diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 1ff6188f..17221ed1 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 
 	<groupId>org.janelia.saalfeldlab</groupId>
 	<artifactId>n5</artifactId>
-	<version>2.5.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+	<version>2.5.1</version>
 
 	<name>N5</name>
 	<description>Not HDF5</description>
@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@
 	<scm>
 		<connection>scm:git:git://github.com/saalfeldlab/n5</connection>
 		<developerConnection>scm:git:git@github.com:saalfeldlab/n5</developerConnection>
-		<tag>HEAD</tag>
+		<tag>n5-2.5.1</tag>
 		<url>https://github.com/saalfeldlab/n5</url>
 	</scm>
 	<issueManagement>
diff --git a/release.properties b/release.properties
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..245e38a5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/release.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+#release configuration
+#Fri May 21 17:53:57 EDT 2021
+project.dev.org.janelia.saalfeldlab\:n5=2.5.2-SNAPSHOT
+scm.tagNameFormat=@{project.artifactId}-@{project.version}
+scm.tag=n5-2.5.1
+pushChanges=false
+scm.url=scm\:git\:git\://github.com/saalfeldlab/n5
+preparationGoals=clean verify
+project.rel.org.janelia.saalfeldlab\:n5=2.5.1
+project.scm.org.janelia.saalfeldlab\:n5.developerConnection=scm\:git\:git@github.com\:saalfeldlab/n5
+remoteTagging=true
+projectVersionPolicyId=default
+scm.commentPrefix=[maven-release-plugin] 
+project.scm.org.janelia.saalfeldlab\:n5.connection=scm\:git\:git\://github.com/saalfeldlab/n5
+project.scm.org.janelia.saalfeldlab\:n5.tag=HEAD
+exec.snapshotReleasePluginAllowed=false
+exec.additionalArguments=-Dgpg.skip\=true  -P deploy-to-scijava
+project.scm.org.janelia.saalfeldlab\:n5.url=https\://github.com/saalfeldlab/n5
+completedPhase=end-release