diff --git a/.github/workflows/citation-cff.yml b/.github/workflows/citation-cff.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f6f70f711d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/citation-cff.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+name: CITATION.cff validation
+
+on:
+  push:
+    paths:
+      - CITATION.cff
+      - .github/workflows/citation-cff.yml
+  pull_request:
+    paths:
+      - CITATION.cff
+      - .github/workflows/citation-cff.yml
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+
+jobs:
+  validate-citation-cff:
+    name: Validate CITATION.cff
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
+      - name: Validate CITATION.cff schema
+        uses: citation-file-format/cffconvert-github-action@2.0.0
+        with:
+          args: "--validate"
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 2f96c7e51c2..8880b1f5b5c 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -29,3 +29,6 @@ plans/
 
 # Debug logs (e.g. from reindex investigation)
 reindex-dbg.log
+
+# Temporary files occasionally created by Ant replaceregexp
+/tmp*tmp
diff --git a/CITATION.cff b/CITATION.cff
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..4a30ec52094
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CITATION.cff
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# This CITATION.cff file was generated with cffinit.
+# Visit https://bit.ly/cffinit to generate yours today!
+
+cff-version: 1.2.0
+title: eXist-db
+message: Native XML Database
+type: software
+authors:
+  - name: The eXist-db authors
+identifiers:
+  - type: url
+    value: >-
+      https://github.com/eXist-db/exist/releases/tag/eXist-6.4.1
+    description: The URL of the latest GitHub release
+repository-code: 'https://github.com/eXist-db/exist'
+url: 'https://exist-db.org/'
+repository-artifact: 'https://central.sonatype.com/artifact/org.exist-db/exist'
+abstract: >-
+  eXist-db is a high-performance open source native XML
+  database — a NoSQL document database and application
+  platform built entirely around XML technologies. 
+keywords:
+  - xquery
+  - xml
+  - database
+license: LGPL-2.1
+commit: facea6b4c49004848f918480351a18b8f9a8128a
+version: 6.4.1
+date-released: '2026-03-05'
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9f2fb34ad54..55797eabd2c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 [![Code of Conduct](https://img.shields.io/badge/code%20of%20conduct-contributor%20covenant-%235e0d73.svg)](https://contributor-covenant.org/version/1/4/)
 [![Ask DeepWiki](https://deepwiki.com/badge.svg)](https://deepwiki.com/eXist-db/exist)
 
-eXist-db is a high-performance open source native XML database—a NoSQL document database and application platform built entirely around XML technologies. The main homepage for eXist-db can be found at [exist-db.org](https://exist-db.org "eXist Homepage"). This is the GitHub repository of eXist source code, and this page links to resources for downloading, building, and contributing to eXist-db, below.
+eXist-db is a high-performance open source native XML database — a NoSQL document database and application platform built entirely around XML technologies. The main homepage for eXist-db can be found at [exist-db.org](https://exist-db.org "eXist Homepage"). This is the GitHub repository of eXist source code, and this page links to resources for downloading, building, and contributing to eXist-db, below.
 
 The eXist-db community has adopted the [Contributor Covenant](https://www.contributor-covenant.org/) [Code of Conduct](https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/1/4/code-of-conduct).
 
diff --git a/exist-parent/pom.xml b/exist-parent/pom.xml
index dbc4383a01e..c33d9922c1e 100644
--- a/exist-parent/pom.xml
+++ b/exist-parent/pom.xml
@@ -609,6 +609,11 @@
                     <artifactId>find-and-replace-maven-plugin</artifactId>
                     <version>1.0.5</version>
                 </plugin>
+                <plugin>
+                    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                    <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
+                    <version>3.2.0</version>
+                </plugin>
                 <plugin>
                     <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                     <artifactId>maven-clean-plugin</artifactId>
@@ -933,6 +938,7 @@
                     <configuration>
                         <autoVersionSubmodules>true</autoVersionSubmodules>
                         <tagNameFormat>eXist-@{project.version}</tagNameFormat>
+                        <preparationGoals>clean verify -P citation-release-metadata -DupdateCff=true</preparationGoals>
                         <useReleaseProfile>true</useReleaseProfile>
                         <releaseProfiles>exist-release</releaseProfiles>
                     </configuration>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index f82e32d6b2b..ad41a307cc0 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -114,6 +114,119 @@
             </modules>
         </profile>
 
+        <profile>
+            <id>citation-release-metadata</id>
+            <activation>
+                <property>
+                    <name>updateCff</name>
+                    <value>true</value>
+                </property>
+            </activation>
+            <properties>
+                <maven.build.timestamp.format>yyyy-MM-dd</maven.build.timestamp.format>
+            </properties>
+            <build>
+                <plugins>
+                    <plugin>
+                        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                        <artifactId>maven-enforcer-plugin</artifactId>
+                        <executions>
+                            <execution>
+                                <id>require-release-version-for-citation-update</id>
+                                <phase>validate</phase>
+                                <goals>
+                                    <goal>enforce</goal>
+                                </goals>
+                                <configuration>
+                                    <rules>
+                                        <requireProperty>
+                                            <property>project.version</property>
+                                            <regex>^(?!.*-SNAPSHOT$).+$</regex>
+                                            <regexMessage>The citation-release-metadata profile can only run for release versions (non-SNAPSHOT).</regexMessage>
+                                        </requireProperty>
+                                    </rules>
+                                </configuration>
+                            </execution>
+                        </executions>
+                    </plugin>
+                    <plugin>
+                        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+                        <artifactId>maven-antrun-plugin</artifactId>
+                        <executions>
+                            <!--
+                              git-commit-id-maven-plugin already sets git.commit.id, but Ant replaceregexp's
+                              replace= attribute is not re-interpolated with those runtime Maven properties
+                              before Ant applies it (literal ${git.commit.id} can end up in CITATION.cff).
+                              Export commitLine from Ant (git rev-parse) then use ${commitLine} in a second execution.
+                            -->
+                            <execution>
+                                <id>citation-cff-resolve-commit</id>
+                                <phase>validate</phase>
+                                <goals>
+                                    <goal>run</goal>
+                                </goals>
+                                <configuration>
+                                    <exportAntProperties>true</exportAntProperties>
+                                    <target>
+                                        <mkdir dir="${project.build.directory}"/>
+                                        <exec executable="git" dir="${project.basedir}" failonerror="true" output="${project.build.directory}/cff-commit.tmp">
+                                            <arg value="rev-parse"/>
+                                            <arg value="HEAD"/>
+                                        </exec>
+                                        <replaceregexp file="${project.build.directory}/cff-commit.tmp"
+                                                       match="^([0-9a-f]{7,40})\s*$"
+                                                       replace="\1"
+                                                       byline="true"/>
+                                        <loadfile property="cff.head" srcFile="${project.build.directory}/cff-commit.tmp" encoding="UTF-8">
+                                            <filterchain>
+                                                <striplinebreaks/>
+                                            </filterchain>
+                                        </loadfile>
+                                        <property name="commitLine" value="commit: ${cff.head}"/>
+                                        <delete file="${project.build.directory}/cff-commit.tmp" failonerror="false" quiet="true"/>
+                                    </target>
+                                </configuration>
+                            </execution>
+                            <execution>
+                                <id>update-citation-cff</id>
+                                <phase>validate</phase>
+                                <goals>
+                                    <goal>run</goal>
+                                </goals>
+                                <configuration>
+                                    <target>
+                                        <!-- Guard against stale temp files left by interrupted text replacements -->
+                                        <delete failonerror="false" quiet="true">
+                                            <fileset dir="${project.basedir}" includes="tmp*tmp"/>
+                                        </delete>
+                                        <replaceregexp file="${project.basedir}/CITATION.cff"
+                                                       match="^version:\s*.*$"
+                                                       replace="version: ${project.version}"
+                                                       byline="true"/>
+                                        <replaceregexp file="${project.basedir}/CITATION.cff"
+                                                       match="^date-released:\s*.*$"
+                                                       replace="date-released: '${maven.build.timestamp}'"
+                                                       byline="true"/>
+                                        <replaceregexp file="${project.basedir}/CITATION.cff"
+                                                       match="https://github\.com/eXist-db/exist/releases/tag/eXist-[^ '\&quot;]+"
+                                                       replace="https://github.com/eXist-db/exist/releases/tag/eXist-${project.version}"
+                                                       byline="true"/>
+                                        <replaceregexp file="${project.basedir}/CITATION.cff"
+                                                       match="^commit:\s*.*$"
+                                                       replace="${commitLine}"
+                                                       byline="true"/>
+                                        <delete failonerror="false" quiet="true">
+                                            <fileset dir="${project.basedir}" includes="tmp*tmp"/>
+                                        </delete>
+                                    </target>
+                                </configuration>
+                            </execution>
+                        </executions>
+                    </plugin>
+                </plugins>
+            </build>
+        </profile>
+
     </profiles>
 
 </project>