diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index c5bc5d81aa92..b97095f89986 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -14,6 +14,8 @@
     "build": "printf $'\\x1b[K\\x1b[37;41mPlease run this script from the \\x1b[1;4mpackages/eui\\x1b[0m\\x1b[37;41m directory instead\\x1b[0m\\n'; exit 1",
     "watch": "node scripts/watch-eui.js",
     "release": "node scripts/release",
+    "release:prep": "bash scripts/release-prep.sh",
+    "release:publish": "bash scripts/release-publish.sh",
     "clean": "node scripts/clean.mjs"
   },
   "repository": {
diff --git a/scripts/release-prep.sh b/scripts/release-prep.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..3dd3c270d79c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/release-prep.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,135 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# Official release preparation script (pre-PR)
+#
+# Automates initial steps of the process:
+# - Log out of npm
+# - Checkout main, pull latest from upstream
+# - Create a timestamped release branch
+# - Build the release CLI
+# - Run the release dry-run (interactive)
+# - (User confirms in the interactive CLI)
+# - Push the branch to origin and open a PR
+#
+# Usage: yarn release:prep
+#
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+RED='\033[0;31m'
+GREEN='\033[0;32m'
+YELLOW='\033[0;33m'
+BOLD='\033[1m'
+RESET='\033[0m'
+
+step() {
+  echo ""
+  echo -e "${GREEN}${BOLD}[$1]${RESET} $2"
+}
+
+warn() {
+  echo -e "${YELLOW}Warning:${RESET} $1"
+}
+
+error() {
+  echo -e "${RED}Error:${RESET} $1" >&2
+  exit 1
+}
+
+REPO_ROOT=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null) || error "Not inside a git repository"
+cd "$REPO_ROOT"
+
+PACKAGE_DIRS=(packages/eui packages/eui-theme-common packages/eui-theme-borealis packages/docusaurus-preset packages/docusaurus-theme packages/eslint-plugin)
+
+git remote get-url upstream &>/dev/null || error "'upstream' remote not found. Please add it: git remote add upstream git@github.com:elastic/eui.git"
+
+# Bail early if there are uncommitted changes
+if [[ -n "$(git status --porcelain)" ]]; then
+  error "Working tree is dirty. Please commit or stash your changes before running this script."
+fi
+
+step "1/8" "Ensuring npm is not authenticated..."
+npm logout 2>/dev/null || true
+yarn npm logout 2>/dev/null || true
+
+step "2/8" "Checking out main branch..."
+git checkout main
+
+step "3/8" "Pulling latest changes from upstream..."
+git pull upstream main
+
+BRANCH_NAME="release/$(date +%s)"
+step "4/8" "Creating release branch: ${BOLD}${BRANCH_NAME}${RESET}"
+git checkout -b "$BRANCH_NAME"
+
+step "5/8" "Installing dependencies and building release CLI..."
+yarn
+yarn workspace @elastic/eui-release-cli run build
+
+step "6/8" "Starting release process (dry-run)..."
+echo ""
+yarn release run official --dry-run --allow-custom --skip-auth-check --use-auth-token
+
+# Check for uncommitted changes after the release CLI run
+if [[ -n "$(git status --porcelain)" ]]; then
+  echo ""
+  warn "There are uncommitted changes in the working tree:"
+  git status --short
+  echo ""
+  read -r -p "Continue pushing without these changes? They won't be included in the PR. (y/N) " confirm
+  if [[ "$confirm" != "y" && "$confirm" != "Y" ]]; then
+    echo ""
+    echo "Stopped. Commit your changes and re-run from step 7 manually:"
+    echo "  git push -u origin $BRANCH_NAME"
+    exit 0
+  fi
+fi
+
+step "7/8" "Pushing branch to origin..."
+git push -u origin "$BRANCH_NAME"
+
+step "8/8" "Opening release PR..."
+
+PR_TITLE_PARTS=""
+PR_BODY_LINES=""
+
+for pkg_dir in "${PACKAGE_DIRS[@]}"; do
+  pkg_json="${pkg_dir}/package.json"
+  [[ -f "$pkg_json" ]] || continue
+
+  new_version=$(node -p "require('./${pkg_json}').version")
+  old_version=$(git show "main:${pkg_json}" 2>/dev/null | node -p "JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('/dev/stdin','utf8')).version" 2>/dev/null || echo "")
+
+  if [[ -n "$old_version" && "$new_version" != "$old_version" ]]; then
+    pkg_name=$(node -p "require('./${pkg_json}').name")
+
+    if [[ -n "$PR_TITLE_PARTS" ]]; then
+      PR_TITLE_PARTS="${PR_TITLE_PARTS}, ${pkg_name} v${new_version}"
+    else
+      PR_TITLE_PARTS="${pkg_name} v${new_version}"
+    fi
+    PR_BODY_LINES="${PR_BODY_LINES}\n- \`${pkg_name}\` - v${old_version} → v${new_version}"
+  fi
+done
+
+if [[ -z "$PR_TITLE_PARTS" ]]; then
+  error "No changed package versions detected. Did the release dry-run update any versions?"
+fi
+
+PR_TITLE="Release: ${PR_TITLE_PARTS}"
+PR_BODY="$(printf "Packages to release:\n${PR_BODY_LINES}")"
+
+PR_URL=$(gh pr create \
+  --title "$PR_TITLE" \
+  --body "$PR_BODY" \
+  --label "skip-changelog" \
+  --label "release" \
+  --base main)
+
+echo ""
+echo -e "${GREEN}${BOLD}Prep complete!${RESET}"
+echo ""
+echo -e "  PR: ${BOLD}${PR_URL}${RESET}"
+echo ""
+echo -e "  ${BOLD}After the PR is merged:${RESET}"
+echo -e "    yarn release:publish"
diff --git a/scripts/release-publish.sh b/scripts/release-publish.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000000..76ccdae798a1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/release-publish.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,142 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# Official release publish script (post-merge)
+#
+# Automates final steps of the process:
+# - Detects the EUI version and changed workspaces
+# - Tags the merge commit
+# - Pushes the tag to upstream
+# - Triggers the GitHub Actions release workflow
+# - Creates a GitHub release
+#
+# Usage: yarn release:publish [merge-commit-sha]
+#
+#   If no SHA is provided, defaults to HEAD on main.
+#
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+RED='\033[0;31m'
+GREEN='\033[0;32m'
+YELLOW='\033[0;33m'
+BOLD='\033[1m'
+RESET='\033[0m'
+
+step() {
+  echo ""
+  echo -e "${GREEN}${BOLD}[$1]${RESET} $2"
+}
+
+warn() {
+  echo -e "${YELLOW}Warning:${RESET} $1"
+}
+
+error() {
+  echo -e "${RED}Error:${RESET} $1" >&2
+  exit 1
+}
+
+REPO_ROOT=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null) || error "Not inside a git repository"
+cd "$REPO_ROOT"
+
+PACKAGE_DIRS=(packages/eui packages/eui-theme-common packages/eui-theme-borealis packages/docusaurus-preset packages/docusaurus-theme packages/eslint-plugin)
+
+git remote get-url upstream &>/dev/null || error "'upstream' remote not found"
+
+if [[ -n "$(git status --porcelain)" ]]; then
+  error "Working tree is dirty. Please commit or stash your changes before running this script."
+fi
+
+step "1/6" "Updating main branch..."
+git checkout main
+git pull upstream main
+git fetch upstream --tags
+
+MERGE_SHA="${1:-$(git rev-parse HEAD)}"
+
+step "2/6" "Detecting release details from ${BOLD}${MERGE_SHA:0:12}${RESET}..."
+
+EUI_VERSION=$(git show "${MERGE_SHA}:packages/eui/package.json" | node -p "JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('/dev/stdin','utf8')).version")
+TAG_NAME="v${EUI_VERSION}"
+
+if git rev-parse "$TAG_NAME" &>/dev/null; then
+  error "Tag ${TAG_NAME} already exists. Has this release already been published?"
+fi
+
+PREV_TAG=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 "${MERGE_SHA}^" 2>/dev/null) || error "Could not find a previous release tag"
+
+# Detect changed workspaces and collect changelog entries for the GitHub release
+CHANGED_WORKSPACES=""
+RELEASE_BODY=""
+
+for pkg_dir in "${PACKAGE_DIRS[@]}"; do
+  pkg_json="${pkg_dir}/package.json"
+
+  git show "${MERGE_SHA}:${pkg_json}" &>/dev/null || continue
+
+  new_version=$(git show "${MERGE_SHA}:${pkg_json}" | node -p "JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('/dev/stdin','utf8')).version")
+  old_version=$(git show "${PREV_TAG}:${pkg_json}" 2>/dev/null | node -p "JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('/dev/stdin','utf8')).version" 2>/dev/null || echo "")
+
+  if [[ "$new_version" != "$old_version" ]]; then
+    pkg_name=$(git show "${MERGE_SHA}:${pkg_json}" | node -p "JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('/dev/stdin','utf8')).name")
+
+    if [[ -n "$CHANGED_WORKSPACES" ]]; then
+      CHANGED_WORKSPACES="${CHANGED_WORKSPACES},${pkg_name}"
+    else
+      CHANGED_WORKSPACES="${pkg_name}"
+    fi
+
+    # Extract changelog section for this version
+    changelog_file=$(ls -t "${pkg_dir}"/changelogs/CHANGELOG_*.md 2>/dev/null | head -1)
+    if [[ -n "$changelog_file" ]]; then
+      escaped_version="${new_version//./\\.}"
+      changelog_section=$(awk "/^## \[\`v${escaped_version}\`\]/{found=1; next} /^## \[/{if(found) exit} found" "$changelog_file")
+      if [[ -n "$changelog_section" ]]; then
+        RELEASE_BODY="${RELEASE_BODY}### \`${pkg_name}\` [v${new_version}](https://github.com/elastic/eui/blob/main/${changelog_file})
+${changelog_section}
+"
+      fi
+    fi
+  fi
+done
+
+if [[ -z "$CHANGED_WORKSPACES" ]]; then
+  error "No changed workspaces detected. Are you sure the release PR was merged?"
+fi
+
+step "3/6" "Release summary"
+echo ""
+echo -e "  Tag:          ${BOLD}${TAG_NAME}${RESET}"
+echo -e "  Commit:       ${BOLD}${MERGE_SHA:0:12}${RESET}"
+echo -e "  Previous tag: ${BOLD}${PREV_TAG}${RESET}"
+echo -e "  Workspaces:   ${BOLD}${CHANGED_WORKSPACES}${RESET}"
+echo ""
+read -r -p "Proceed with tagging and triggering the release? (y/N) " confirm
+if [[ "$confirm" != "y" && "$confirm" != "Y" ]]; then
+  echo "Aborted."
+  exit 0
+fi
+
+step "4/6" "Creating and pushing tag ${BOLD}${TAG_NAME}${RESET}..."
+git tag -a "$TAG_NAME" "$MERGE_SHA" -m "@elastic/eui ${TAG_NAME}"
+git push upstream "$TAG_NAME" --no-verify
+
+step "5/6" "Triggering release workflow..."
+gh workflow run release.yml \
+  --repo elastic/eui \
+  -f release_ref="$MERGE_SHA" \
+  -f type=official \
+  -f workspaces="$CHANGED_WORKSPACES" \
+  -f dry_run=false
+
+step "6/6" "Creating GitHub release..."
+gh release create "$TAG_NAME" \
+  --repo elastic/eui \
+  --title "$TAG_NAME" \
+  --notes "$RELEASE_BODY"
+
+echo ""
+echo -e "${GREEN}${BOLD}Release triggered!${RESET}"
+echo ""
+echo -e "  Release: ${BOLD}https://github.com/elastic/eui/releases/tag/${TAG_NAME}${RESET}"
+echo -e "  Workflow: ${BOLD}https://github.com/elastic/eui/actions/workflows/release.yml${RESET}"