diff --git a/.mailmap b/.mailmap
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a8de62a9a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.mailmap
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+Antonis Kalipetis <akalipetis@sourcelair.com>
+Antonis Kalipetis <akalipetis@sourcelair.com> <akalipetis@gmail.com>
+Daniel Imms <daimms@microsoft.com> <tyriar@tyriar.com>
+Paris Kasidiaris <paris@sourcelair.com>
+Paris Kasidiaris <pariskasidiaris@gmail.com>
+Thanasis Daglis <thanasis@sourcelair.com>
+Thanasis Daglis <thanasis@sourcelair.com> <ath.daglis@gmail.com>
diff --git a/AUTHORS b/AUTHORS
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9d8ffb79c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/AUTHORS
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+List of xterm.js contributors. Updated before every release.
+
+Alexander Olsson <noseglid@gmail.com>
+Antonis Kalipetis <akalipetis@sourcelair.com>
+Austin Robertson <austinrobertson@gmail.com>
+Benjamin Fischer <benjamin.fischer@rwth-aachen.de>
+Carson Anderson <carson@betterservers.com>
+Christopher Jeffrey <chjjeffrey@gmail.com>
+Daniel Imms <daimms@microsoft.com>
+Daniel Risacher <drisacher@gmail.com>
+Dan Kaplun <dbkaplun@twitch.tv>
+Darin Morrison <freebroccolo@users.noreply.github.com>
+Jean Bruenn <himself@jeanbruenn.info>
+Jörg Breitbart <jerch@rockborn.de>
+Paris Kasidiaris <pariskasidiaris@gmail.com>
+Paris Kasidiaris <paris@sourcelair.com>
+runarberg <runar@greenqloud.com>
+Steven Silvester <steven.silvester@ieee.org>
+Thanasis Daglis <thanasis@sourcelair.com>
diff --git a/bin/generate-authors b/bin/generate-authors
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..21446ad49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/generate-authors
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env sh
+
+tail --lines=+3 AUTHORS > AUTHORS.tmp
+git log --format='%aN <%aE>' >> AUTHORS.tmp
+echo "List of xterm.js contributors. Updated before every release.\n" > AUTHORS
+sort -u AUTHORS.tmp >> AUTHORS
+rm -f AUTHORS.tmp
diff --git a/bin/prepare-release b/bin/prepare-release
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..49feacaf5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bin/prepare-release
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env sh
+
+# Usage: ./bin/prepare-release x.y.z
+# x.y.z should be semver (e.g. 1.0.0)
+
+NEW_VERSION=$1
+CURRENT_PACKAGE_JSON_VERSION=$(cat package.json \
+  | grep version \
+  | head -1 \
+  | awk -F: '{ print $2 }' \
+  | sed 's/[",]//g' \
+  | tr -d '[[:space:]]')
+CURRENT_BOWER_JSON_VERSION=$(cat bower.json \
+  | grep version \
+  | head -1 \
+  | awk -F: '{ print $2 }' \
+  | sed 's/[",]//g' \
+  | tr -d '[[:space:]]')
+
+# Update version in package.json and bower.json
+sed -i "s/\"version\": \"$CURRENT_PACKAGE_JSON_VERSION\"/\"version\": \"$NEW_VERSION\"/g" package.json
+sed -i "s/\"version\": \"$CURRENT_BOWER_JSON_VERSION\"/\"version\": \"$NEW_VERSION\"/g" bower.json
+
+# Update AUTHORS file
+sh bin/generate-authors
+
+git commit -a -m "Bump version to $NEW_VERSION"