diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 432088038..49e9509a9 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -1,10 +1,18 @@
 plugins {
     id 'base'
     id 'net.researchgate.release' version '2.6.0'
+    id 'com.github.breadmoirai.github-release' version '2.2.1'
 }
 
 tasks.findByName('release').dependsOn project.getTasksByName('test', true)
 
+githubRelease {
+    token project.'githubToken'
+    owner project.'githubOwner'
+    repo project.'githubRepo'
+    releaseAssets project('backend').artifacts { it }
+}
+
 task wrapper(type: Wrapper) {
     gradleVersion = '4.8.1'
 }
diff --git a/gradle.properties b/gradle.properties
index 2630019c3..a99a7522e 100644
--- a/gradle.properties
+++ b/gradle.properties
@@ -12,3 +12,7 @@ hibernate.version=5.2.11.Final
 lucene.version=7.2.1
 
 org.gradle.jvmargs=-Xmx4g -XX:-UseGCOverheadLimit
+
+githubToken= // set in personal global 
+githubOwner=scalding
+githubRepo=shib-idp-up