diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 2f5c2220a..f1393f315 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -60,9 +60,17 @@ Here are a few things you can do that will increase the likelihood of your pull
 
 ## Releasing (write access required)
 
-1. Trigger a run of the "Update release branch" workflow using [workflow dispatch](https://github.com/github/codeql-action/actions/workflows/update-release-branch.yml).
-1. The workflow run will open a pull request titled "Merge main into v1". [Mark](https://docs.github.com/en/github/collaborating-with-pull-requests/proposing-changes-to-your-work-with-pull-requests/changing-the-stage-of-a-pull-request#marking-a-pull-request-as-ready-for-review) the pull request as ready for review to trigger the PR checks.
-1. Review the checklist items in the pull request description. Once the mergeback PR is merged back into main, the release is complete.
+1. The first step of releasing a new version of the `codeql-action` is running the "Update release branch" workflow.
+    This workflow goes through the pull requests that have been merged to `main` since the last release, creates a changelog, then opens a pull request to merge the changes since the last release into the `v1` release branch.
+
+    A release is automatically started every Monday via a scheduled run of this workflow, however you can start a release manually by triggering a run via [workflow dispatch](https://github.com/github/codeql-action/actions/workflows/update-release-branch.yml). 
+1. The workflow run will open a pull request titled "Merge main into v1". Mark the pull request as [ready for review](https://docs.github.com/en/github/collaborating-with-pull-requests/proposing-changes-to-your-work-with-pull-requests/changing-the-stage-of-a-pull-request#marking-a-pull-request-as-ready-for-review) to trigger the PR checks.
+1. Review the checklist items in the pull request description.
+    Once you've checked off all but the last of these, approve the PR and automerge it.
+1. When the "Merge main into v1" pull request is merged into the `v1` branch, the "Tag release and merge back" workflow will create a mergeback PR.
+    This mergeback incorporates the changelog updates into `main`, tags the release using the merge commit of the "Merge main into v1" pull request, and bumps the patch version of the CodeQL Action.
+
+    Approve the mergeback PR and automerge it. Once the mergeback has been merged into main, the release is complete.
 
 ## Resources