diff --git a/.github/scripts/update-version.sh b/.github/scripts/update-version.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..9a952ef39e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/scripts/update-version.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/bash -e
+
+version=$1
+
+sed -i "s/version=.*/version=$version/" gradle.properties
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index eae2263fbbe..5a6c16f00f1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -37,14 +37,56 @@ jobs:
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
         run: |
-          if [[ $VERSION != *-BETA* ]]
+          if [[ $VERSION =~ ^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$ ]]; then
           then
-            GA=" (GA)"
+            opt_ga=" (GA)"
+          else
+            opt_prerelease="--prerelease"
           fi
           # TODO (trask) remove --draft after the first successful release using this script
           gh release create --target main \
-                            --title "Version $VERSION$GA" \
+                            --title "Version $VERSION$opt_ga" \
                             --notes-file /tmp/release-notes.txt \
+                            $opt_prerelease \
                             --draft \
                             $VERSION \
                             applicationinsights-agent-$VERSION.jar
+
+  bump-version:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs:
+      - release
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+
+      - name: Set environment variables
+        run: |
+          version=$(.github/scripts/get-version.sh)
+          if [[ $version =~ ^([0-9]+\.[0-9]+)\.([0-9]+)$ ]]; then
+            major_minor="${BASH_REMATCH[1]}"
+            patch="${BASH_REMATCH[2]}"
+          else
+            echo "unexpected version: $version"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+          echo "NEXT_VERSION=$major_minor.$((patch + 1))" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+
+      - name: Update version
+        run: .github/scripts/update-version.sh $NEXT_VERSION
+
+      - name: Create pull request against main
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          message="Update version to $NEXT_VERSION"
+          body="Update version to \`$NEXT_VERSION\`."
+          branch="automation/update-version-to-${NEXT_VERSION}"
+
+          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
+          git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+
+          git checkout -b "$branch"
+          git commit -a -m "$message"
+          git push --set-upstream origin HEAD:$branch
+          gh pr create --title "$message" \
+                       --body "$body"