diff --git a/.github/workflows/push.yml b/.github/workflows/push.yml
index e5609c8c..80b0d2d1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/push.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/push.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ jobs:
     strategy:
       matrix:
         ruby:
-          - 2.5
           - 2.6
           - 2.7
     steps:
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3e7dd427..1b85dd91 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,4 +4,5 @@
 .sass-cache
 CNAME
 test-site/
-vendor/
\ No newline at end of file
+vendor/
+tmp/
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b772c7e2..4187339b 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -113,6 +113,18 @@ See [all releases](https://github.com/github/pages-gem/releases).
 
 To release a new version of this gem, run `script/release` from the `master` branch.
 
+This will create and tag the release.
+
+It will also create prs in the relevant repos and assign them to you. It is your responsibility to
+
+1. update the version of the gem in those repos
+2. deploy those services as needed
+
+The relevant repos are: 
+1. [github-pages](https://github.com/github/pages)
+2. [jekyll-build-pages](https://github.com/actions/jekyll-build-pages/blob/main/Gemfile)
+3. [pages.github.com](https://github.com/github/pages.github.com)
+
 ## License
 
 Distributed under the [MIT License](LICENSE).
diff --git a/lib/github-pages/dependencies.rb b/lib/github-pages/dependencies.rb
index ff5ded15..ecaad659 100644
--- a/lib/github-pages/dependencies.rb
+++ b/lib/github-pages/dependencies.rb
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ class Dependencies
       # Converters
       "kramdown" => "2.3.1",
       "kramdown-parser-gfm" => "1.1.0",
-      "jekyll-commonmark-ghpages" => "0.1.6",
+      "jekyll-commonmark-ghpages" => "0.2.0",
 
       # Misc
       "liquid" => "4.0.3",
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ class Dependencies
       "jekyll-gist" => "1.5.0",
       "jekyll-paginate" => "1.1.0",
       "jekyll-coffeescript" => "1.1.1",
-      "jekyll-seo-tag" => "2.7.1",
+      "jekyll-seo-tag" => "2.8.0",
       "jekyll-github-metadata" => "2.13.0",
       "jekyll-avatar" => "0.7.0",
       "jekyll-remote-theme" => "0.4.3",
diff --git a/lib/github-pages/version.rb b/lib/github-pages/version.rb
index 690d7ef1..b40cc255 100644
--- a/lib/github-pages/version.rb
+++ b/lib/github-pages/version.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
 module GitHubPages
-  VERSION = 223
+  VERSION = 224
 end
diff --git a/script/release b/script/release
index a67084b9..09310e6a 100755
--- a/script/release
+++ b/script/release
@@ -1,8 +1,13 @@
 #!/bin/sh
+
 # Tag and push a release.
 
 set -e
 
+# check that gh is installed and logged in 
+
+gh auth status -h github.com
+
 # Make sure we're in the project root.
 
 cd $(dirname "$0")/..
@@ -39,4 +44,50 @@ git fetch -t origin
 # Tag it and bag it.
 
 gem push github-pages-*.gem && git tag "$tag" &&
-  git push origin master && git push origin "$tag"
+git push origin master && git push origin "$tag"
+
+# create a new release on github
+gh release create "$tag" --notes "Automated release for $tag"
+
+
+# create a tmp folder
+mkdir -p tmp
+
+#for each dependent repo, create a new branch an a blank pr. 
+# first get the sha of main for each repo 
+
+gh_pages_sha=`gh api repos/github/pages/git/refs/heads/master | jq '. | .object.sha'`
+jekyll_sha=`gh api repos/actions/jekyll-build-pages/git/refs/heads/main | jq '. | .object.sha'`
+
+# then create the branches 
+
+gh api repos/github/pages/git/refs -F "sha"="$gh_pages_sha" -F "ref"="refs/heads/pages-gem-release-$tag"
+gh api repos/github/pages/git/refs -F "sha"="$jekyll_sha" -F "ref"="refs/heads/pages-gem-release-$tag"
+
+#then we need the tree object so we can create a commit using the api
+
+gh_pages_tree=`gh api repos/github/pages/git/commits/$gh_pages_sha | jq '. | .tree.sha'`
+jekyll_tree=`gh api repos/github/actions/jekyll-build-pages/commits/$jekyll_sha | jq '. | .tree.sha'`
+
+# create the input file for the commit. We have to do this because the F flag doesn't support arrays
+
+echo "{\"tree\": \"$gh_pages_tree\", \"parents\": [\"$gh_pages_sha\"], \"message\": \"automated commit for pr creation\"}" > tmp/h_pages_commit_input.json
+echo "{\"tree\": \"$jekyll_tree\", \"parents\": [\"$jekyll_sha\"], \"message\": \"automated commit for pr creation\"}" > tmp/jekyll_commit_input.json
+
+# create the commit
+
+new_gh_pages_sha=`gh api repos/github/pages/git/commits --input tmp/gh_pages_commit_input.json | jq '. | .sha'`
+new_jekyll_sha=`gh api repos/actions/jekyll-build-pages/git/commits --input tmp/jekyll_commit_input.json | jq '. | .sha'`
+
+# associate the commit with the branch
+
+gh api repos/github/pages/git/refs/heads/pages-gem-release-$tag -F "sha"="$new_gh_pages_sha" -F "ref"="refs/heads/pages-gem-release-$tag" -F "force"="true"
+gh api repos/actions/jekyll-build-pages/git/refs/heads/pages-gem-release-$tag -F "sha"="$new_jekyll_sha" -F "ref"="refs/heads/pages-gem-release-$tag" -F "force"="true"
+
+# create pull requests in downstream repos
+gh pr create --base "master" --head "pages-gem-release-$tag" --title "Bump pages-gem version to $tag" --assignee "@me" --body "Bump pages-gem version to $tag. You must manually make those changes and commit to this branch" --repo "github/pages" 
+gh pr create --base "main"  --head "pages-gem-release-$tag" --title "Bump pages-gem version to $tag" --assignee "@me" --body "Bump pages-gem version to $tag. You must manually make those changes and commit to this branch" --repo "actions/jekyll-build-pages"
+
+# clean up the input file for the commit
+
+rm tmp/*