diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 79bd7b5c..e8524c9f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -15,13 +15,25 @@ jobs:
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v6
         with:
+          fetch-depth: 0
+          fetch-tags: true
           persist-credentials: false
 
       - name: Set up uv
         uses: astral-sh/setup-uv@v7
+        with:
+          activate-environment: true
+          enable-cache: true
+          python-version: "3.14"
+
+      - name: Set up Hatch and Twine
+        run: uv pip install hatch twine
 
       - name: Build package
-        run: uv build
+        run: hatch build
+
+      - name: Validate package
+        run: twine check dist/*
 
       - name: Publish package to PyPI
         if: startsWith(github.event.ref, 'refs/tags')
diff --git a/DEVELOP.rst b/DEVELOP.rst
index 6675cad5..d39affdb 100644
--- a/DEVELOP.rst
+++ b/DEVELOP.rst
@@ -70,12 +70,14 @@ In the release branch:
 
 - Add a section for the new version in the ``CHANGES.rst`` file
 
-- Commit your changes with a message like "prepare release x.y.z"
+- Commit your changes with a message like "Release x.y.z"
 
 - Push to origin/<release_branch>
 
 - Create a tag by running ``git tag -s <version>`` and push it ``git push --tags``.
-  This will trigger a Github action which releases the new version to PyPi.
+  This will trigger a Github action which releases the new version to PyPI.
+
+- Announce the new release on the `GitHub Releases`_ page.
 
 On branch ``main``:
 
@@ -113,7 +115,7 @@ The docs are automatically built from Git by `Read the Docs`_ and there is
 nothing special you need to do to get the live docs to update.
 
 .. _@crate/docs: https://github.com/orgs/crate/teams/docs
-.. _buildout: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/zc.buildout
+.. _GitHub Releases: https://github.com/crate/crate-python/releases
 .. _PyPI: https://pypi.python.org/pypi
 .. _Python versions: https://docs.astral.sh/uv/concepts/python-versions/
 .. _Read the Docs: http://readthedocs.org
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 2490f2ff..f8190cf6 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ name = "crate"
 dynamic = ["version"]
 description = "CrateDB Python Client"
 authors = [{ name = "Crate.io", email = "office@crate.io" }]
-requires-python = ">=3.10"
 readme = "README.rst"
 license = "Apache-2.0"
 classifiers = [