diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..53c2aa1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+name: Release
+
+# Publishes py-sendly to PyPI when a version tag (vX.Y.Z) is pushed.
+# Disjoint from ci.yml (push/PR to main + weekly cron): this runs ONLY on tags,
+# re-runs the full gate, then publishes. A red SDK can never ship.
+on:
+  push:
+    tags: ["v*"]
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  publish:
+    name: Test, build & publish to PyPI
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    environment: pypi # must match the environment on the PyPI trusted publisher
+    permissions:
+      id-token: write # OIDC for PyPI Trusted Publishing (no token stored)
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6.0.3
+
+      - uses: actions/setup-python@v5.6.0
+        with:
+          python-version: "3.13"
+
+      - name: Install build + dev toolchain
+        run: |
+          python -m pip install --upgrade pip build
+          pip install -e ".[dev]"
+
+      # Version-consistency gate: the pushed tag must equal both the
+      # pyproject.toml version and the SDK_VERSION constant (User-Agent header).
+      - name: Assert tag matches pyproject + SDK_VERSION
+        run: |
+          TAG="${GITHUB_REF_NAME#v}"
+          VER=$(python -c "import tomllib;print(tomllib.load(open('pyproject.toml','rb'))['project']['version'])")
+          SDK=$(python -c "from sendly import SDK_VERSION;print(SDK_VERSION)")
+          echo "tag=$TAG pyproject=$VER SDK_VERSION=$SDK"
+          test "$TAG" = "$VER" || { echo "::error::tag $TAG != pyproject $VER"; exit 1; }
+          test "$TAG" = "$SDK" || { echo "::error::tag $TAG != SDK_VERSION $SDK"; exit 1; }
+
+      - name: Ruff lint
+        run: ruff check .
+
+      - name: Ruff format check
+        run: ruff format --check .
+
+      - name: Mypy (strict)
+        run: mypy src
+
+      - name: Contract tests (SDK surface vs vendored OpenAPI)
+        run: pytest tests/test_contract.py
+
+      - name: Pytest
+        run: pytest
+
+      - name: Build sdist + wheel
+        run: python -m build
+
+      - name: Publish to PyPI (Trusted Publishing / OIDC)
+        uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1de62ba..cd89163 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -12,7 +12,17 @@ suppression.
 
 ## Installation
 
-Not yet published to PyPI. Install from GitHub:
+```bash
+pip install py-sendly
+```
+
+The distribution is published as `py-sendly`; the import name is unchanged:
+
+```python
+import sendly
+```
+
+Alternatively, install the latest `main` directly from GitHub:
 
 ```bash
 pip install git+https://github.com/DevinoSolutions/sendly-python.git
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 39efad0..b4b64e7 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@ requires = ["hatchling==1.30.1"]
 build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [project]
-name = "sendly"
+# PyPI distribution name. The plain `sendly` name is owned by an unrelated
+# SMS company on PyPI, so we publish as `py-sendly`. The import package is
+# unchanged (`import sendly`) — see [tool.hatch.build.targets.wheel] below.
+name = "py-sendly"
 version = "0.1.0"
 description = "Official Sendly Python SDK"
 readme = "README.md"