diff --git a/dev/release.py b/dev/release.py
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..90d4b187
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dev/release.py
@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+import click
+from six.moves import input
+from subprocess import check_call, check_output
+import sys
+
+WORKING_BRANCH = "PREP_RELEASE_%s"
+DATABRICKS_REMOTE = "git@github.com:databricks/spark-deep-learning.git"
+PUBLISH_MODES = {"local": "publishLocal", "m2": "publishM2", "spark-package": "spDist"}
+
+def prominentPrint(x):
+    x = str(x)
+    n = len(x)
+    lines = ["", "=" * n, x, "=" * n, ""]
+    print("\n".join(lines))
+
+
+def verify(prompt, interactive):
+    if not interactive:
+        return True
+    response = None
+    while response not in ("y", "yes", "n", "no"):
+        response = input(prompt).lower()
+    return response in ("y", "yes")
+
+
+@click.command()
+@click.argument("release-version", type=str)
+@click.argument("next-version", type=str)
+@click.option("--publish-to", default="local",
+              help="Where to publish artifact, one of: %s" % list(PUBLISH_MODES.keys()))
+@click.option("--no-prompt", is_flag=True, help="Automated mode with no user prompts.")
+def main(release_version, next_version, publish_to, no_prompt):
+    interactive = not no_prompt
+
+    if publish_to not in PUBLISH_MODES:
+        modes = list(PUBLISH_MODES.keys())
+        print("Unknown publish target, --publish-to should be one of: %s." % modes)
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    if not next_version.endswith("SNAPSHOT"):
+        next_version += "-SNAPSHOT"
+
+    if not verify("Publishing version: %s\n"
+                    "Next version will be: %s\n"
+                    "Continue? (y/n)" % (release_version, next_version), interactive):
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    current_branch = check_output(["git", "rev-parse", "--abbrev-ref", "HEAD"]).strip()
+    if current_branch != "master":
+        if not verify("You're not on the master branch do you want to continue? (y/n)",
+                      interactive):
+            sys.exit(1)
+
+    uncommitted_changes = check_output(["git", "diff", "--stat"])
+    if uncommitted_changes != "":
+        print(uncommitted_changes)
+        print("There seem to be uncommitted changes on your current branch. Please commit or "
+              "stash them and try again.")
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    working_branch = WORKING_BRANCH % release_version
+    if working_branch in check_output(["git", "branch"]):
+        prominentPrint(
+            "Working branch %s already exists, please delete it and try again." % working_branch)
+        sys.exit(1)
+
+    prominentPrint("Creating working branch for this release.")
+    check_call(["git", "checkout", "-b", working_branch])
+
+    prominentPrint("Creating release tag and updating snapshot version.")
+    update_version = "release release-version %s next-version %s" % (release_version, next_version)
+    check_call(["./build/sbt", update_version])
+
+    prominentPrint("Building and testing with sbt.")
+    check_call(["git", "checkout", "v%s" % release_version])
+
+    publish_target = PUBLISH_MODES[publish_to]
+    check_call(["./build/sbt", "clean", publish_target])
+
+    prominentPrint("Updating local branch: %s" % current_branch)
+    check_call(["git", "checkout", current_branch])
+    check_call(["git", "merge", "--ff", working_branch])
+    check_call(["git", "branch", "-d", working_branch])
+
+    prominentPrint("Local branch updated")
+    if verify("Would you like to push local branch to databricks remote? (y/n)", interactive):
+        check_call(["git", "push", DATABRICKS_REMOTE, current_branch])
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()