diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-extension.yml b/.github/workflows/publish-extension.yml
index 66b6101..2990ff2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-extension.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-extension.yml
@@ -1,17 +1,286 @@
+# The auto package.json version update code is adapted from: https://github.com/valeryan/vscode-phpsab/blob/v0.0.21/.github/workflows/publish.yml
+
 on:
   release:
     types: [prereleased, released]
 
+env:
+  TAG_NAME: ${{ github.ref_name }}
+  TARGET_BRANCH: ${{ github.event.release.target_commitish }}
+
+permissions:
+  contents: write
+  pull-requests: write
+  actions: read
+
 name: Publish Extension to VS Code Marketplace and Open VSX Registry
 jobs:
+  validate-release-version:
+    name: Validate Release Version
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    if: github.event_name == 'release'
+    outputs:
+      version: ${{ steps.parse-version.outputs.version }}
+      is-valid: ${{ steps.parse-version.outputs.is-valid }}
+
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+
+      - name: Parse and Validate Version
+        id: parse-version
+        run: |
+          TAG_NAME="${{ env.TAG_NAME }}"
+
+          # Remove 'v' prefix if present and validate semver format
+          if [[ $TAG_NAME =~ ^v?([0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(-[a-zA-Z0-9\.-]+)?(\+[a-zA-Z0-9\.-]+)?)$ ]]; then
+            VERSION=${BASH_REMATCH[1]}
+            echo "version=$VERSION" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "is-valid=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "✅ Valid version format: $VERSION"
+          else
+            echo "is-valid=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "❌ Invalid version format: $TAG_NAME"
+            echo "Version must follow semver format (e.g., v1.0.0, 1.0.0, v1.0.0-beta.1)"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+  update-version:
+    name: Update Version
+    needs: validate-release-version
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    if: needs.validate-release-version.outputs.is-valid == 'true'
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          fetch-depth: 0
+
+      - name: Setup Git
+        run: |
+          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
+          git config user.email "41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
+
+      - name: Setup Node
+        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
+        with:
+          node-version: 20.x
+          cache: "npm"
+
+      - name: Install Dependencies
+        run: npm ci
+
+      - name: Update Package.json Version
+        run: |
+          VERSION="${{ needs.validate-release-version.outputs.version }}"
+
+          # If this is a prerelease, remove any prerelease tags to get base version
+          if [ "${{ github.event.action }}" = "prereleased" ]; then
+            BASE_VERSION=$(echo "$VERSION" | sed 's/-.*$//')
+            echo "🔄 Prerelease detected: using base version $BASE_VERSION instead of $VERSION"
+            VERSION="$BASE_VERSION"
+          fi
+
+          CURRENT_VERSION=$(node -p "require('./package.json').version")
+
+          if [ "$VERSION" = "$CURRENT_VERSION" ]; then
+            echo "ℹ️  Package.json already has version $VERSION, skipping update"
+          else
+            echo "📦 Updating package.json from $CURRENT_VERSION to $VERSION"
+
+            # Update version via "npm version" command without creating a git tag.
+            # This ensures package-lock.json is also updated as well as package.json.
+            npm version $VERSION --no-git-tag-version
+
+            echo "✅ Successfully updated package version to $VERSION"
+          fi
+
+      - name: Check for Changes
+        id: git-check
+        run: |
+          # Check for any modified or untracked files
+          if [ -n "$(git status --porcelain)" ]; then
+            echo "changes=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "📝 Changes detected:"
+            git status --porcelain
+          else
+            echo "changes=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+            echo "ℹ️  No changes to commit"
+          fi
+
+      - name: Create New Branch
+        if: steps.git-check.outputs.changes == 'true'
+        id: create-branch
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          set -e  # Exit on any error
+          BRANCH_NAME="release/${{ env.TAG_NAME }}"
+          echo "branch-name=$BRANCH_NAME" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+          # Check if branch already exists remotely
+          if git ls-remote --exit-code --heads origin "$BRANCH_NAME" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+            echo "❌ Cannot create $BRANCH_NAME branch as it already exists. This may indicate:"
+            echo "  - A previous workflow run failed partway through"
+            echo "  - The branch was manually created"
+            echo "Please manually delete the branch or check for an existing PR and resolve manually."
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+          # Create and checkout new branch
+          git checkout -b "$BRANCH_NAME" || {
+            echo "❌ Failed to create branch $BRANCH_NAME"
+            exit 1
+          }
+          echo "✅ Created $BRANCH_NAME branch"
+
+      - name: Commit Changes
+        if: steps.git-check.outputs.changes == 'true'
+        id: commit-changes
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          set -e  # Exit on any error
+
+          # Stage and commit changes
+          git add package.json package-lock.json || {
+            echo "❌ Failed to stage files"
+            exit 1
+          }
+
+          # Create commit message
+          COMMIT_MESSAGE="chore: version bump
+
+          git commit -m "$COMMIT_MESSAGE" || {
+            echo "❌ Failed to commit changes"
+            exit 1
+          }
+          echo "✅ Committed changes"
+
+          # Push to remote
+          BRANCH_NAME="${{ steps.create-branch.outputs.branch-name }}"
+          git push origin "$BRANCH_NAME" || {
+            echo "❌ Failed to push changes to remote"
+            exit 1
+          }
+          echo "✅ Pushed changes to remote on $BRANCH_NAME branch"
+
+      - name: Create Pull Request
+        if: steps.git-check.outputs.changes == 'true'
+        id: create-pr
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          set -e  # Exit on any error
+          BRANCH_NAME="${{ steps.create-branch.outputs.branch-name }}"
+
+          echo "Creating pull request on $BRANCH_NAME branch into ${{ env.TARGET_BRANCH }}"
+
+          # Set PR title and body based on release type
+          RELEASE_TYPE="release"
+          if [ "${{ github.event.action }}" = "prereleased" ]; then
+            RELEASE_TYPE="pre-release"
+          fi
+
+          # Define PR details
+          # ^ capitalizes the first letter
+          PR_TITLE="${RELEASE_TYPE^} ${{ env.TAG_NAME }}"
+          PR_BODY="Automated version bump for $RELEASE_TYPE ${{ env.TAG_NAME }}."
+          PR_LABELS="auto version bump,release"
+
+          # Create pull request
+          PR_URL=$(gh pr create \
+            --base "${{ env.TARGET_BRANCH }}" \
+            --head "$BRANCH_NAME" \
+            --title "$PR_TITLE" \
+            --body "$PR_BODY" \
+            --label "$PR_LABELS") || {
+            echo "❌ Failed to create pull request"
+            exit 1
+          }
+          echo "✅ Pull request created successfully: $PR_URL"
+
+          # Extract PR number from URL and store as output
+          PR_NUMBER=$(echo "$PR_URL" | grep -oP '\d+$')
+          echo "pr-number=$PR_NUMBER" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "pr-url=$PR_URL" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+          # Enable GitHub PR auto-merge
+          gh pr merge "$PR_URL" --auto --squash || {
+            echo "❌ Failed to enable auto-merge"
+            echo "This may be due to:"
+            echo "  - Auto-merge not being enabled in repository settings"
+            echo "  - Required status checks not configured"
+            echo "  - Insufficient permissions"
+            exit 1
+          }
+          echo "✅ Enabled auto-merge for pull request"
+
+      - name: Wait for PR Merge
+        if: steps.git-check.outputs.changes == 'true'
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          PR_NUMBER="${{ steps.create-pr.outputs.pr-number }}"
+          PR_URL="${{ steps.create-pr.outputs.pr-url }}"
+
+          echo "⏳ Waiting for pull request #$PR_NUMBER to be merged..."
+
+          # Wait for PR to be merged (timeout after 5 minutes)
+          TIMEOUT=300
+          ELAPSED=0
+          INTERVAL=5
+
+          while [ $ELAPSED -lt $TIMEOUT ]; do
+            # Get PR state and merge status in one call
+            PR_DATA=$(gh pr view "$PR_NUMBER" --json state,mergedAt 2>/dev/null || echo '{"state":"UNKNOWN","mergedAt":null}')
+            PR_STATE=$(echo "$PR_DATA" | jq -r '.state')
+            PR_MERGED_AT=$(echo "$PR_DATA" | jq -r '.mergedAt')
+
+            if [ "$PR_STATE" = "MERGED" ] || [ "$PR_MERGED_AT" != "null" ]; then
+              echo "✅ Pull request successfully merged"
+              break
+            fi
+
+            sleep $INTERVAL
+            ELAPSED=$((ELAPSED + INTERVAL))
+            echo "⏳ Still waiting... (${ELAPSED}s elapsed)"
+          done
+
+          if [ $ELAPSED -ge $TIMEOUT ]; then
+            echo "❌ Timeout waiting for pull request to merge"
+            exit 1
+          fi
+
+      - name: Update Tag Reference
+        if: steps.git-check.outputs.changes == 'true'
+        run: |
+          # Fetch the latest changes from target branch
+          git fetch origin ${{ env.TARGET_BRANCH }}
+          git checkout ${{ env.TARGET_BRANCH }}
+          git pull origin ${{ env.TARGET_BRANCH }}
+
+          # Move the existing tag to point to the new commit (preserves GitHub release relationship)
+          git tag ${{ env.TAG_NAME }} -f
+          git push origin ${{ env.TAG_NAME }} -f
+          echo "✅ Updated tag ${{ env.TAG_NAME }} to point to release commit"
+
   deploy:
+    name: Publish Extension
+    needs: [validate-release-version, update-version]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          ref: ${{ env.TARGET_BRANCH }}
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
       - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
         with:
           node-version: 20
-      - run: npm install
+      - run: npm ci
 
       - name: Publish to VS Code Marketplace
         uses: HaaLeo/publish-vscode-extension@v2
@@ -31,3 +300,7 @@ jobs:
           # Open VSX Registry.
           preRelease: ${{ github.event.action == 'prereleased' }}
           extensionFile: ${{ steps.publishToVsCodeMarketplace.outputs.vsixPath }}
+
+      - name: Report Success
+        run: |
+          echo "✅ Successfully published to both marketplaces"