diff --git a/.github/workflows/lint.yaml b/.github/workflows/lint.yaml
index 0d727d9..b9a0a69 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/lint.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/lint.yaml
@@ -9,12 +9,12 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - name: Checkout Lint Repo
-        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }} # checkout last commit of PR instead of merge commit
         
       - name: Checkout Yamllint Config Repo
-        uses: actions/checkout@v3
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           repository: swissfintechinnovations/.github
           path: .github
@@ -27,5 +27,5 @@ jobs:
         run: echo "COMMIT_MESSAGE=$(git log -1 --pretty=%B | tr -d '\n')" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT # set last commit message as env file (since env var will be not supported)
 
       - name: Lint yaml APIs
-        if: "!contains(steps.skip.outputs.COMMIT_MESSAGE, '[skip-workflow]')"  # check commit message via env var - skip step if [skip-workflow] is set
+        if: ${{ !contains(steps.skip.outputs.COMMIT_MESSAGE, '[skip-workflow]') }}  # check commit message via env var - skip step if [skip-workflow] is set
         run: yamllint -c .github/workflows/.yamllint *.yaml
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..818d5ef
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,303 @@
+name: Release Pipeline
+
+on:
+  workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      version:
+        description: "Release version tag (required format: v[mayor].[minor].[bugfix], e.g. v1.3.0)"
+        type: string
+        required: true
+      draft:
+        description: Should a release draft be created? (Otherwise the release will be published immediately)
+        type: boolean
+        default: true
+        required: true
+      artifact:
+        description: Add artifacts to the release. All files from /docs are added to the release.
+        type: boolean
+        default: true
+        required: false
+      force:
+        description: "If force is true, already published releases can be overwritten. Caution: This action deletes already published releases and can **not** be undone!"
+        type: boolean
+        required: false
+
+jobs:
+  release:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
+      pull-requests: write
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Check user permission
+        id: permission_check
+        run: |
+          if [[ "${{ github.actor }}" != "msacrea" && "${{ github.actor }}" != "micmuell" && "${{ github.actor }}" != "dkoeni" && "${{ github.actor }}" != "juergen-petry" ]]; then
+            echo "You have no permissons to start the release action."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+      - name: Validate input parameters
+        id: param_check
+        run: |
+          VERSION_REGEX="^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$"
+          version=${{ github.event.inputs.version }}
+          if [[ ! "$version" =~ $VERSION_REGEX ]]; then
+            echo "Invalid version format: $version . Please provide a version matching the pattern 'v[number].[number].[number]'."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Checkout Wiki
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          repository: ${{github.repository}}.wiki
+          path: wiki
+
+      - name: Extract variables for Release  # Adjust names only here
+        id: var
+        run: |
+          version=$(echo ${{ github.event.inputs.version }} | grep -oE '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+')  # alternative: '[[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]+\.[[:digit:]]'
+          repo_name=$( echo ${{ github.repository }} | sed -E "s/^.*\///" )
+          echo "VERSION"=$version >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "RELEASE_NAME=$repo_name Release $version" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "RELEASE_TAG=v$version" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "RELEASE_BRANCH=main" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "RELEASE_NOTES=RELEASE.md" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "RELEASE_ASSETS_FOLDER=docs/" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "RELEASE_ASSETS_NAME=artifact" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+      - name: Get release note content from wiki
+        id: release_note_body
+        run: |
+          regex="### Release ${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_TAG }}[[:space:]]*[[:print:]]*[[:cntrl:]]{2}([[:print:]]+[[:space:]])*"
+          content=$(grep -ozE "$regex" wiki/Roadmap.md | tr "\0" "\n" | tail -n +3)
+          # abort if content is empty --> wiki page must be present before release
+          if [ -z "$content" ]; then
+            echo "Found no data for ${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_NAME }} at wiki/Roadmap (${{ github.repository }}). Please create a section <<Release ${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_TAG }}>> and fill in details for the release by following the instructions at the .github Wiki. A template can be found at https://github.com/swissfintechinnovations/.github/wiki/Roadmap-Example."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          body="$content"$'\n\n# \n\n'
+          echo "BODY=${body//$'\n'/'\n'}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+      - name: Check file version
+        id: check_version
+        run: |
+          BASE_BRANCH="${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_BRANCH }}"
+
+          git checkout -q origin/$BASE_BRANCH
+          release_version=${{ steps.var.outputs.VERSION }}
+          versions=$(grep -Eo 'version: [0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' *.yaml | grep -Eo '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+')
+          versions_outdated='false'
+          for version in $versions; do
+              if [[ $version != $release_version ]]; then
+                  versions_outdated='true'
+                  break
+              fi
+          done
+          echo "VERSIONS_OUTDATED=$versions_outdated" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+      - name: Switch to release branch
+        id: create_release_branch
+        if: steps.check_version.outputs.VERSIONS_OUTDATED == 'true'
+        run: |
+          BASE_BRANCH="${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_BRANCH }}"
+          BRANCH_NAME="release/${{ steps.var.outputs.VERSION }}"
+
+          git config --global user.name "sfti bot"
+          git config --global user.email "github-bot@common-api.ch"
+
+          git checkout -q origin/$BASE_BRANCH
+          git checkout $BRANCH_NAME 2>/dev/null || git checkout -b $BRANCH_NAME  # checkout branch or create new one if not exists
+
+          echo "BRANCH_NAME=$BRANCH_NAME" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+      - name: Update version in files
+        id: update_version
+        if: steps.check_version.outputs.VERSIONS_OUTDATED == 'true'
+        run: |
+          VERSION="${{ steps.var.outputs.VERSION }}"
+          RELEASE_NAME="${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_NAME }}"
+          BRANCH_NAME="${{ steps.create_release_branch.outputs.BRANCH_NAME }}"
+
+          echo "Prepare Release $RELEASE_NAME: update version number in yaml files"
+
+          sed -E -i "s/version: [0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+/version: $VERSION/" *.yaml
+
+          git add -u .
+          # commit only if there was changes in the yaml files
+          git diff --staged --quiet || git commit -m "Automated version update"
+          # git commit --quiet --allow-empty -m '[skip-workflow]'
+          git push --quiet --set-upstream origin $BRANCH_NAME
+
+      - name: "Rollback: Delete Branch"
+        if: failure() && steps.update_version.outcome == 'failure'
+        run: |
+          git checkout -q main
+          git branch -D ${{ steps.create_release_branch.outputs.BRANCH_NAME }}
+          git push origin --delete ${{ steps.create_release_branch.outputs.BRANCH_NAME }}
+
+      - name: Create and merge Pull Request
+        id: create_pr
+        if: steps.check_version.outputs.VERSIONS_OUTDATED == 'true'
+        run: |
+          BASE_BRANCH=${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_BRANCH }}
+
+          response=$(gh pr create -B $BASE_BRANCH -H ${{ steps.create_release_branch.outputs.BRANCH_NAME }} --title 'Automated version update to version ${{ steps.var.outputs.VERSION }}' --body 'Created by Github action (release workflow)')
+          number=$(echo "$response" | grep -oE '[0-9]+$')  # parse GitHub PR link to extract PR number
+          echo "PR_NUMBER=$number" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+          sleep 2
+
+          # gh pr review $number --approve  # can not approve own PR
+          gh pr merge $number --admin --merge --delete-branch --body "Automated version update"  # force merge since PR is not approved (--admin flag)
+          git checkout $BASE_BRANCH
+        env:
+            GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.SFTI_BOT_TOKEN }}
+
+      - name: "Rollback: Delete PR"
+        if: failure() && steps.create_pr.outcome == 'failure'
+        run: |
+          gh pr close ${{ steps.create_pr.outputs.PR_NUMBER }} -c "Couldn't merge PR automatically" --delete-branch
+        env:
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+      - name: Delete release (draft) if already exists
+        id: delete_release_draft
+        run: |
+          ACCESS_TOKEN=${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          REPO_NAME=${{ github.repository }}
+          TAG=${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_TAG }}
+          RELEASE_NAME="${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_NAME }}"
+
+          # Get the release ID belonging to the release tag
+          RELEASE_ID=$(curl -sS -X GET -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN" "https://api.github.com/repos/$REPO_NAME/releases" | jq -r ".[] | select(.name == \"$RELEASE_NAME\") | .id")
+
+          # RELEASE_ID var contains 0 or 1 IDs
+          if [[ ! $RELEASE_ID =~ ^[0-9]*$ ]]; then
+            echo "Found more than one release with name \"$RELEASE_ID\"."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          is_draft=$(curl -s -H "Authorization: token ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" https://api.github.com/repos/$REPO_NAME/releases/$RELEASE_ID | jq '.draft')
+
+          if [[ "$is_draft" == 'false' ]]; then
+            echo "Release is published."
+            if [[ ${{ github.event.inputs.force }} == true ]]; then
+              commit_id=$(git rev-list -n 1 "refs/tags/$TAG")
+              echo $commit_id
+              git tag -d $TAG
+              git push origin ":refs/tags/$TAG"
+              echo "Force Flag is set! Deleted tag $TAG at commit ID $commit_id."
+            fi
+            if [[ ${{ github.event.inputs.force }} == false ]]; then
+              echo "Release $TAG already exists. Please verify that the version entered is correct. Set the force flag to overwrite the release."
+              exit 1
+            fi
+          fi
+
+          if [[ -n "$RELEASE_ID" ]]; then
+            # Delete the existing release draft
+            curl -sS -X DELETE -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN" "https://api.github.com/repos/$REPO_NAME/releases/$RELEASE_ID"
+            echo "Deleted release \"$RELEASE_ID\" with ID $RELEASE_ID"
+          fi
+
+      - name: Create release draft
+        id: create_release_draft
+        run: |
+          ACCESS_TOKEN=${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          REPO_NAME=${{ github.repository }}
+
+          RESPONSE=$(curl -sS -i -X POST \
+            -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN" \
+            -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
+            "https://api.github.com/repos/$REPO_NAME/releases" \
+            -d '{
+              "tag_name": "'"${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_TAG }}"'",
+              "target_commitish": "'"${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_BRANCH }}"'",
+              "name": "'"${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_NAME }}"'",
+              "name": "'"${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_NAME }}"'",
+              "body": "'"${{ steps.release_note_body.outputs.BODY }}"'",
+              "generate_release_notes": true,
+              "draft": true
+            }')
+
+          if [[ $(echo $RESPONSE | head -n 1 | cut -d$' ' -f2 ) -ne 201 ]]; then
+            echo "Failed to create release draft. Received response from GitHub API:"
+            echo ""
+            echo "$RESPONSE"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          echo "RELEASE_ID=$(echo $RESPONSE | grep -o -z '\{.*\}' | jq -r '.id')" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+      - name: Upload artifacts
+        id: upload_artifact
+        # ensure assert folder exsits and not empty otherwise skip step
+        if: github.event.inputs.artifact == 'true' && (hashFiles(steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_ASSETS_FOLDER) != '')
+        run: |
+          ACCESS_TOKEN=${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          REPO_NAME=${{ github.repository }}
+          RELEASE_ID=${{ steps.create_release_draft.outputs.RELEASE_ID }}
+          RELEASE_ASSETS_FOLDER=${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_ASSETS_FOLDER }}
+          RELEASE_ASSETS_NAME=${{ steps.var.outputs.RELEASE_ASSETS_NAME }}
+
+          RELEASE_ASSETS_ZIP=$RELEASE_ASSETS_NAME.zip
+          RELEASE_ASSETS_TARGZ=$RELEASE_ASSETS_NAME.tar.gz
+
+          zip -qr $RELEASE_ASSETS_ZIP $RELEASE_ASSETS_FOLDER
+
+          RESPONSE=$(curl -sS -i -X POST \
+            -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN" \
+            -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
+            "https://uploads.github.com/repos/$REPO_NAME/releases/$RELEASE_ID/assets?name=$RELEASE_ASSETS_ZIP" \
+            --data-binary "@$RELEASE_ASSETS_ZIP" )
+
+          if [[ $(echo $RESPONSE | head -n 1 | cut -d$' ' -f2 ) -ne 201 ]]; then
+            echo "Failed to upload release asset $RELEASE_ASSETS_ZIP. Received response from GitHub API:"
+            echo ""
+            echo "$RESPONSE"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          tar -czf $RELEASE_ASSETS_TARGZ $RELEASE_ASSETS_FOLDER
+
+          RESPONSE=$(curl -sS -i -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN" -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
+          --data-binary "@$RELEASE_ASSETS_TARGZ" \
+          "https://uploads.github.com/repos/$REPO_NAME/releases/$RELEASE_ID/assets?name=$RELEASE_ASSETS_TARGZ")
+
+          if [[ $(echo $RESPONSE | head -n 1 | cut -d$' ' -f2 ) -ne 201 ]]; then
+            echo "Failed to upload release asset $RELEASE_ASSETS_TARGZ. Received response from GitHub API:"
+            echo ""
+            echo "$RESPONSE"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+      - name: Publish release
+        if: github.event.inputs.draft == 'false'
+        id: publish_release
+        run: |
+          ACCESS_TOKEN=${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          REPO_NAME=${{ github.repository }}
+          RELEASE_ID=${{ steps.create_release_draft.outputs.RELEASE_ID }}
+
+          RESPONSE=$(curl -sS -i -X PATCH \
+            -H "Authorization: Bearer $ACCESS_TOKEN" \
+            -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.v3+json" \
+            "https://api.github.com/repos/$REPO_NAME/releases/$RELEASE_ID" \
+            -d '{
+              "prerelease": false,
+              "draft": false,
+              "make_latest": "true"
+            }')
+
+          if [[ $(echo $RESPONSE | head -n 1 | cut -d$' ' -f2 ) -ne 200 ]]; then
+            echo "Failed to publish release. Received response from GitHub API:"
+            echo ""
+            echo "$RESPONSE"
+            exit 1
+          fi