diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-freeze.yml b/.github/workflows/release-freeze.yml
index 8c7593cf9..2513928c9 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release-freeze.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-freeze.yml
@@ -9,14 +9,14 @@ on:
         options: 
         - major
         - minor
-        - pre_release
 
 jobs:
   code-freeze:
-    uses: NVIDIA/NeMo-FW-CI-templates/.github/workflows/_code_freeze.yml@v0.1.0
+    uses: NVIDIA/NeMo-FW-CI-templates/.github/workflows/_code_freeze.yml@v0.8.0
     with:
       name_of_library: NeMo-Aligner
       type_of_release: ${{ inputs.type_of_release }}
       python_package: nemo_aligner
     secrets:
-      SLACK_RELEASE_ENDPOINT: ${{ secrets.SLACK_RELEASE_ENDPOINT }}
\ No newline at end of file
+      SLACK_RELEASE_ENDPOINT: ${{ secrets.SLACK_RELEASE_ENDPOINT }}
+      SLACK_WEBHOOK_ADMIN: ${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK_ADMIN }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
index fb9b02871..d47e4fdd4 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
@@ -11,149 +11,32 @@
 # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
-name: "Release"
-
-defaults:
-  run:
-    shell: bash -x -e -u -o pipefail {0}
+name: "Release Aligner"
 
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
+    inputs:
+      release-ref: 
+        description: Ref (SHA or branch name) to release
+        required: true
+        type: string
     
-jobs: 
-  build-container:
-    uses: NVIDIA/NeMo-FW-CI-templates/.github/workflows/_build_container.yml@v0.1.0
+jobs:
+  release:
+    uses: NVIDIA/NeMo-FW-CI-templates/.github/workflows/_release_library.yml@v0.10.0
     with:
+      release-ref: ${{ inputs.release-ref }}
+      image-name: nemo_aligner_container
+      dockerfile: Dockerfile
       image-label: nemo-aligner
-    
-  build-and-test-wheel:
-    needs: build-container
-    runs-on: self-hosted-azure-builder
-    container: nemoci.azurecr.io/nemo_aligner_container:${{ github.run_id }}
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout repository
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          path: ${{ github.run_id }}
-    
-      - name: Build and test wheel
-        run: |
-          cd ${{ github.run_id }}
-          EXPECTED_VERSION=$(python -c 'import nemo_aligner; print(nemo_aligner.__version__)')
-
-          python3 -m pip install --upgrade build
-          python3 -m build
-
-          pip install dist/*.whl
-
-          cd ../
-
-          INSTALLED_VERSION=$(python -c 'import nemo_aligner; print(nemo_aligner.__version__)')
-          
-          if [[ "$INSTALLED_VERSION" != "$EXPECTED_VERSION" ]]; then
-            echo 'Wheel has an outdated version, mission abort immediately!'
-            exit 1
-          fi
-        
-      - name: Upload wheel 
-        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
-        with:
-          name: pip-wheel
-          path: ${{ github.run_id }}/dist/
-
-  publish-wheel:
-    needs: build-and-test-wheel
-    if: contains(fromJSON('["terryk", "gshennvm", "ko3n1g"]'), github.actor)
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    environment: 
-      name: main
-    steps:  
-      - name: Download wheel
-        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
-        with:
-          name: pip-wheel
-          path: ${{ github.run_id }}/dist/
-      
-      - name: Release wheel
-        env:
-          TWINE_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.TWINE_USERNAME }}
-          TWINE_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.TWINE_PASSWORD }}
-        run: |
-          python3 -m pip install --upgrade twine
-          python3 -m twine upload --repository pypi ${{ github.run_id }}/dist/*
-
-  create-gh-release:
-    needs: publish-wheel
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    if: contains(fromJSON('["terryk", "gshennvm", "ko3n1g"]'), github.actor)
-    environment: 
-      name: main
-    outputs:
-      version-number: ${{ steps.version-number.outputs.version }}
-    steps:
-      - name: Checkout repository
-        uses: actions/checkout@v4
-        with:
-          path: ${{ github.run_id }}
-
-      - name: Create release
-        id: version-number
-        run: |
-          cd ${{ github.run_id }}
-          VERSION=$(python -c "import nemo_aligner; print(nemo_aligner.__version__)")
-          echo "version=$VERSION" | tee -a "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-          
-          NAME="NVIDIA NeMo-Aligner ${VERSION}"
-          CHANGELOG=$(awk '/^## '"$NAME"'/{flag=1; next} /^## /{flag=0} flag' CHANGELOG.md)
-          CHANGELOG=$(echo "$CHANGELOG" | sed '/./,$!d' | sed ':a;N;$!ba;s/\n$//')
-          SHA=${{ github.sha }}
-
-          PAYLOAD=$(jq \
-                      -n \
-                      -c \
-                      --arg TAG_NAME "v${VERSION}" \
-                      --arg CI_COMMIT_BRANCH "$SHA" \
-                      --arg NAME "$NAME" \
-                      --arg BODY "$CHANGELOG" \
-                      '{
-                        "tag_name": $TAG_NAME,
-                        "target_commitish": $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH,
-                        "name": $NAME,
-                        "body": $BODY,
-                        "draft": false,
-                        "prerelease": false,
-                        "generate_release_notes": false
-                      }'
-                  )
-          GH_TOKEN=${{ secrets.PAT }}
-          curl -L \
-            -X POST \
-            -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
-            -H "Authorization: Bearer $GH_TOKEN" \
-            -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" \
-            https://api.github.com/repos/NVIDIA/NeMo-Aligner/releases \
-            -d "$PAYLOAD"
-
-  notify:
-    needs: create-gh-release
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    if: contains(fromJSON('["terryk", "gshennvm", "ko3n1g"]'), github.actor)
-    steps:
-      - name: notify
-        run: |
-          VERSION=${{ needs.create-gh-release.outputs.version-number }}
-          URL="https://github.com/NVIDIA/NeMo-Aligner/releases/tag/v$VERSION"
-          WEBHOOK=${{ secrets.SLACK_WEBHOOK }}
-          MESSAGE='{
-            "blocks": [
-              {
-                "type": "section",
-                "text": {
-                  "type": "mrkdwn",
-                  "text": "Releasebot 🤖: NeMo-Aligner released <'$URL'|v'$VERSION'> 🚀"
-                }
-              }
-            ]
-          }'
-
-          curl -X POST -H "Content-type: application/json" --data "$MESSAGE" $WEBHOOK
\ No newline at end of file
+      build-args: |
+        MAX_JOBS=32
+        ALIGNER_COMMIT=${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha || github.sha }}
+      prune-filter-timerange: 24h
+      python-package: nemo_aligner
+      container-workdir: /opt/NeMo_Aligner
+      library-name: NeMo-Aligner
+    secrets:
+      TWINE_USERNAME: ${{ secrets.TWINE_USERNAME }}
+      TWINE_PASSWORD: ${{ secrets.TWINE_PASSWORD }}
+      SLACK_RELEASE_ENDPOINT: ${{ secrets.SLACK_RELEASE_ENDPOINT }}