diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 65ac87a2..5053fef6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-name: Auto-release on version bump
+name: Auto-release on push to main
 
 permissions:
   contents: write
@@ -6,63 +6,64 @@ permissions:
 on:
   push:
     branches: [main]
-    paths:
-      - 'anton/__init__.py'
   workflow_dispatch:
 
 concurrency:
   group: auto-release-${{ github.ref }}
   cancel-in-progress: false
 
+env:
+  CALVER_MAJOR: 2
+
 jobs:
   auto-release:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     outputs:
       tag: ${{ steps.version.outputs.tag }}
-      created: ${{ steps.tag_check.outputs.exists == 'false' }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
-          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-depth: 0  # need tags for sequence calculation
 
-      - name: Read __version__ from anton/__init__.py
+      - name: Compute CalVer version
         id: version
         run: |
-          PKG_VERSION=$(grep -oE '__version__\s*=\s*"[^"]+"' anton/__init__.py | grep -oE '"[^"]+"' | tr -d '"')
-          if [ -z "${PKG_VERSION}" ]; then
-            echo "::error::Could not parse __version__ from anton/__init__.py"
-            exit 1
-          fi
-          echo "version=${PKG_VERSION}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-          echo "tag=v${PKG_VERSION}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          set -euo pipefail
 
-      - name: Check if tag already exists
-        id: tag_check
-        run: |
-          TAG="${{ steps.version.outputs.tag }}"
-          if git rev-parse "refs/tags/${TAG}" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-            echo "Tag ${TAG} already exists; nothing to do."
-            echo "exists=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-          else
-            echo "Tag ${TAG} does not exist; will create release."
-            echo "exists=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
-          fi
+          MAJOR=${{ env.CALVER_MAJOR }}
+          YY=$(date -u +%y)    # e.g. 26
+          M=$(date -u +%-m)    # e.g. 6 (no zero-pad)
+          DD=$(date -u +%-d)   # e.g. 23 (no zero-pad)
+
+          # Find the highest sequence for today's date
+          PREFIX="v${MAJOR}.${YY}.${M}.${DD}."
+          SEQ=0
+          for tag in $(git tag -l "${PREFIX}*" | sort -t. -k5 -n); do
+            N="${tag##*.}"
+            if [[ "$N" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] && [ "$N" -gt "$SEQ" ]; then
+              SEQ="$N"
+            fi
+          done
+          SEQ=$((SEQ + 1))
+
+          VERSION="${MAJOR}.${YY}.${M}.${DD}.${SEQ}"
+          echo "version=${VERSION}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "tag=v${VERSION}" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "Computed version: ${VERSION}"
 
-      - name: Create tag and GitHub release
-        if: steps.tag_check.outputs.exists == 'false'
+      - name: Create tag and GitHub Release
         env:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-          TAG: ${{ steps.version.outputs.tag }}
         run: |
-          gh release create "${TAG}" \
-            --target "${GITHUB_SHA}" \
-            --title "${TAG}" \
-            --generate-notes
+          git tag "${{ steps.version.outputs.tag }}"
+          git push origin "${{ steps.version.outputs.tag }}"
+          gh release create "${{ steps.version.outputs.tag }}" \
+            --generate-notes \
+            --title "${{ steps.version.outputs.tag }}"
 
   publish:
     name: Publish to PyPI
     needs: auto-release
-    if: needs.auto-release.outputs.created == 'true'
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     environment: pypi
     permissions:
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ jobs:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
           ref: ${{ needs.auto-release.outputs.tag }}
+          fetch-depth: 0  # hatch-vcs needs tags to derive version
 
       - name: Setup uv
         uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v5
@@ -87,7 +89,6 @@ jobs:
 
   e2e:
     needs: auto-release
-    if: needs.auto-release.outputs.created == 'true'
     uses: ./.github/workflows/tests_e2e_release.yml
     with:
       tag: ${{ needs.auto-release.outputs.tag }}
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 9c0b0a77..b7276312 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [build-system]
-requires = ["hatchling"]
+requires = ["hatchling", "hatch-vcs"]
 build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [project]
@@ -50,8 +50,8 @@ Issues = "https://github.com/mindsdb/anton/issues"
 anton = "anton.cli:app"
 
 [tool.hatch.version]
-source = "regex"
-path = "anton/__init__.py"
+source = "vcs"
+fallback-version = "2.0.0-dev"
 
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
 asyncio_mode = "auto"