diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index cd545b912fdc72..071365a5357eee 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ buck-out
 .gradle
 local.properties
 *.iml
+/android/
 
 # Node
 node_modules
diff --git a/Releases.md b/Releases.md
index 649b5f177e60ec..c0f5a0443a5aa3 100644
--- a/Releases.md
+++ b/Releases.md
@@ -5,46 +5,54 @@ Release schedule:
 
 - **0.21 branch cut**, 0.21.0-rc - **week of Feb 15**
 - 0.21.0 - Feb 29
-- **0.22 branch cut**, 0.22.0-rc - **week of Feb 29**
-- 0.22.0 - Mar 14
-- **0.23 branch cut**, 0.23.0-rc - **week of Mar 14**
-- 0.23.0 - Mar 28
-- **0.24 branch cut**, 0.23.0-rc - **week of Mar 28**
-- 0.24.0 - Apr 11
+- **0.22 branch cut**, 0.22.0-rc - **week of Mar 7**
+- 0.22.0 - Mar 21
+- **0.23 branch cut**, 0.23.0-rc - **week of Mar 21**
+- 0.23.0 - Apr 4
+- **0.24 branch cut**, 0.23.0-rc - **week of Apr 4**
+- 0.24.0 - Apr 18
 - ...
 
 ## One time setup
 
 Set up Sinopia: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/tree/master/react-native-cli
 
-## Cut a release branch
+#### Check that everything works
 
-To cut a release branch and check that everything works, you'll need Mac OS with the [Android dev environment set up](https://github.com/facebook/react-native/blob/master/ReactAndroid/README.md).
+Make absolutely sure a basic iOS and Android workflow works on the commit you are going to use for release.
+Make sure CI systems [Travis](https://travis-ci.org/facebook/react-native) and [Circle](https://circleci.com/gh/facebook/react-native)
+are green and then run
 
-Run:
+```
+./scripts/test-manual-e2e.sh
+```
 
-    cd react-native
-    ./scripts/release.sh version_you_are_releasing # e.g. ./scripts/release.sh 0.22
+This script runs end to end with a proxy npm repository on local PC and asks to check that Chrome Debugging works.
 
-#### Check that everything works
+## Cut a release branch and push to github
 
-Make absolutely sure a basic iOS and Android workflow works on the release branch you've just created, see the instructions printed by `release.sh`.
-  
-#### Push to github
+To cut a release branch and check that everything works, you'll need Mac OS with the
+[Android dev environment set up](https://github.com/facebook/react-native/blob/master/ReactAndroid/README.md).
 
-  - Check git history, the last commit should be "[0.22-rc] Bump version numbers" (with the correct version)
-  - `git push origin 0.version_you_are_releasing-stable  # e.g. git push origin 0.22-stable`
+Run:
+
+```
+git checkout -b <version_you_are_releasing>-stable # e.g. git checkout -b 0.22-stable
+git tag v<version_you_are_releasing>.0-rc # e.g. git tag v0.22.0-rc
+git push origin <version_you_are_releasing>-stable --tags # e.g. git push origin 0.22-stable --tags
+```
+
+Circle CI will run the tests and publish to npm with version `0.22.0-rc` and tag `next` meaning that
+this version will not be installed for users by default.
+
+** Note ** CI won't publish to npm if the `last` commit on the new branch does not have a tag `v<branch-name-without-stable>.0-[rc]`.
 
 ## Make sure we have release notes
 
 Post that we're ready to release so a voluteer can write release notes:
 https://github.com/facebook/react-native/releases
 
-To go through all the commits that went into a release, one way is to use the GitHub compare view: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/compare/0.18-stable...0.19-stable
-
-## Do an RC release (e.g. 0.22.0-rc)
-
-IMPORTANT: `npm publish` will automatically set the latest tag. **When doing an RC release**, run `npm publish --tag next` - this way people need to opt in to get the RC release.
+To go through all the commits that went into a release, one way is to use the GitHub compare view: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/compare/0.21-stable...0.22-stable
 
 ## IMPORTANT: Track bug reports from the community during the following two weeks and make sure they get fixed
 
@@ -56,7 +64,7 @@ We should only be tracking bugs with small and non-risky fixes. Don't pick new f
 
 ## Do a release (e.g. 0.22.0, 0.22.1)
 
-Roughly two weeks after the branch cut (see the release schedule above) it's time to promote the RC to a real realease.
+Roughly two weeks after the branch cut (see the release schedule above) it's time to promote the RC to a real release.
 
 Make sure you know which bug fixes should definitely be cheery-picked, example: https://github.com/facebook/react-native/issues/6087
 
@@ -64,65 +72,30 @@ We should only cherry-pick small and non-risky bug fixes. Don't pick new feature
 
 Do the following:
 
-**NOTE: Most of these steps are similar to what the script `release.sh` does. The script is used to cut the release branch only, can be made more generic to help with this step too.**
 
 ```
-cd react-native
-git checkout master
-git pull
 git checkout 0.version_you_are_releasing-stable   # e.g. git checkout 0.22-stable
 git pull origin 0.version_you_are_releasing-stable  # e.g. git pull origin 0.22-stable
-# Cherry-pick those commits, test everything again using Sinopia
+# Cherry-pick those commits
 git cherry-pick commitHash1
-# Create the 'android' folder to be published to npm.
-./gradlew :ReactAndroid:installArchives
-# Check that it's there: `ls android`
-...
-npm set registry http://localhost:4873
-sinopia
-# change versions in package.json and React.podspec
-npm publish
-cd /tmp
-react-native init TestAapp
-cd TestApp
-react-native run-ios
-# Check that you can Reload JS and the Chrome debugger works
-# Kill packager
-open ios/TestApp.xcodeproj
-# Click run
-# Check that you can Reload JS and the Chrome debugger works
-cd android && ./gradlew dependencies
-# Double check the react-native dep has the correct version
-cd ..
-react-native run-android
-# Check that you can Reload JS and the Chrome debugger works
-```
 
-If everything worked:
+# test everything again using sinopia
+./scripts/test-manual-e2e.sh
 
-```
-npm set registry https://registry.npmjs.org
-npm publish
+# Check that you can Reload JS and the Chrome debugger works
 ```
 
-Tag the release in Git:
+If everything worked:
 
 ```
 git tag v-version_you_are_releasing  # e.g. git tag v0.22.0, git tag v0.22.1
-git push --tags
-```
-
-To update the [website](https://facebook.github.io/react-native), move the `latest` tag and push to the `0.x-stable` branch. CircleCI will build and deploy the latest docs to the website.
-
-```
-git tag -d latest
-git push origin :latest
-git tag latest
-git push origin version_you_are_releasing-stable --tags  # e.g git push origin 0.22-stable --tags
+git tag latest # for docs [website](https://facebook.github.io/react-native) to be generated
+git push origin 0.22-stable --tags
 ```
 
 Once you see the version in the top left corner of the website has been updated:
-Move the release notes to the tag you've just created. We want single release notes per version, for example if there is v0.22.0-rc and later we release v0.22.0, the release notes should live on v0.22.0:
+Move the release notes to the tag you've just created. We want single release notes per version,
+for example if there is v0.22.0-rc and later we release v0.22.0, the release notes should live on v0.22.0:
 https://github.com/facebook/react-native/tags
 
 Uncheck the box "This is a pre-release" and publish the notes.
diff --git a/circle.yml b/circle.yml
index 5eca82328ecbe1..f893d6dc48cdf3 100644
--- a/circle.yml
+++ b/circle.yml
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@ dependencies:
     - "buck-out/bin"
     - "website/node_modules"
   override:
+    # CIRCLE_NPM_TOKEN is in React Native project settings in Circle CI.
+    # It was generated for bestander user, easy to replace with anyone's else
+    - echo "//registry.npmjs.org/:_authToken=${CIRCLE_NPM_TOKEN}" > ~/.npmrc
     - npm config set spin=false
     - npm config set progress=false
     - npm install
@@ -80,7 +83,7 @@ test:
     #- find . -type f -regex ".*/buck-out/gen/ReactAndroid/src/test/.*/.*xml" -exec cp {} $CIRCLE_TEST_REPORTS/junit/ \;
 
 deployment:
-  website:
+  stable:
     branch: [/.*-stable/, /master/]
     commands:
       # generate docs website
@@ -88,3 +91,4 @@ deployment:
       - git config --global user.name "Website Deployment Script"
       - echo "machine github.com login reactjs-bot password $GITHUB_TOKEN" > ~/.netrc
       - cd website && GIT_USER=reactjs-bot npm run gh-pages
+      - node ./scripts/publish-npm.js
diff --git a/npm-shrinkwrap.json b/npm-shrinkwrap.json
index 44ec1d40035903..b6c08dc15fff7b 100644
--- a/npm-shrinkwrap.json
+++ b/npm-shrinkwrap.json
@@ -6135,6 +6135,11 @@
       "from": "https://registry.npmjs.org/shebang-regex/-/shebang-regex-1.0.0.tgz",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/shebang-regex/-/shebang-regex-1.0.0.tgz"
     },
+    "shelljs": {
+      "version": "0.6.0",
+      "from": "shelljs@>=0.6.0 <0.7.0",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/shelljs/-/shelljs-0.6.0.tgz"
+    },
     "simple-fmt": {
       "version": "0.1.0",
       "from": "https://registry.npmjs.org/simple-fmt/-/simple-fmt-0.1.0.tgz",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index fca5220ac72a33..bfc26424e48d19 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -185,6 +185,7 @@
     "flow-bin": "0.22.0",
     "jest-cli": "0.9.2",
     "portfinder": "0.4.0",
-    "react": "^0.14.5"
+    "react": "^0.14.5",
+    "shelljs": "^0.6.0"
   }
 }
diff --git a/scripts/publish-npm.js b/scripts/publish-npm.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..f99ff8d66c97b6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/publish-npm.js
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2015-present, Facebook, Inc.
+ * All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the BSD-style license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree. An additional grant
+ * of patent rights can be found in the PATENTS file in the same directory.
+ */
+'use strict';
+
+/**
+ * This script publishes a new version of react-native to NPM.
+ * It is supposed to run in CI environment, not on a developer's machine.
+ *
+ * To make it easier for developers it uses some logic to identify with which version to publish the package.
+ *
+ * To cut a branch (and release RC):
+ * - Developer: `git checkout -b 0.XY-stable`
+ * - Developer: `git tag v0.XY.0-rc` and `git push --tags` to git@github.com:facebook/react-native.git
+ * - CI: test and deploy to npm (run this script) with version 0.XY.0-rc with tag "next"
+ *
+ * To update RC release:
+ * - Developer: `git checkout 0.XY-stable`
+ * - Developer: cherry-pick whatever changes needed
+ * - Developer: `git tag v0.XY.0-rc1` and `git push --tags` to git@github.com:facebook/react-native.git
+ * - CI: test and deploy to npm (run this script) with version 0.XY.0-rc1 with tag "next"
+ *
+ * To publish a release:
+ * - Developer: `git checkout 0.XY-stable`
+ * - Developer: cherry-pick whatever changes needed
+ * - Developer: `git tag latest`
+ * - Developer: `git tag v0.XY.0`
+ * - Developer: `git push --tags` to git@github.com:facebook/react-native.git
+ * - CI: test and deploy to npm (run this script) with version 0.XY.0 with and not tag (latest is implied by npm)
+ *
+ * To patch old release:
+ * - Developer: `git checkout 0.XY-stable`
+ * - Developer: cherry-pick whatever changes needed
+ * - Developer: `git tag v0.XY.Z`
+ * - Developer: `git push` to git@github.com:facebook/react-native.git (or merge as pull request)
+ * - CI: test and deploy to npm (run this script) with version 0.XY.Z with no tag, npm will not mark it as latest if
+ * there is a version higher than XY
+ *
+ * Important tags:
+ * If tag v0.XY.0-rcZ is present on the commit then publish to npm with version 0.XY.0-rcZ and tag next
+ * If tag v0.XY.Z is present on the commit then publish to npm with version 0.XY.Z and no tag (npm will consider it latest)
+ */
+
+/*eslint-disable no-undef */
+require(`shelljs/global`);
+
+const buildBranch = process.env.CIRCLE_BRANCH;
+const requiredJavaVersion = `1.7`;
+
+let branchVersion;
+if (buildBranch.indexOf(`-stable`) !== -1) {
+  branchVersion = buildBranch.slice(0, buildBranch.indexOf(`-stable`));
+} else {
+  echo(`Error: We publish only from stable branches`);
+  exit(0);
+}
+
+// ['latest', 'v0.33.0', 'v0.33.0-rc', 'v0.33.0-rc1', 'v0.33.0-rc2', 'v0.34.0', '']
+const tagsWithVersion = exec(`git tag -l --points-at HEAD`).stdout.split(/\s/)
+  // ['v0.33.0', 'v0.33.0-rc', 'v0.33.0-rc1', 'v0.33.0-rc2', 'v0.34.0']
+  .filter(version => !!version && version.indexOf(`v${branchVersion}`) === 0)
+  // ['v0.33.0', 'v0.33.0-rc', 'v0.33.0-rc1', 'v0.33.0-rc2']
+  .filter(version => version.indexOf(branchVersion) !== -1);
+
+if (tagsWithVersion.length === 0) {
+  echo(`Error: Can't find version tag in current commit. To deploy to NPM you must add tag v0.XY.Z[-rc] to your commit`);
+  exit(1);
+}
+let releaseVersion;
+if (tagsWithVersion[0].indexOf(`-rc`) === -1) {
+  // if first tag on this commit is non -rc then we are making a stable release
+  // '0.33.0'
+  releaseVersion = tagsWithVersion[0].slice(1);
+} else {
+  // otherwise pick last -rc tag alphabetically
+  // 0.33.0-rc2
+  releaseVersion = tagsWithVersion[tagsWithVersion.length - 1].slice(1);
+}
+
+// -------- Generating Android Artifacts with JavaDoc
+// Java -version outputs to stderr 0_o
+const javaVersion = exec(`java -version`).stderr;
+if (javaVersion.indexOf(requiredJavaVersion) === -1) {
+  echo(`Java version must be 1.7.x in order to generate Javadoc. Check: java -version`);
+  exit(1);
+}
+
+if (sed(`-i`, /^VERSION_NAME=[0-9\.]*-SNAPSHOT/, `VERSION_NAME=${releaseVersion}`, `ReactAndroid/gradle.properties`).code) {
+  echo(`Couldn't update version for Gradle`);
+  exit(1);
+}
+
+// Uncomment Javadoc generation
+if (sed(`-i`, `// archives androidJavadocJar`, `archives androidJavadocJar`, `ReactAndroid/release.gradle`).code) {
+  echo(`Couldn't enable Javadoc generation`);
+  exit(1);
+}
+
+if (exec(`./gradlew :ReactAndroid:installArchives`).code) {
+  echo(`Couldn't generate artifacts`);
+  exit(1);
+}
+
+echo("Generated artifacts for Maven");
+
+let artifacts = ['-javadoc.jar', '-sources.jar', '.aar', '.pom'].map((suffix) => {
+  return `react-native-${releaseVersion}${suffix}`;
+});
+
+artifacts.forEach((name) => {
+  if (!test(`-e`, `./android/com/facebook/react/react-native/${releaseVersion}/${name}`)) {
+    echo(`file ${name} was not generated`);
+    exit(1);
+  }
+});
+
+// ----------- Reverting changes to local files
+
+exec(`git checkout ReactAndroid/gradle.properties`);
+exec(`git checkout ReactAndroid/release.gradle`);
+
+
+if (exec(`npm version --no-git-tag-version ${releaseVersion}`).code) {
+  echo(`Couldn't update version for npm`);
+  exit(1);
+}
+if (sed(`-i`, `s.version             = "0.0.1-master"`, `s.version             = \"${releaseVersion}\"`, `React.podspec`).code) {
+  echo(`Couldn't update version for React.podspec`);
+  exit(1);
+}
+
+// shrinkwrapping without dev dependencies
+exec(`npm shrinkwrap`);
+if (releaseVersion.indexOf(`-rc`) === -1) {
+  // release, package will be installed by default
+  exec(`npm publish`);
+} else {
+  // RC release, package will be installed only if users specifically do it
+  exec(`npm publish --tag next`);
+}
+
+exec(`git checkout package.json`);
+exec(`git checkout React.podspec`);
+
+echo(`Published to npm ${releaseVersion}`);
+
+exit(0);
+/*eslint-enable no-undef */
diff --git a/scripts/release.sh b/scripts/test-manual-e2e.sh
similarity index 63%
rename from scripts/release.sh
rename to scripts/test-manual-e2e.sh
index 04776a5a3d14f4..5d4af55675568f 100755
--- a/scripts/release.sh
+++ b/scripts/test-manual-e2e.sh
@@ -25,37 +25,12 @@ info() {
 
 repo_root=$(pwd)
 
-git branch | grep -o ${RELEASE}-stable && error "Branch already exists"
-java -version 2>&1 | grep ${JAVA_VERSION} || error "Java version must be 1.7.x in order to generate Javadoc. Check: java -version"
-
-git pull || error "Couldn't pull from remote repository"
-git checkout -b ${RELEASE}-stable || error "Couldn't create branch"
-
-success "Created release branch: ${RELEASE}-stable"
-
 sed -i.bak s/^VERSION_NAME=[0-9\.]*-SNAPSHOT/VERSION_NAME=${RELEASE}.0/g "ReactAndroid/gradle.properties" || error "Couldn't update version for Gradle"
-# Uncomment Javadoc generation
-sed -i.bak s:\/\/\ archives\ androidJavadocJar:archives\ androidJavadocJar:g "ReactAndroid/release.gradle" || error "Couldn't enable Javadoc generation"
-./gradlew :ReactAndroid:installArchives || error "Couldn't generate artifacts"
-# Revert Javadoc generation
-sed -i.bak s:archives\ androidJavadocJar:\/\/\ archives\ androidJavadocJar:g "ReactAndroid/release.gradle" || error "Couldn't enable Javadoc generation"
 
-artifacts_list=( -javadoc.jar -sources.jar .aar .pom )
-# ./gradlew :ReactAndroid:installArchives put the artifacts in react-native/android, ready to be published to npm
-artifacts_dir="${repo_root}/android/com/facebook/react/react-native/${RELEASE}.0"
-
-for i in "${artifacts_list[@]}"; do
-   artifact_file="${artifacts_dir}/react-native-${RELEASE}.0${i}"
-   [ -e "${artifact_file}" ] || error "Couldn't find file: ${artifact_file}"
-done
+./gradlew :ReactAndroid:installArchives || error "Couldn't generate artifacts"
 
 success "Generated artifacts for Maven"
 
-sed -i.bak -E "s/(\"version\":[[:space:]]*\").+(\")/\"version\": \"${RELEASE}.0-rc\"/g" "package.json" || error "Couldn't update version for npm"
-sed -i.bak -E "s/(s.version[[:space:]]{13}=[[:space:]].+)/s.version             = \"${RELEASE}.0-rc\"/g" "React.podspec" || error "Couldn't update version for CocoaPods"
-
-success "Updated version numbers"
-
 npm_registry="http://localhost:4873/"
 
 npm set registry "${npm_registry}" && [[ $(npm config list | grep registry) == "registry = \"${npm_registry}\"" ]] || error "Couldn't set registry to ${npm_registry}"
@@ -67,6 +42,9 @@ info ""
 info "Press any key to continue"
 read -n 1
 
+sed -i.bak -E "s/(\"version\":[[:space:]]*\").+(\")/\"version\": \"${RELEASE}.0-rc\"/g" "package.json" || error "Couldn't update version for npm"
+sed -i.bak -E "s/(s.version[[:space:]]{13}=[[:space:]].+)/s.version             = \"${RELEASE}.0-rc\"/g" "React.podspec" || error "Couldn't update version for CocoaPods"
+
 npm unpublish --force || error "Couldn't unpublish package from sinopia (${npm_registry})"
 npm publish || error "Couldn't publish package to sinopia (${npm_registry})"
 
@@ -101,16 +79,14 @@ open "/tmp/${project_name}/ios/${project_name}.xcodeproj"
 
 cd "$repo_root"
 
-info "Press any key to commit changes"
-read -n 1
-git commit -am "[${RELEASE}.0-rc] Bump version numbers"
-
+# undo changes to files
+git checkout package.json
+git checkout React.podspec
+git checkout ReactAndroid/gradle.properties
 find . -path "*.bak" | xargs rm
 
+npm set registry "https://registry.npmjs.org/" || error "Couldn't set registry to ${npm_registry}"
+
 info "Next steps:"
-info "   - git push origin ${RELEASE}-stable"
-info "   - git tag v${RELEASE}.0-rc ${RELEASE}-stable"
-info "   - git push --tags"
-info "   - npm set registry https://registry.npmjs.org/"
-info "   - When doing a RC release: npm publish --tag next"
-info "   - When doing a non-RC release: npm publish  # Sets the latest tag automatically"
+info "   - git tag v${RELEASE}.0-rc"
+info "   - git push origin ${RELEASE}-stable --tags"
diff --git a/website/package.json b/website/package.json
index 69e3093b99fd43..31600f115dcc0e 100644
--- a/website/package.json
+++ b/website/package.json
@@ -16,7 +16,6 @@
     "react-docgen": "^2.0.1",
     "react-page-middleware": "git://github.com/facebook/react-page-middleware.git",
     "request": "^2.69.0",
-    "semver-compare": "^1.0.0",
-    "shelljs": "^0.6.0"
+    "semver-compare": "^1.0.0"
   }
 }