diff --git a/.github/scripts/gen_dockerfile.sh b/.github/scripts/gen_dockerfile.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index 512e9700e..000000000
--- a/.github/scripts/gen_dockerfile.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,58 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-export filename="Dockerfile"
-rm -f $filename
-touch $filename
-
-if [ $(echo $full_tgtname | cut -d ':' -f 1) = "rhel" ]; then
-  export maj_version=$(echo $full_tgtname | cut -d ':' -f 2)
-  export full_tgtname=redhat/ubi$(echo $maj_version | cut -d '.' -f 1):$(echo $full_tgtname | cut -d ':' -f 2)
-  if [ $(echo $full_tgtname | cut -d ':' -f 2 | cut -d '.' -f 1) = '9' ]; then
-    if [ $(echo $full_tgtname | cut -d ':' -f 2 | cut -d '.' -f 2) = '0' ]; then
-      export full_tgtname=$full_tgtname.0
-    fi
-    if [ $(echo $full_tgtname | cut -d ':' -f 2 | cut -d '.' -f 2) = '1' ]; then
-      export full_tgtname=$full_tgtname.0
-    fi
-  fi
-fi
-
-echo "FROM $full_tgtname" >> $filename
-echo >> $filename
-if [ $(echo $full_tgtname | cut -d ':' -f 1) = "centos" ]; then
-  echo "RUN sed -i s/mirror.centos.org/vault.centos.org/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo" >> $filename
-  echo "RUN sed -i s/^#.*baseurl=http/baseurl=http/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo" >> $filename
-  echo "RUN sed -i s/^mirrorlist=http/#mirrorlist=http/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo" >> $filename
-
-  echo "RUN sed -i 's/mirrorlist/#mirrorlist/g' /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-*" >> $filename
-  echo "RUN sed -i 's|#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org|baseurl=http://vault.centos.org|g' /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-*" >> $filename
-  echo 'RUN yum group install "Development Tools" -y && yum clean all' >> $filename
-fi
-if [ $(echo $full_tgtname | cut -d ':' -f 1) = "ubuntu" ]; then
-  echo 'RUN apt update && apt -y install build-essential curl' >> $filename
-fi
-if [ $(echo $full_tgtname | cut -d ':' -f 1) = "fedora" ]; then
-  echo 'RUN dnf -y update && dnf -y install @development-tools' >> $filename
-fi
-if [ $(echo $full_tgtname | cut -d ':' -f 1) = "debian" ]; then
-  echo 'RUN apt update && apt -y install build-essential curl gcc make' >> $filename
-fi
-if [ $(echo $full_tgtname | cut -d ':' -f 1) = "almalinux" ]; then
-  if [ $(echo $full_tgtname | cut -d ':' -f 2 | cut -d '.' -f 1) = '8' ]; then
-    echo 'RUN rpm --import https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/RPM-GPG-KEY-AlmaLinux' >> $filename
-  fi
-  echo 'RUN dnf -y update && dnf -y group install "Development Tools"' >> $filename
-fi
-if [[ $(echo $full_tgtname | cut -d ':' -f 1) == "redhat"* ]]; then
-  echo 'RUN dnf -y install gcc' >> $filename
-fi
-echo >> $filename
-echo 'ENV RUSTUP_HOME=/usr/local/rustup CARGO_HOME=/usr/local/cargo' >> $filename
-echo 'ENV PATH=$CARGO_HOME/bin:$PATH' >> $filename
-echo >> $filename
-echo 'RUN mkdir -p "$CARGO_HOME" && mkdir -p "$RUSTUP_HOME" && \' >> $filename
-echo '    curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh -s -- -y --default-toolchain stable && \' >> $filename
-echo '    chmod -R a=rwX $CARGO_HOME' >> $filename
-echo >> $filename
-echo 'WORKDIR /source' >> $filename
-
diff --git a/.github/scripts/package.sh b/.github/scripts/package.sh
deleted file mode 100755
index ed3ab3b9d..000000000
--- a/.github/scripts/package.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,39 +0,0 @@
-#!/usr/bin/env bash
-
-# This script expects two optional arguments:
-# 1. The target architecture (e.g., x86_64, aarch64)
-# 2. The target OS (e.g., linux, windows, macos)
-
-if [[ "$GITHUB_REF" =~ ^refs/tags/v.*$ ]]; then
-    pkgver="$(echo $GITHUB_REF | sed -n 's/^refs\/tags\/v//p')"
-else
-    pkgver="$(echo $GITHUB_REF | sed -n 's/^refs\/tags\///p')"
-fi
-
-if [ -z "$pkgver" ]; then
-    pkgver="latest"
-fi
-
-if [ -z "$2" ] && [ -z "$1" ]; then # no arguments
-    release_dir="target/release"
-    tar_suffix=""
-    tar_prefix="-x86_64"
-elif [ -n "$1" ] && [ -z "$2" ]; then # only first argument
-    release_dir="target/$1/release"
-    tar_suffix=""
-    tar_prefix="-$1"
-elif [ -n "$2" ] && [ -n "$1" ]; then # both arguments
-    release_dir="target/$1/$2/release"
-    tar_suffix="-$2"
-    tar_prefix="-$1"
-fi
-
-# WIESEP: Change amd64 to x86_64 to keep release names compatible with previous releases
-if [ "$tar_prefix" == "-amd64" ]; then
-    tar_prefix="-x86_64"
-fi
-
-tar -czf "bender-$pkgver$tar_prefix-linux-gnu$tar_suffix.tar.gz" \
-        -C "./$release_dir" \
-        --owner=0 --group=0 \
-        bender
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index f438eb44a..257e41322 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -6,62 +6,37 @@ on:
   pull_request:
   workflow_dispatch:
 
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.head_ref || github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
 jobs:
   test:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    name: Test (${{ matrix.os }}, Rust ${{ matrix.rust }})
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
+    continue-on-error: ${{ matrix.rust == 'nightly' }}
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
-        rust:
-          - stable
-          - beta
-          - nightly
-          - 1.87.0 # minimum supported version
-    continue-on-error: ${{ matrix.rust == 'nightly' }}
+        # Linux runs the full Rust version matrix; Windows and macOS test stable only.
+        os: [ubuntu-latest]
+        rust: [stable, beta, nightly, "1.87.0"]
+        include:
+          - os: windows-latest
+            rust: stable
+          - os: macos-latest
+            rust: stable
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v6
         with:
           submodules: recursive
       - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
         with:
-          toolchain: ${{ matrix.rust}}
-          components: rustfmt
-      - name: Build
-        run: cargo build --all-features
-      - name: Cargo Test
-        run: cargo test --workspace --all-features
-      - name: Format (fix with `cargo fmt`)
-        run: cargo fmt -- --check
-      - name: Run unit-tests
-        run: tests/run_all.sh
-        shell: bash
-
-  test-windows:
-    runs-on: windows-latest
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
-        with:
-          submodules: recursive
-      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
+          toolchain: ${{ matrix.rust }}
+      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v2
         with:
-          toolchain: stable
-      - name: Build
-        run: cargo build --all-features
-      - name: Cargo Test
-        run: cargo test --workspace --all-features
-      - name: Run unit-tests
-        run: tests/run_all.sh
-        shell: bash
-
-  test-macos:
-    runs-on: macos-latest
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
-        with:
-          submodules: recursive
-      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
-        with:
-          toolchain: stable
+          shared-key: ci-test-${{ matrix.os }}-${{ matrix.rust }}
+          cache-workspace-crates: "true"
       - name: Build
         run: cargo build --all-features
       - name: Cargo Test
@@ -81,6 +56,10 @@ jobs:
         with:
           toolchain: stable
           components: clippy
+      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v2
+        with:
+          shared-key: ci-clippy-${{ runner.os }}-stable
+          cache-workspace-crates: "true"
       - run: cargo clippy --all-features
 
   unused-deps:
@@ -91,6 +70,10 @@ jobs:
       - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
         with:
           toolchain: stable
+      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v2
+        with:
+          shared-key: ci-unused-deps-${{ runner.os }}-stable
+          cache-workspace-crates: "true"
       - name: Install machete
         run: cargo install cargo-machete
       - name: Check for unused dependencies
diff --git a/.github/workflows/cli_regression.yml b/.github/workflows/cli_regression.yml
index bfdcf9bd7..71b5780a8 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/cli_regression.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/cli_regression.yml
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@ on:
   pull_request:
   workflow_dispatch:
 
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.head_ref || github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
 jobs:
   test:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
diff --git a/.github/workflows/formatting.yml b/.github/workflows/formatting.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f81cf6392
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/formatting.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+name: formatting
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [master]
+  pull_request:
+    branches: [master]
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+jobs:
+  rustfmt:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          submodules: recursive
+      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
+        with:
+          toolchain: stable
+          components: rustfmt
+      - name: Check Rust formatting
+        run: cargo fmt -- --check
+
+  clang-format:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          submodules: recursive
+      - name: Check C/C++ formatting
+        uses: DoozyX/clang-format-lint-action@v0.18
+        with:
+          source: "."
+          extensions: "h,hpp,c,cc,cpp,cxx"
+          exclude: "./crates/bender-slang/vendor"
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release-build.yml b/.github/workflows/release-build.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b3c93240c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release-build.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+name: release-build
+
+# Verify that a release build succeeds on all platforms that cargo-dist will
+# target.  Runs on every push to master (and can be triggered manually) so
+# that compatibility issues or platform-specific build failures are
+# caught before tagging a release.
+on:
+  push:
+    branches: [master]
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+concurrency:
+  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
+  cancel-in-progress: true
+
+jobs:
+  release-build:
+    name: Release Build (${{ matrix.target }})
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.runner }}
+    container: ${{ matrix.container || '' }}
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      # Mirror the release matrix from dist-workspace.toml exactly, including
+      # the manylinux containers, so CI catches compatibility issues early.
+      matrix:
+        include:
+          - target: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
+            runner: ubuntu-22.04
+            container: quay.io/pypa/manylinux_2_28_x86_64
+          - target: aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
+            runner: ubuntu-22.04-arm
+            container: quay.io/pypa/manylinux_2_28_aarch64
+          - target: x86_64-apple-darwin
+            runner: macos-latest
+          - target: aarch64-apple-darwin
+            runner: macos-15
+          - target: x86_64-pc-windows-msvc
+            runner: windows-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          submodules: recursive
+      - name: Install Rust non-interactively if not already installed
+        if: ${{ matrix.container }}
+        run: |
+          if ! command -v cargo > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+            curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh -s -- -y
+            echo "$HOME/.cargo/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
+          fi
+      - uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
+        if: ${{ !matrix.container }}
+        with:
+          toolchain: stable
+      - uses: Swatinem/rust-cache@v2
+        with:
+          shared-key: release-build-${{ matrix.target }}
+          cache-workspace-crates: "true"
+      - name: Build (release)
+        run: cargo build --release --all-features
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yaml b/.github/workflows/release.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 2df026bd0..000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,297 +0,0 @@
-name: release
-
-on:
-  release:
-    types: [created]
-  workflow_dispatch:
-
-jobs:
-  release_amd64:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    strategy:
-      fail-fast: false
-      matrix:
-        rust:
-          - stable
-        os:
-          - centos:7.4.1708
-          - centos:7.6.1810
-          - centos:7.7.1908
-          - centos:7.8.2003
-          - centos:7.9.2009
-          - ubuntu:18.04
-          - ubuntu:20.04
-          - ubuntu:22.04
-          - ubuntu:24.04
-          - fedora:42
-          - fedora:43
-          - debian:11
-          - debian:12
-          - debian:13
-          - rhel:8.6
-          - rhel:8.7
-          - rhel:8.8
-          - rhel:8.9
-          - rhel:8.10
-          - rhel:9.0
-          - rhel:9.1
-          - rhel:9.2
-          - rhel:9.3
-          - rhel:9.4
-          - rhel:9.5
-          - rhel:9.6
-          - rhel:9.7
-          - rhel:10.0
-          - rhel:10.1
-          - almalinux:8.6
-          - almalinux:8.7
-          - almalinux:8.8
-          - almalinux:8.9
-          - almalinux:8.10
-          - almalinux:9.0
-          - almalinux:9.1
-          - almalinux:9.2
-          - almalinux:9.3
-          - almalinux:9.4
-          - almalinux:9.5
-          - almalinux:9.6
-          - almalinux:9.7
-          - almalinux:10.0
-          - almalinux:10.1
-        platform:
-          - linux/amd64
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: OS Build
-        run: |
-          export full_tgtname=${{ matrix.os }}
-          export tgtname=$(echo ${{ matrix.os }} | tr -d ':')
-          export full_platform=${{ matrix.platform }}
-          export platform=$(echo ${{ matrix.platform }} | awk -F'/' '{print $NF}')
-          .github/scripts/gen_dockerfile.sh
-          docker build ./ -t $tgtname-$platform --platform $full_platform
-          docker run \
-            -t --rm \
-            -v "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE:/source" \
-            -v "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/target/$platform/$tgtname:/source/target" \
-            --platform $full_platform \
-            $tgtname-$platform \
-            cargo build --release --all-features;
-        shell: bash
-      - name: OS Create Package
-        run: |
-          export tgtname=$(echo ${{ matrix.os }} | tr -d ':')
-          export platform=$(echo ${{ matrix.platform }} | awk -F'/' '{print $NF}')
-          .github/scripts/package.sh $platform $tgtname;
-        shell: bash
-      - name: Upload Release Asset
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
-        with:
-          tag_name: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
-          files: bender-*.tar.gz
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-  release_arm64:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04-arm
-    strategy:
-      fail-fast: false
-      matrix:
-        rust:
-          - stable
-        os:
-          - ubuntu:18.04
-          - ubuntu:20.04
-          - ubuntu:22.04
-          - ubuntu:24.04
-        platform:
-          - linux/arm64
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: OS Build
-        run: |
-          export full_tgtname=${{ matrix.os }}
-          export tgtname=$(echo ${{ matrix.os }} | tr -d ':')
-          export full_platform=${{ matrix.platform }}
-          export platform=$(echo ${{ matrix.platform }} | awk -F'/' '{print $NF}')
-          .github/scripts/gen_dockerfile.sh
-          docker build ./ -t $tgtname-$platform --platform $full_platform
-          docker run \
-            -t --rm \
-            -v "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE:/source" \
-            -v "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/target/$platform/$tgtname:/source/target" \
-            --platform $full_platform \
-            $tgtname-$platform \
-            cargo build --release --all-features;
-        shell: bash
-      - name: OS Create Package
-        run: |
-          export tgtname=$(echo ${{ matrix.os }} | tr -d ':')
-          export platform=$(echo ${{ matrix.platform }} | awk -F'/' '{print $NF}')
-          .github/scripts/package.sh $platform $tgtname;
-        shell: bash
-      - name: Upload Release Asset
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
-        with:
-          tag_name: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
-          files: bender-*.tar.gz
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-  release-gnu_amd64:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    # Use container that supports old GLIBC versions and (hopefully) many linux OSs
-    # container: quay.io/pypa/manylinux2014_x86_64
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: Setup Dockerfile
-        run: |
-          touch Dockerfile
-          echo "FROM quay.io/pypa/manylinux2014_x86_64" >> Dockerfile
-          echo "RUN sed -i s/mirror.centos.org/vault.centos.org/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo" >> Dockerfile
-          echo "RUN sed -i s/^#.*baseurl=http/baseurl=http/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo" >> Dockerfile
-          echo "RUN sed -i s/^mirrorlist=http/#mirrorlist=http/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo" >> Dockerfile
-
-          echo "RUN sed -i 's/mirrorlist/#mirrorlist/g' /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-*" >> Dockerfile
-          echo "RUN sed -i 's|#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org|baseurl=http://vault.centos.org|g' /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-*" >> Dockerfile
-          echo "RUN yum group install "Development Tools" -y && yum clean all" >> Dockerfile
-          echo 'ENV RUSTUP_HOME=/usr/local/rustup CARGO_HOME=/usr/local/cargo' >> Dockerfile
-          echo 'ENV PATH=$CARGO_HOME/bin:$PATH' >> Dockerfile
-          echo >> Dockerfile
-          echo 'RUN mkdir -p "$CARGO_HOME" && mkdir -p "$RUSTUP_HOME" && \' >> Dockerfile
-          echo '    curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh -s -- -y --default-toolchain stable && \' >> Dockerfile
-          echo '    chmod -R a=rwX $CARGO_HOME' >> Dockerfile
-          echo >> Dockerfile
-          echo 'WORKDIR /source' >> Dockerfile
-      - name: OS build
-        run: |
-          docker build ./ -t manylinux-amd64 --platform linux/amd64
-          docker run \
-            -t --rm \
-            -v "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE:/source" \
-            -v "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/target/amd64:/source/target" \
-            --platform linux/amd64 \
-            manylinux-amd64 \
-            cargo build --release --all-features;
-      - name: GNU Create Package
-        run: .github/scripts/package.sh amd64
-        shell: bash
-      - name: Upload Release Asset
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
-        with:
-          tag_name: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
-          files: bender-*.tar.gz
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-  release-gnu_arm64:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-24.04-arm
-    # Use container that supports old GLIBC versions and (hopefully) many linux OSs
-    # container: quay.io/pypa/manylinux2014_aarch64
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: Setup Dockerfile
-        run: |
-          touch Dockerfile
-          echo "FROM quay.io/pypa/manylinux2014_aarch64" >> Dockerfile
-          echo "RUN sed -i s/mirror.centos.org/vault.centos.org/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo" >> Dockerfile
-          echo "RUN sed -i s/^#.*baseurl=http/baseurl=http/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo" >> Dockerfile
-          echo "RUN sed -i s/^mirrorlist=http/#mirrorlist=http/g /etc/yum.repos.d/*.repo" >> Dockerfile
-
-          echo "RUN sed -i 's/mirrorlist/#mirrorlist/g' /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-*" >> Dockerfile
-          echo "RUN sed -i 's|#baseurl=http://mirror.centos.org|baseurl=http://vault.centos.org|g' /etc/yum.repos.d/CentOS-*" >> Dockerfile
-          echo "RUN yum group install "Development Tools" -y && yum clean all" >> Dockerfile
-          echo 'ENV RUSTUP_HOME=/usr/local/rustup CARGO_HOME=/usr/local/cargo' >> Dockerfile
-          echo 'ENV PATH=$CARGO_HOME/bin:$PATH' >> Dockerfile
-          echo >> Dockerfile
-          echo 'RUN mkdir -p "$CARGO_HOME" && mkdir -p "$RUSTUP_HOME" && \' >> Dockerfile
-          echo '    curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh -s -- -y --default-toolchain stable && \' >> Dockerfile
-          echo '    chmod -R a=rwX $CARGO_HOME' >> Dockerfile
-          echo >> Dockerfile
-          echo 'WORKDIR /source' >> Dockerfile
-      - name: OS build
-        run: |
-          docker build ./ -t manylinux-arm64 --platform linux/arm64
-          docker run \
-            -t --rm \
-            -v "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE:/source" \
-            -v "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE/target/arm64:/source/target" \
-            --platform linux/arm64 \
-            manylinux-arm64 \
-            cargo build --release --all-features;
-      - name: GNU Create Package
-        run: .github/scripts/package.sh arm64
-        shell: bash
-      - name: Upload Release Asset
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
-        with:
-          tag_name: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
-          files: bender-*.tar.gz
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-  release-macos:
-    runs-on: macos-latest
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: Install Rust
-        run: |
-          curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://https://sh.rustup.rs | sh -s -- -y --default-toolchain stable
-          echo "${CARGO_HOME:-$HOME/.cargo}/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
-      - name: universal2 install
-        run: |
-          rustup target add x86_64-apple-darwin
-          rustup target add aarch64-apple-darwin
-          cargo install universal2
-      - name: MacOS Build
-        run: cargo-universal2 --release --all-features
-      - name: Get Artifact Name
-        run: |
-          if [[ "$GITHUB_REF" =~ ^refs/tags/v.*$ ]]; then \
-            PKG_VERSION=$(echo $GITHUB_REF | sed -n 's/^refs\/tags\/v//p'); \
-          else \
-            PKG_VERSION=$(echo $GITHUB_REF | sed -n 's/^refs\/tags\///p'); \
-          fi
-          ARTIFACT_PATHNAME="bender-$PKG_VERSION-universal-apple-darwin.tar.gz"
-          ARTIFACT_NAME=$(basename $ARTIFACT_PATHNAME)
-          echo "ARTIFACT_NAME=${ARTIFACT_NAME}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-          echo "ARTIFACT_PATHNAME=${ARTIFACT_PATHNAME}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-      - name: Create Package
-        run: |
-          gtar -czf $ARTIFACT_PATHNAME -C "./target/universal2-apple-darwin/release" --owner=0 --group=0 bender
-      - name: Upload Release Asset
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
-        with:
-          tag_name: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
-          files: bender-*.tar.gz
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
-  release-windows:
-    runs-on: windows-latest
-    steps:
-      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
-      - name: Install Rust
-        uses: dtolnay/rust-toolchain@stable
-        with:
-          toolchain: stable
-      - name: Build
-        run: cargo build --release
-      - name: Get Artifact Name
-        shell: bash
-        run: |
-          if [[ "$GITHUB_REF" =~ ^refs/tags/v.*$ ]]; then \
-            PKG_VERSION=$(echo $GITHUB_REF | sed -n 's/^refs\/tags\/v//p'); \
-          else \
-            PKG_VERSION=$(echo $GITHUB_REF | sed -n 's/^refs\/tags\///p'); \
-          fi
-          ARTIFACT_PATHNAME="bender-$PKG_VERSION-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc.tar.gz"
-          ARTIFACT_NAME=$(basename $ARTIFACT_PATHNAME)
-          echo "ARTIFACT_NAME=${ARTIFACT_NAME}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-          echo "ARTIFACT_PATHNAME=${ARTIFACT_PATHNAME}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
-      - name: Create Package
-        run: |
-          cp target/release/bender.exe .
-          & 'C:\Program Files\Git\usr\bin\tar.exe' czf $Env:ARTIFACT_PATHNAME --owner=0 --group=0 bender.exe
-      - name: Upload Release Asset
-        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
-        with:
-          tag_name: ${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}
-          files: bender-*.tar.gz
-        env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d9aa406b1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,296 @@
+# This file was autogenerated by dist: https://axodotdev.github.io/cargo-dist
+#
+# Copyright 2022-2024, axodotdev
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT or Apache-2.0
+#
+# CI that:
+#
+# * checks for a Git Tag that looks like a release
+# * builds artifacts with dist (archives, installers, hashes)
+# * uploads those artifacts to temporary workflow zip
+# * on success, uploads the artifacts to a GitHub Release
+#
+# Note that the GitHub Release will be created with a generated
+# title/body based on your changelogs.
+
+name: Release
+permissions:
+  "contents": "write"
+
+# This task will run whenever you push a git tag that looks like a version
+# like "1.0.0", "v0.1.0-prerelease.1", "my-app/0.1.0", "releases/v1.0.0", etc.
+# Various formats will be parsed into a VERSION and an optional PACKAGE_NAME, where
+# PACKAGE_NAME must be the name of a Cargo package in your workspace, and VERSION
+# must be a Cargo-style SemVer Version (must have at least major.minor.patch).
+#
+# If PACKAGE_NAME is specified, then the announcement will be for that
+# package (erroring out if it doesn't have the given version or isn't dist-able).
+#
+# If PACKAGE_NAME isn't specified, then the announcement will be for all
+# (dist-able) packages in the workspace with that version (this mode is
+# intended for workspaces with only one dist-able package, or with all dist-able
+# packages versioned/released in lockstep).
+#
+# If you push multiple tags at once, separate instances of this workflow will
+# spin up, creating an independent announcement for each one. However, GitHub
+# will hard limit this to 3 tags per commit, as it will assume more tags is a
+# mistake.
+#
+# If there's a prerelease-style suffix to the version, then the release(s)
+# will be marked as a prerelease.
+on:
+  pull_request:
+  push:
+    tags:
+      - '**[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+*'
+
+jobs:
+  # Run 'dist plan' (or host) to determine what tasks we need to do
+  plan:
+    runs-on: "ubuntu-22.04"
+    outputs:
+      val: ${{ steps.plan.outputs.manifest }}
+      tag: ${{ !github.event.pull_request && github.ref_name || '' }}
+      tag-flag: ${{ !github.event.pull_request && format('--tag={0}', github.ref_name) || '' }}
+      publishing: ${{ !github.event.pull_request }}
+    env:
+      GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
+          submodules: recursive
+      - name: Install dist
+        # we specify bash to get pipefail; it guards against the `curl` command
+        # failing. otherwise `sh` won't catch that `curl` returned non-0
+        shell: bash
+        run: "curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/axodotdev/cargo-dist/releases/download/v0.31.0/cargo-dist-installer.sh | sh"
+      - name: Cache dist
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v6
+        with:
+          name: cargo-dist-cache
+          path: ~/.cargo/bin/dist
+      # sure would be cool if github gave us proper conditionals...
+      # so here's a doubly-nested ternary-via-truthiness to try to provide the best possible
+      # functionality based on whether this is a pull_request, and whether it's from a fork.
+      # (PRs run on the *source* but secrets are usually on the *target* -- that's *good*
+      # but also really annoying to build CI around when it needs secrets to work right.)
+      - id: plan
+        run: |
+          dist ${{ (!github.event.pull_request && format('host --steps=create --tag={0}', github.ref_name)) || 'plan' }} --output-format=json > plan-dist-manifest.json
+          echo "dist ran successfully"
+          cat plan-dist-manifest.json
+          echo "manifest=$(jq -c "." plan-dist-manifest.json)" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+      - name: "Upload dist-manifest.json"
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v6
+        with:
+          name: artifacts-plan-dist-manifest
+          path: plan-dist-manifest.json
+
+  # Build and packages all the platform-specific things
+  build-local-artifacts:
+    name: build-local-artifacts (${{ join(matrix.targets, ', ') }})
+    # Let the initial task tell us to not run (currently very blunt)
+    needs:
+      - plan
+    if: ${{ fromJson(needs.plan.outputs.val).ci.github.artifacts_matrix.include != null && (needs.plan.outputs.publishing == 'true' || fromJson(needs.plan.outputs.val).ci.github.pr_run_mode == 'upload') }}
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: false
+      # Target platforms/runners are computed by dist in create-release.
+      # Each member of the matrix has the following arguments:
+      #
+      # - runner: the github runner
+      # - dist-args: cli flags to pass to dist
+      # - install-dist: expression to run to install dist on the runner
+      #
+      # Typically there will be:
+      # - 1 "global" task that builds universal installers
+      # - N "local" tasks that build each platform's binaries and platform-specific installers
+      matrix: ${{ fromJson(needs.plan.outputs.val).ci.github.artifacts_matrix }}
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.runner }}
+    container: ${{ matrix.container && matrix.container.image || null }}
+    env:
+      GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+      BUILD_MANIFEST_NAME: target/distrib/${{ join(matrix.targets, '-') }}-dist-manifest.json
+    steps:
+      - name: enable windows longpaths
+        run: |
+          git config --global core.longpaths true
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
+          submodules: recursive
+      - name: Install Rust non-interactively if not already installed
+        if: ${{ matrix.container }}
+        run: |
+          if ! command -v cargo > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+            curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh -s -- -y
+            echo "$HOME/.cargo/bin" >> $GITHUB_PATH
+          fi
+      - name: Install dist
+        run: ${{ matrix.install_dist.run }}
+      # Get the dist-manifest
+      - name: Fetch local artifacts
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v7
+        with:
+          pattern: artifacts-*
+          path: target/distrib/
+          merge-multiple: true
+      - name: Install dependencies
+        run: |
+          ${{ matrix.packages_install }}
+      - name: Build artifacts
+        run: |
+          # Actually do builds and make zips and whatnot
+          dist build ${{ needs.plan.outputs.tag-flag }} --print=linkage --output-format=json ${{ matrix.dist_args }} > dist-manifest.json
+          echo "dist ran successfully"
+      - id: cargo-dist
+        name: Post-build
+        # We force bash here just because github makes it really hard to get values up
+        # to "real" actions without writing to env-vars, and writing to env-vars has
+        # inconsistent syntax between shell and powershell.
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          # Parse out what we just built and upload it to scratch storage
+          echo "paths<<EOF" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          dist print-upload-files-from-manifest --manifest dist-manifest.json >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "EOF" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+          cp dist-manifest.json "$BUILD_MANIFEST_NAME"
+      - name: "Upload artifacts"
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v6
+        with:
+          name: artifacts-build-local-${{ join(matrix.targets, '_') }}
+          path: |
+            ${{ steps.cargo-dist.outputs.paths }}
+            ${{ env.BUILD_MANIFEST_NAME }}
+
+  # Build and package all the platform-agnostic(ish) things
+  build-global-artifacts:
+    needs:
+      - plan
+      - build-local-artifacts
+    runs-on: "ubuntu-22.04"
+    env:
+      GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+      BUILD_MANIFEST_NAME: target/distrib/global-dist-manifest.json
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
+          submodules: recursive
+      - name: Install cached dist
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v7
+        with:
+          name: cargo-dist-cache
+          path: ~/.cargo/bin/
+      - run: chmod +x ~/.cargo/bin/dist
+      # Get all the local artifacts for the global tasks to use (for e.g. checksums)
+      - name: Fetch local artifacts
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v7
+        with:
+          pattern: artifacts-*
+          path: target/distrib/
+          merge-multiple: true
+      - id: cargo-dist
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          dist build ${{ needs.plan.outputs.tag-flag }} --output-format=json "--artifacts=global" > dist-manifest.json
+          echo "dist ran successfully"
+
+          # Parse out what we just built and upload it to scratch storage
+          echo "paths<<EOF" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          jq --raw-output ".upload_files[]" dist-manifest.json >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          echo "EOF" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+          cp dist-manifest.json "$BUILD_MANIFEST_NAME"
+      - name: "Upload artifacts"
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v6
+        with:
+          name: artifacts-build-global
+          path: |
+            ${{ steps.cargo-dist.outputs.paths }}
+            ${{ env.BUILD_MANIFEST_NAME }}
+  # Determines if we should publish/announce
+  host:
+    needs:
+      - plan
+      - build-local-artifacts
+      - build-global-artifacts
+    # Only run if we're "publishing", and only if plan, local and global didn't fail (skipped is fine)
+    if: ${{ always() && needs.plan.result == 'success' && needs.plan.outputs.publishing == 'true' && (needs.build-global-artifacts.result == 'skipped' || needs.build-global-artifacts.result == 'success') && (needs.build-local-artifacts.result == 'skipped' || needs.build-local-artifacts.result == 'success') }}
+    env:
+      GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+    runs-on: "ubuntu-22.04"
+    outputs:
+      val: ${{ steps.host.outputs.manifest }}
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
+          submodules: recursive
+      - name: Install cached dist
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v7
+        with:
+          name: cargo-dist-cache
+          path: ~/.cargo/bin/
+      - run: chmod +x ~/.cargo/bin/dist
+      # Fetch artifacts from scratch-storage
+      - name: Fetch artifacts
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v7
+        with:
+          pattern: artifacts-*
+          path: target/distrib/
+          merge-multiple: true
+      - id: host
+        shell: bash
+        run: |
+          dist host ${{ needs.plan.outputs.tag-flag }} --steps=upload --steps=release --output-format=json > dist-manifest.json
+          echo "artifacts uploaded and released successfully"
+          cat dist-manifest.json
+          echo "manifest=$(jq -c "." dist-manifest.json)" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+      - name: "Upload dist-manifest.json"
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v6
+        with:
+          # Overwrite the previous copy
+          name: artifacts-dist-manifest
+          path: dist-manifest.json
+      # Create a GitHub Release while uploading all files to it
+      - name: "Download GitHub Artifacts"
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v7
+        with:
+          pattern: artifacts-*
+          path: artifacts
+          merge-multiple: true
+      - name: Cleanup
+        run: |
+          # Remove the granular manifests
+          rm -f artifacts/*-dist-manifest.json
+      - name: Create GitHub Release
+        env:
+          PRERELEASE_FLAG: "${{ fromJson(steps.host.outputs.manifest).announcement_is_prerelease && '--prerelease' || '' }}"
+          ANNOUNCEMENT_TITLE: "${{ fromJson(steps.host.outputs.manifest).announcement_title }}"
+          ANNOUNCEMENT_BODY: "${{ fromJson(steps.host.outputs.manifest).announcement_github_body }}"
+          RELEASE_COMMIT: "${{ github.sha }}"
+        run: |
+          # Write and read notes from a file to avoid quoting breaking things
+          echo "$ANNOUNCEMENT_BODY" > $RUNNER_TEMP/notes.txt
+
+          gh release create "${{ needs.plan.outputs.tag }}" --target "$RELEASE_COMMIT" $PRERELEASE_FLAG --title "$ANNOUNCEMENT_TITLE" --notes-file "$RUNNER_TEMP/notes.txt" artifacts/*
+
+  announce:
+    needs:
+      - plan
+      - host
+    # use "always() && ..." to allow us to wait for all publish jobs while
+    # still allowing individual publish jobs to skip themselves (for prereleases).
+    # "host" however must run to completion, no skipping allowed!
+    if: ${{ always() && needs.host.result == 'success' }}
+    runs-on: "ubuntu-22.04"
+    env:
+      GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+        with:
+          persist-credentials: false
+          submodules: recursive
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 08930c63f..2e05e4702 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -16,6 +16,10 @@ rust-version = "1.87.0"
 [workspace]
 members = ["crates/bender-slang"]
 
+[profile.dist]
+inherits = "release"
+lto = "thin"
+
 [dependencies]
 bender-slang = { path = "crates/bender-slang", optional = true}
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 044f641fa..8bffe203c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -46,25 +46,19 @@ Bender is built around the following core principles:
 
 ## Installation
 
-To use Bender for a single project, the simplest is to download and use a precompiled binary.  We provide binaries for all current versions of Ubuntu and CentOS, as well as generic Linux, on each release.  Open a terminal and enter the following command:
+The recommended way to install Bender is via the shell installer, which detects your platform and places the `bender` binary in `~/.cargo/bin` (on your `PATH`):
 ```sh
 curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 https://pulp-platform.github.io/bender/init -sSf | sh
 ```
-The command downloads and executes a script that detects your distribution and downloads the appropriate `bender` binary of the latest release to your current directory.  If you need a specific version of Bender (e.g., `0.21.0`), append ` -s -- 0.21.0` to that command.  Alternatively, you can manually download a precompiled binary from [our Releases on GitHub][releases].
+To install a specific version (e.g., `0.28.0`), append ` -s -- 0.28.0` to that command.  Alternatively, you can manually download a precompiled binary from [our Releases on GitHub][releases].
 
-If you prefer building your own binary, you need to [install Rust][rust-installation].  You can then build and install Bender for the current user with the following command:
+To build from source, [install Rust][rust-installation] and run:
 ```sh
 cargo install bender
 ```
-If you need a specific version of Bender (e.g., `0.21.0`), append ` --version 0.21.0` to that command.
+To enable optional features (including the Slang-backed `pickle` command), add `--all-features`.  This may increase build time and require additional build dependencies.
 
-To enable optional features (including the Slang-backed `pickle` command), install with:
-```sh
-cargo install bender --all-features
-```
-This may increase build time and additional build dependencies.
-
-To install Bender system-wide, you can simply copy the binary you have obtained from one of the above methods to one of the system directories on your `PATH`.  Even better, some Linux distributions have Bender in their repositories.  We are currently aware of:
+Some Linux distributions also have Bender in their repositories:
 
 ### [ArchLinux ![aur-shield](https://img.shields.io/aur/version/bender)][aur-bender]
 
diff --git a/dist-workspace.toml b/dist-workspace.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3e55bb0ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dist-workspace.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+[workspace]
+members = ["cargo:."]
+
+# Config for 'dist'
+[dist]
+# The preferred dist version to use in CI (Cargo.toml SemVer syntax)
+cargo-dist-version = "0.31.0"
+# CI backends to support
+ci = "github"
+# The installers to generate for each app
+installers = ["shell", "powershell"]
+# Target platforms to build apps for (Rust target-triple syntax)
+targets = ["aarch64-apple-darwin", "aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu", "x86_64-apple-darwin", "x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu", "x86_64-pc-windows-msvc"]
+# Path that installers should place binaries in
+install-path = "CARGO_HOME"
+# Whether to install an updater program
+install-updater = false
+# Whether to pass --all-features to cargo build
+all-features = true
+# Whether +crt-static should be used on msvc
+msvc-crt-static = false
+
+[dist.github-custom-runners]
+# Use a slightly newer macOS runner for aarch64,
+# since the default one (macos-14) uses Clang/LLVM 15.0.0.
+# slang requires at least Clang/LLVM 17.0.0, which is available on macos-15.
+aarch64-apple-darwin = "macos-15"
+# Make sure that the minimum supported glibc version is 2.28 on Linux.
+[dist.github-custom-runners.x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu]
+runner = "ubuntu-22.04"
+container = "quay.io/pypa/manylinux_2_28_x86_64"
+[dist.github-custom-runners.aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu]
+runner = "ubuntu-22.04-arm"
+container = "quay.io/pypa/manylinux_2_28_aarch64"