diff --git a/MAINTAINERS.md b/MAINTAINERS.md
index d7c31a6c593..c6c610454ad 100644
--- a/MAINTAINERS.md
+++ b/MAINTAINERS.md
@@ -320,10 +320,20 @@ to pass and for reviewer approval.
 
 - [ ] Create a GitHub release
 
-  Follow the [GitHub
-  instructions](https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/releasing-projects-on-github/managing-releases-in-a-repository
-  ) and use previous releases as a template. The release description should include the
-  [_**validator oriented release description**_](#describe-the-release).
+  Generate a template:
+  ```sh
+  ./scripts/gen-github-release <release-label> > release.md
+  ```
+  Then replace the remaining `$`-prefixed placeholders, filling in
+  the [_**validator oriented release description**_](#describe-the-release) and using
+  [previous releases](https://github.com/Agoric/agoric-sdk/releases)
+  as a guide.
+  When complete, contents can be pasted into the
+  [new release form](https://github.com/Agoric/agoric-sdk/releases/new)
+  along with the just-pushed tag and an identically-named title.
+
+  For more information, refer to
+  [GitHub instructions](https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/releasing-projects-on-github/managing-releases-in-a-repository).
 
 ### Cleanup
 
diff --git a/scripts/gen-github-release.sh b/scripts/gen-github-release.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..2a2e1303f20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/gen-github-release.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,179 @@
+#! /bin/bash
+set -ueo pipefail
+declare -r USAGE="Usage: $0 {prerelease | latest} <tag>
+
+Generate initial contents for a GitHub release of the specified tag.
+"
+usage() {
+  [ -n "$1" ] && printf '%s\n' "$1"
+  printf '%s' "$USAGE"
+  exit 64
+}
+case "${1-}" in
+  --help) usage ;;
+  -*) usage 1>&2 "Error: unknown option \"$1\"" ;;
+  '') usage 1>&2 "Error: missing maturity" ;;
+  prerelease | latest) declare -r maturity="$1" ;;
+  *) usage 1>&2 "Error: unknown maturity \"$1\"" ;;
+esac
+case "${2-}" in
+  --help) usage ;;
+  -*) usage 1>&2 "Error: unknown option \"$2\"" ;;
+  '') usage 1>&2 "Error: missing tag name" ;;
+  *) declare -r tag="$2" ;;
+esac
+[ $# -eq 2 ] || usage 1>&2 "Error: extra argument(s)"
+
+cd "$(dirname $0)"/..
+commit="$(git rev-parse "$tag")"
+if [ -z "$commit" ]; then
+  echo 1>&2 "Tag not found: $tag"
+  commit="\$COMMIT"
+fi
+declare -r commit
+
+# Read version data from git tags or go.mod lines.
+declare -r AWK_SUFFIX='{
+  if (match($0, "^" prefix)) {
+    print substr($0, RLENGTH + 1, length($0) - RLENGTH);
+  }
+}'
+git_tags="$(git tag -l --contains "$tag")"
+declare -r git_tags
+version-from-git-tag() {
+  printf '%s' "$git_tags" | awk -v prefix="${1}@" "$AWK_SUFFIX" | tail -n1
+}
+go_mod="$(git show -p "$tag":golang/cosmos/go.mod | sed 's#[[:space:]]*//.*##')"
+declare -r go_mod
+version-from-go-mod() {
+  v="$(printf '%s' "$go_mod" | awk -v prefix=".*/$1(/[^ ]*| ) *" "$AWK_SUFFIX" | tail -n1)"
+  # Strip any pre-release and/or build components.
+  v="${v%%-*}"
+  v="${v%%+*}"
+  printf '%s\n' "$v"
+}
+
+# Replace `$`-prefixed placeholders using provided "$NAME=$VALUE" arguments,
+# leaving alone placeholders with no substitution data.
+declare -r AWK_REPLACE_PLACEHOLDERS='
+  BEGIN {
+    for (i = 1; i < ARGC; i++) {
+      arg = ARGV[i];
+      if (!match(arg, /^[^/=]+=/)) continue;
+      placeholder = "$" substr(arg, 1, RLENGTH - 1);
+      placeholders[placeholder] = 1;
+      subs[placeholder] = substr(arg, RLENGTH + 1, length(arg) - RLENGTH);
+      ARGV[i] = "";
+    }
+  }
+  {
+    rem = $0;
+    output = "";
+    while (match(rem, /[$][a-zA-Z0-9_]+/)) {
+      replacement = placeholder = substr(rem, RSTART, RLENGTH);
+      if (placeholders[placeholder]) replacement = subs[placeholder];
+      output = output substr(rem, 1, RSTART - 1) replacement;
+      rem = substr(rem, RSTART + RLENGTH, length(rem) - RLENGTH);
+    }
+    print output rem;
+  }
+'
+case "$maturity" in
+  prerelease)
+    declare -r checks_template='Assuming this release satisfies all pre-release/testnet validation checks, it will be promoted to `$NEXT_RELEASE`, and recommended for chains to upgrade from the previous `$PREV_RELEASE` release'
+    ;;
+  latest)
+    declare -r checks_template='This release has satisfied all pre-release/testnet validation checks, and is now recommended for chains to upgrade from the previous `$PREV_RELEASE` release'
+    ;;
+esac
+agoric_cosmos_version="$(version-from-git-tag '@agoric/cosmos')"
+ibc_go_version="$(version-from-go-mod ibc-go)"
+cosmos_sdk_version="$(version-from-go-mod cosmos-sdk)"
+cometbft_version="$(version-from-go-mod cometbft)"
+# See ../MAINTAINERS.md for derivation of Docker image tag from git tag @agoric/sdk@...
+docker_image_tag="$(version-from-git-tag '@agoric/sdk')"
+set -- \
+  CHECKS_TEXT="$(printf '%s' "$checks_template" | awk "$AWK_REPLACE_PLACEHOLDERS")" \
+  TAG="$tag" \
+  COMMIT="$commit" \
+  AGORIC_COSMOS_VERSION="${agoric_cosmos_version:-\$AGORIC_COSMOS_VERSION}" \
+  IBC_GO_VERSION="${ibc_go_version:-\$IBC_GO_VERSION}" \
+  COSMOS_SDK_VERSION="${cosmos_sdk_version:-\$COSMOS_SDK_VERSION}" \
+  COMETBFT_VERSION="${cometbft_version:-\$COMETBFT_VERSION}" \
+  DOCKER_IMAGE_TAG="${docker_image_tag:-\$DOCKER_IMAGE_TAG}"
+cat << 'EOF' | awk "$AWK_REPLACE_PLACEHOLDERS" "$@"
+The Agoric OpCo engineering team is pleased to publish the **`$TAG`** release. This release is primarily intended to $REASON.
+
+The following new features are included in this release:
+
+- #$ISSUE: $DESCRIPTION
+
+The release contains at least the following fixes:
+
+- #$ISSUE: $DESCRIPTION
+
+The full set of changes in this release can be found at https://github.com/Agoric/agoric-sdk/pull/$RELEASE_PR.
+
+$CHECKS_TEXT. As a chain-halting upgrade, once approved, all chain validators will need to upgrade from `$PREV_RELEASE` to this new version (after the chain halts due to reaching the height required in a governance proposal).
+
+Since the `agoric-upgrade-11` release, state-sync snapshots include more data than before. Nodes which have inadvertently pruned this data (e.g. those created from a state-sync before the `agoric-upgrade-11` release) will not be able to produce such snapshots, and will need to be restored from state-sync. We are aware of continued performance issues related to state-sync. In particular, we've observed that on some deployments, the current implementation can require 100 GB of temporary free disk space and 16GB of memory.
+
+Below is the _cosmos upgrade handler name_ for this release. This is the name that can be used in governance proposals to deploy this upgrade.
+
+```
+Cosmos Upgrade Handler Name: $COSMOS_UPGRADE_NAME
+```
+
+Below is the git information related to this software release. Note the _git tag_ does not always match the _cosmos upgrade handler name_.
+
+```
+Git Tag: $TAG
+Git Commit: $COMMIT
+@agoric/cosmos package version: $AGORIC_COSMOS_VERSION
+Docker: ghcr.io/agoric/agoric-sdk:$DOCKER_IMAGE_TAG
+```
+
+As shown in go.mod this release is based on:
+
+```
+ibc-go $IBC_GO_VERSION
+cosmos-sdk $COSMOS_SDK_VERSION
+cometbft $COMETBFT_VERSION
+```
+
+## How to upgrade
+
+Presuming that your node is running `$PREV_RELEASE`, once the upgrade height for a subsequent proposal to upgrade to `$TAG` has been reached, your node will halt automatically allowing you to upgrade the agoric stack.
+
+### Prerequisites
+
+Install supported versions of Go, Node.js, and a compiler such as gcc or clang as documented in the [README](https://github.com/Agoric/agoric-sdk/tree/$TAG#prerequisites).
+
+### Building
+
+```
+# (stop the agd service)
+cd agoric-sdk
+git fetch --all
+git checkout $TAG
+git clean -xdf
+yarn install
+yarn build
+(cd packages/cosmic-swingset && make)
+# (start the agd service)
+```
+
+Do _not_ copy the `agd` script or Go binary to another location. If you would like to have an executable `agd` in another location, then create a symlink in that location pointing to `agoric-sdk/bin/agd`.
+
+### Troubleshooting `repoconfig.sh: No such file or directory`
+
+Unlike typical cosmos-sdk chains where the daemon is a single executable file, Agoric's use of cosmos-sdk depends on many components of `agoric-sdk` at runtime. Copying `agd` to `/usr/local/bin` or the like is unlikely to produce a working installation. For more detail, see: https://github.com/Agoric/agoric-sdk/issues/7825
+
+### Troubleshooting `Cannot find dependency ...` in systemd
+
+If you have `LimitNOFILE=4096` in your systemd unit file, change it to `LimitNOFILE=65536`. For more detail, see https://github.com/Agoric/agoric-sdk/issues/7817
+
+## Specifying `--upgrade-info` for the software upgrade proposal
+
+The `./scripts/gen-upgrade-proposal.sh` is designed to aid in composing a `agd tx submit-proposal software-upgrade ...` command. In particular, it captures package checksums to verify integrity of downloaded software.
+EOF