diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cf21ec3..dd955cf 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -44,3 +44,6 @@ public/fa-solid-900.svg
 public/fa-solid-900.ttf
 public/fa-solid-900.woff
 public/fa-solid-900.woff2
+
+# release files
+dist/
diff --git a/.goreleaser.yml b/.goreleaser.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..67c6e04
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.goreleaser.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+project_name: tavern
+
+before:
+
+  hooks:
+    - go mod download
+    - go generate ./...
+
+builds:
+  - binary: tavern
+    env:
+      - CGO_ENABLED=0
+    flags:
+      - -tags=prod
+    ldflags:
+      - -w
+      - -s
+      - -extldflags '-static'
+      - -X main.Release={{.Version}}
+      - -X main.GitCommit={{.Commit}}
+      - -X main.BuildTime={{.Date}}
+
+archives:
+  - format: zip
+    files:
+      - LICENSE
+      - README*
+      - CHANGELOG*
+
+checksum:
+  name_template: 'checksums.txt'
+
+signs:
+  - signature: "${artifact}_sig"
+    artifacts: all
+
+snapshot:
+  name_template: "{{ .Tag }}-next"
+
+nfpms:
+  -
+    vendor: Nick Gerakines
+    homepage: https://tavern.town/
+    maintainer: Nick Gerakines <nick.gerakines@gmail.com>
+    description: A self-contained and configurable Activity Pub server.
+    license: mit
+    empty_folders:
+      - /usr/share/tavern/
+    formats:
+      - deb
+      - rpm
+    suggests:
+      - postgres-server
+      - systemd
+      - rsyslog
+    files:
+      ./templates/**/*: "/usr/share/tavern/templates"
+      ./public/**/*: "/usr/share/tavern/public"
+    config_files:
+      ./scripts/tavern_rsyslog.conf: "/etc/rsyslog.d/tavern.conf"
+      ./scripts/tavern_env: "/usr/share/tavern/env"
+      ./scripts/tavern.service: "/etc/systemd/system/tavern.service"
+    overrides:
+      deb:
+        scripts:
+          postinstall: ./scripts/postinst
+          preremove: ./scripts/prerm
+          postremove: ./scripts/postrm
+
+changelog:
+  sort: asc
+  filters:
+    exclude:
+      - '^docs:'
+      - '^test:'
+      - '^assets:'
+
+release:
+  gitlab:
+    owner: ngerakines
+    name: tavern
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/errors/errors_generated.go b/errors/errors_generated.go
index 965e71b..cb72c8f 100644
--- a/errors/errors_generated.go
+++ b/errors/errors_generated.go
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 // Code generated by go generate; DO NOT EDIT.
-// This file was generated by herr at 2020-03-24 11:10:55.384793105 -0400 EDT m=+0.009454825
+// This file was generated by herr at 2020-03-24 13:33:44.957849681 -0400 EDT m=+0.009274100
 package errors
 
 import (
diff --git a/errors/errors_generated_test.go b/errors/errors_generated_test.go
index 15ae5f6..ea80e16 100644
--- a/errors/errors_generated_test.go
+++ b/errors/errors_generated_test.go
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 // Code generated by go generate; DO NOT EDIT.
-// This file was generated by herr at 2020-03-24 11:10:55.411481094 -0400 EDT m=+0.036142781
+// This file was generated by herr at 2020-03-24 13:33:44.982147915 -0400 EDT m=+0.033572306
 package errors
 
 import (
diff --git a/scripts/postinst b/scripts/postinst
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..f722f42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/postinst
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+set -e
+
+if which systemctl > /dev/null; then
+  systemctl daemon-reload || :
+  systemctl enable tavern || :
+  systemctl start tavern || :
+else
+  echo "Couldn't find systemd to control tavern, cannot proceed."
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+#DEBHELPER#
+
+exit 0
diff --git a/scripts/postrm b/scripts/postrm
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..2882c21
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/postrm
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+set -e
+
+if which systemctl > /dev/null; then
+  systemctl daemon-reload || :
+fi
+
+#DEBHELPER#
+
+exit 0
diff --git a/scripts/prerm b/scripts/prerm
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..d6e9a62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/prerm
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+
+set -e
+
+if which systemctl > /dev/null; then
+  systemctl stop tavern || :
+fi
+
+#DEBHELPER#
+
+exit 0
diff --git a/scripts/tavern.service b/scripts/tavern.service
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d5753d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/tavern.service
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+[Unit]
+Description=tavern
+
+[Service]
+EnvironmentFile=-/etc/default/tavern
+Restart=on-failure
+WorkingDirectory=/usr/share/tavern/
+ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/tavern server
+StandardOutput=syslog
+StandardError=syslog
+SyslogIdentifier=tavern
+
+[Install]
+WantedBy=multi-user.target
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/scripts/tavern_env b/scripts/tavern_env
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/scripts/tavern_rsyslog.conf b/scripts/tavern_rsyslog.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..20aae94
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/tavern_rsyslog.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+if $programname == 'tavern' then /var/log/tavern.log
+& stop
\ No newline at end of file