diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..415c47fdc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# Changelog
+
+All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
+
+The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
+and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
+
+## [Unreleased]
+
+## 0.4.0 (2024-01-20)
+ - Initial release
diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 76fab47c5..9acdb1126 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -50,6 +50,12 @@ window of 2 days, otherwise the PR will be reverted.
  - Try to avoid exceptions, if possible.
  - Never use `==`, which is the physical equality, and almost never what you want.
 
+### Changelog
+Our changelog format is based on https://keepachangelog.com/.
+Please add an entry in a subsection (`Added`, `Changed`, `Deprecated`, `Removed`, `Fixed` -- see https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/#how) for each notable change.
+
+Please prefix with `engine:`, `frontend:` or similar.
+
 ## Styleguides
 
 ### Git Commit Messages
diff --git a/PUBLISHING.md b/PUBLISHING.md
index 857f0b517..48934dc31 100644
--- a/PUBLISHING.md
+++ b/PUBLISHING.md
@@ -49,9 +49,10 @@ engine. Those should not be published on `crate.io`.
 2. `cargo-hax-engine-names-extract`
 
 ## Procedure
- 1. Bump the version number with `cargo release LEVEL --no-publish --no-tag --execute` (`cargo release --help` for more details on `LEVEL`). This will bump the version of every Rust crate, but also the version in `engine/dune-project`. This will also regenerate `engine/hax-engine.opam`. Note this will *not* publish the crate.
- 2. PR the change
- 3. when the PR is merged in main, checkout `main` and run `cargo release --execute`
+ 1. Move the contents of `CHANGELOG.md` under the `[Unreleased]` section to a new section named following the target version
+ 2. Bump the version number with `cargo release LEVEL --no-publish --no-tag --execute` (`cargo release --help` for more details on `LEVEL`). This will bump the version of every Rust crate, but also the version in `engine/dune-project`. This will also regenerate `engine/hax-engine.opam`. Note this will *not* publish the crate.
+ 3. PR the change
+ 4. when the PR is merged in main, checkout `main` and run `cargo release --execute`
 
 Note: for now, we are not publishing to Opam. Instead, let's just advertise the following for installation:
 ```bash