diff --git a/.drone.yml b/.drone.yml
deleted file mode 100644
index 6539daf49fb7a..0000000000000
--- a/.drone.yml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,59 +0,0 @@
----
-kind: pipeline
-name: default
-
-platform:
-  os: linux
-  arch: amd64
-
-steps:
-- name: fetch
-  image: alpine/git
-  commands:
-  - git fetch origin refs/tags/${DRONE_TAG}:refs/tags/${DRONE_TAG} --no-tags
-  when:
-    event:
-    - tag
-      
-- name: ci
-  pull: default
-  image: rancher/dapper:1.11.2
-  commands:
-  - dapper ci
-  - ls -lR output/bin
-  privileged: true
-  volumes:
-  - name: socket
-    path: /var/run/docker.sock
-  when:
-    event:
-    - pull_request
-    - tag
-
-- name: github_binary_release
-  pull: default
-  image: plugins/github-release
-  settings:
-    checksum:
-    - sha256
-    files:
-    - "output/bin/kubelet*"
-    api_key:
-      from_secret: github_token
-    title: "${DRONE_TAG}"
-  when:
-    instance:
-      include:
-      - drone-publish.rancher.io
-    event:
-    - tag
-    ref:
-      exclude:
-      - "refs/tags/*rc*"
-      - "refs/tags/*alpha*"    
-
-volumes:
-- name: socket
-  host:
-    path: /var/run/docker.sock
-
diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..d2e6934e9c47b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+name: Dapper CI on PR
+run-name: CI on ${{ github.event_name }}
+
+on:
+  pull_request:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - '*'
+
+jobs:
+  validate:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    container:
+      image: rancher/dapper:v0.6.0
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+    steps:
+      - name: Fix the not-a-git-repository issue
+        run: |
+          apk -U add git
+          git config --global --add safe.directory "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE"
+          
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: build with Dapper
+        run: dapper ci
+
+      - name: LS the bin
+        run: ls -lR output/bin
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..f43d73d018de3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+name: Release When Tagged
+run-name: Release ${{ github.ref_name }}
+
+on:
+  push:
+    tags: '*'
+
+jobs:
+  validate:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    container:
+      image: rancher/dapper:v0.6.0
+    permissions:
+      contents: read
+    steps:
+      - name: Check For Alpha / RC in Release
+        if: contains(github.ref_name, 'rc')  || contains(github.ref_name, 'alpha')
+        uses: actions/github-script@v7
+        with:
+          script: |
+            core.setFailed('No RCs or Alphas are released in this repo. Skipping release...') 
+
+      - name: Fix the not-a-git-repository issue
+        run: |
+          apk -U add git
+          git config --global --add safe.directory "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE"
+
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Setup Go
+        uses: actions/setup-go@v5
+        with:
+          go-version-file: go.mod
+
+      - name: build with Dapper
+        run: dapper ci
+        
+      - name: Archive production artifacts
+        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
+        with:
+          name: kubernetes-build
+          path: output/bin
+          if-no-files-found: error
+          overwrite: true
+
+  create-release:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs:
+      - validate
+    permissions:
+      contents: write # needed for creating the GH release
+    env:
+      GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout code
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Download assets
+        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
+
+      - name: Create GH Release
+        run: |
+            gh release create ${{ github.ref_name }} --verify-tag --generate-notes kubernetes-build/*
diff --git a/scripts/build b/scripts/build
index d062c44401ed1..45187aed4214f 100755
--- a/scripts/build
+++ b/scripts/build
@@ -10,8 +10,8 @@ KUBE_BUILD_PLATFORMS="linux/arm64 linux/amd64"
 K8S_BASE="k8s.io/component-base"
 
 mkdir -p output/bin
-if [ -n "$DRONE_TAG" ]; then
-    TAG=$DRONE_TAG
+if [ -n "$VERSION" ]; then
+    TAG=$VERSION
 fi
 
 buildDate=$(date -u '+%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ')
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ for ARCH in ${OS_ARCH_LINUX}; do
         tar -cvzf output/bin/kubelet-$TAG-$ARCH.tar.gz kubelet && rm kubelet
 done
 
+sha256sum output/bin/* > output/bin/sha256sum.txt
+
 rm -rf _output/
 
 echo Built ${TAG}