4
-        with:
-          config-file: release-please-config.json
-          manifest-file: .release-please-manifest.json
-
-  publish:
-    needs: release-please
-    if: >-
-      always() &&
-      (needs.release-please.outputs.release_created == 'true' || startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v'))
+  release:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     environment:
       name: pypi
       url: https://pypi.org/project/template-python/
     permissions:
+      contents: write
       id-token: write
-      contents: read
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
@@ -47,8 +27,53 @@ jobs:
         with:
           python-version: "3.12"
 
+      - name: Read package version
+        id: version
+        run: |
+          VERSION="$(python -c 'import tomllib; print(tomllib.load(open("pyproject.toml", "rb"))["project"]["version"])')"
+          echo "version=$VERSION" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "tag=v$VERSION" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+      - name: Check if version is already published to PyPI
+        id: pypi-check
+        env:
+          VERSION: ${{ steps.version.outputs.version }}
+        run: |
+          if curl --fail --silent --show-error "https://pypi.org/pypi/template-python/$VERSION/json" >/dev/null; then
+            echo "template-python==$VERSION is already on PyPI; skipping package upload"
+            echo "published=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          else
+            echo "published=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          fi
+
       - name: Build the package
+        if: steps.pypi-check.outputs.published != 'true'
         run: uv build
 
+      - name: Check if GitHub release already exists
+        id: github-release-check
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          TAG: ${{ steps.version.outputs.tag }}
+        run: |
+          if gh api "repos/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY/releases/tags/$TAG" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            echo "GitHub release $TAG already exists; skipping release creation"
+            echo "exists=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          else
+            echo "exists=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          fi
+
+      - name: Create GitHub release and tag
+        if: steps.github-release-check.outputs.exists != 'true'
+        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
+        with:
+          tag_name: ${{ steps.version.outputs.tag }}
+          target_commitish: ${{ github.sha }}
+          name: ${{ steps.version.outputs.tag }}
+          generate_release_notes: true
+
       - name: Publish to PyPI
+        if: steps.pypi-check.outputs.published != 'true'
         uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
+        with:
+          packages-dir: dist
diff --git a/.release-please-manifest.json b/.release-please-manifest.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 466df71..0000000
--- a/.release-please-manifest.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-{
-  ".": "0.1.0"
-}
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 3aa26b2..20923eb 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 # Changelog
 
-All notable changes to this project are documented in this file. It is maintained by
-[release-please](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please) from the commit messages, which
-follow [Conventional Commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/), and the format follows
-[Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/).
+All notable changes to this project are documented in this file and maintained manually. The
+format follows [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/).
 
 ## [0.1.0] - 2026-10-05
 
diff --git a/CITATION.cff b/CITATION.cff
index 7b1ef53..1211afe 100644
--- a/CITATION.cff
+++ b/CITATION.cff
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ title: template-python
 authors:
   - family-names: Lindqvist
     given-names: Max
-version: 0.1.0 # x-release-please-version
+version: 0.1.0
 date-released: "2026-10-05"
 repository-code: https://github.com/max-models/template-python
 url: https://max-models.github.io/template-python/
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 2d749d3..a07fe47 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ pre-commit install
 
 Commits follow [Conventional Commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/):
 `feat:`, `fix:`, `docs:`, `chore:`, `refactor:`, `test:`, `ci:`. A `feat!:` or a
-`BREAKING CHANGE:` footer marks a breaking change. release-please reads these to write the
-changelog and choose the next version.
+`BREAKING CHANGE:` footer marks a breaking change. Before a release, update the package version
+and changelog manually.
 
 ## Pull requests
 
@@ -42,5 +42,7 @@ the tutorials and the documentation build. One approving review is required to m
 
 ## Releases
 
-Merging to `main` lets release-please open or update a release PR. Merging that PR tags the
-release, updates `CHANGELOG.md` and publishes the package to PyPI.
+Before merging a release to `main`, update the versions in `pyproject.toml`,
+`src/app/__init__.py` and `CITATION.cff` (including its release date), and add the release
+notes to `CHANGELOG.md`. The push creates a GitHub release with a version tag and publishes the
+package to PyPI.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 379e23e..0cbcdcb 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -109,9 +109,10 @@ make readme
 
 ## Releases
 
-[release-please](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please) keeps a
-release PR open on `main` from the commit messages. Merging it tags the
-release, updates `CHANGELOG.md` and publishes the package to PyPI with
-trusted publishing (OIDC). The one-time PyPI and GitHub configuration is
-described in the [publishing
+Before merging a release to `main`, update the version in
+`pyproject.toml`, `src/app/__init__.py` and `CITATION.cff` (including
+its release date), and add the release notes to `CHANGELOG.md`. The push
+to `main` creates a GitHub release with a `vX.Y.Z` tag and publishes the
+package to PyPI with trusted publishing (OIDC). The one-time PyPI and
+GitHub configuration is described in the [publishing
 guide](https://max-models.github.io/template-python/development/publishing/).
diff --git a/README.qmd b/README.qmd
index a4578a4..258a0b9 100644
--- a/README.qmd
+++ b/README.qmd
@@ -108,8 +108,9 @@ make readme
 
 ## Releases
 
-[release-please](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please) keeps a release PR open on
-`main` from the commit messages. Merging it tags the release, updates `CHANGELOG.md` and
+Before merging a release to `main`, update the version in `pyproject.toml`,
+`src/app/__init__.py` and `CITATION.cff` (including its release date), and add the release
+notes to `CHANGELOG.md`. The push to `main` creates a GitHub release with a `vX.Y.Z` tag and
 publishes the package to PyPI with trusted publishing (OIDC). The one-time PyPI and GitHub
 configuration is described in the
 [publishing guide](https://max-models.github.io/template-python/development/publishing/).
diff --git a/docs/src/content/docs/development/publishing.md b/docs/src/content/docs/development/publishing.md
index 8b4a813..257fa4b 100644
--- a/docs/src/content/docs/development/publishing.md
+++ b/docs/src/content/docs/development/publishing.md
@@ -13,16 +13,13 @@ Enable GitHub Pages once in the repository settings, with "GitHub Actions" as th
 
 ## Releases and PyPI
 
-The `Release` workflow uses [release-please](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please).
-On every push to `main` it opens or updates a release pull request from the
-[Conventional Commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/) since the last release, with the
-next version and the changelog entry. Merging that pull request:
+Before merging a release to `main`, update the version in `pyproject.toml`,
+`src/app/__init__.py` and `CITATION.cff` (including its release date), and add the release notes
+to `CHANGELOG.md`. On every push to `main`, the `Release` workflow:
 
 1. tags the release `vX.Y.Z` and creates the GitHub release,
-2. updates `CHANGELOG.md`, the version in `pyproject.toml` and `__version__` in the package,
-3. builds the package with `uv build` and publishes it to PyPI with trusted publishing (OIDC).
-
-A tag pushed by hand (`git tag v1.2.3 && git push --tags`) also publishes.
+2. builds the package with `uv build` and publishes it to PyPI with trusted publishing (OIDC),
+   if that version is not already on PyPI.
 
 ### One-time configuration
 
diff --git a/release-please-config.json b/release-please-config.json
deleted file mode 100644
index d61aef3..0000000
--- a/release-please-config.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,15 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/googleapis/release-please/main/schemas/config.json",
-  "release-type": "python",
-  "include-component-in-tag": false,
-  "packages": {
-    ".": {
-      "package-name": "template-python",
-      "changelog-path": "CHANGELOG.md",
-      "extra-files": [
-        "src/app/__init__.py",
-        { "type": "generic", "path": "CITATION.cff" }
-      ]
-    }
-  }
-}
diff --git a/src/app/__init__.py b/src/app/__init__.py
index a9410e7..a9c4ac9 100644
--- a/src/app/__init__.py
+++ b/src/app/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 """Template python package."""
 
-__version__ = "0.1.0"  # x-release-please-version
+__version__ = "0.1.0"