--- /dev/null
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Copyright The OpenTelemetry Authors
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+usage() { echo "Usage: $0 -t <tag>" 1>&2; exit 1; }
+
+while getopts ":t:" o; do
+ case "${o}" in
+ t)
+ tag=${OPTARG}
+ ;;
+ *)
+ usage
+ ;;
+ esac
+done
+if [ ! -z "${t}" ]; then
+ usage
+fi
+
+#validate tag
+semver_regex="^(0|[1-9][0-9]*)\\.(0|[1-9][0-9]*)\\.(0|[1-9][0-9]*)(\\-[0-9A-Za-z-]+(\\.[0-9A-Za-z-]+)*)?(\\+[0-9A-Za-z-]+(\\.[0-9A-Za-z-]+)*)?$"
+if [[ ${tag} =~ ${semver_regex} ]]; then
+ echo "${tag} is valid semver tag"
+else
+ echo "Error: ${tag} is not a valid semver tag. Exiting"
+ exit -1
+fi
+
+#ensure tag doesn't exits
+if [[ $(git tag --list ${tag}) ]]; then
+ echo "Error: Tag ${tag} already exists. Exiting"
+ exit -1
+fi
+
+if ! git diff --quiet; then \
+ echo "Error: Working tree is not clean, can't proceed with the release process\n"
+ git status
+ git diff
+ exit 1
+fi
+
+# check changelog exists
+changelog_file="./CHANGELOG.md"
+if [ ! -f $changelog_file ]; then
+ echo "Error: $changelog_file doesn't exist. Ensure that you are running this script from repo root directory "
+ exit 1
+fi
+
+if [ ! grep -q "^\#\# \[Unreleased\]$" $changelog_file ]; then
+ echo "Error: $changelog_file doesn't contain Unreleased information. Please update the file with changes and run this script again."
+ exit 1
+fi
+
+git checkout -b pre_release_${tag} main
+if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+ echo "Error: Cannot create release branch. Ensure you have sufficient permissions to repo and try again."
+ exit 1
+fi
+
+# update CHANGELOG.md
+date=$(date '+%Y-%m-%d')
+sed -i "/\#\# \[Unreleased\]/a\\ \n\#\# \[${tag}\] ${date}" $changelog_file
+if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+ echo "Error: Cannot update CHANGELOG.md file. Update it manually, create the ${tag} and push changes to upstream"
+ exit 1
+fi
+
+git add CHANGELOG.md
+git commit -m "Prepare for releasing ${tag}"
+
+echo "Now validate the changes using git diff main, create the ${tag} and push changes to upstream"
+echo