diff --git a/BUILD b/BUILD
index cd42323900..a97cb56d09 100644
--- a/BUILD
+++ b/BUILD
@@ -1,31 +1,39 @@
 load("@buildifier_prebuilt//:rules.bzl", "buildifier")
+load("@rules_pkg//pkg:tar.bzl", "pkg_tar")
 
 # Release
 
-# TODO: Use rules_pkg
-genrule(
+filegroup(
     name = "release",
-    srcs = [":release_files"],
-    outs = [
-        "release.tar.gz",
-        "release.tar.gz.sha256",
+    srcs = [
+        ":release_pkg",
+        ":release_pkg_sha256",
     ],
+)
+
+genrule(
+    name = "release_pkg_sha256",
+    srcs = [":release_pkg"],
+    outs = ["release.tar.gz.sha256"],
     cmd = """\
 set -euo pipefail
 
-outs=($(OUTS))
-
-COPYFILE_DISABLE=1 tar czvfh "$${outs[0]}" \
-  --exclude .DS_Store \
-  --exclude **/*.xcodeproj \
-  --exclude ^bazel-out/ \
-  --exclude ^external/ \
-  *
-shasum -a 256 "$${outs[0]}" > "$${outs[1]}"
+shasum -a 256 $< > $@
     """,
     tags = ["manual"],
 )
 
+pkg_tar(
+    name = "release_pkg",
+    srcs = [":release_files"],
+    extension = "tar.gz",
+    mode = "0444",
+    owner = "0.0",
+    package_file_name = "release.tar.gz",
+    strip_prefix = ".",
+    tags = ["manual"],
+)
+
 filegroup(
     name = "release_files",
     srcs = [
diff --git a/MODULE.bazel b/MODULE.bazel
index 8aa2860647..47bc78abf9 100644
--- a/MODULE.bazel
+++ b/MODULE.bazel
@@ -21,6 +21,11 @@ bazel_dep(
     version = "6.0.0.1",
     dev_dependency = True,
 )
+bazel_dep(
+    name = "rules_pkg",
+    version = "0.7.0",
+    dev_dependency = True,
+)
 
 non_module_deps = use_extension("//xcodeproj:extensions.bzl", "non_module_deps")
 use_repo(
diff --git a/WORKSPACE b/WORKSPACE
index a1911ab25f..fc01dc3240 100644
--- a/WORKSPACE
+++ b/WORKSPACE
@@ -76,3 +76,18 @@ http_archive(
 load("@io_bazel_stardoc//:setup.bzl", "stardoc_repositories")
 
 stardoc_repositories()
+
+# rules_pkg
+
+http_archive(
+    name = "rules_pkg",
+    sha256 = "451e08a4d78988c06fa3f9306ec813b836b1d076d0f055595444ba4ff22b867f",
+    urls = [
+        "https://mirror.bazel.build/github.com/bazelbuild/rules_pkg/releases/download/0.7.1/rules_pkg-0.7.1.tar.gz",
+        "https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_pkg/releases/download/0.7.1/rules_pkg-0.7.1.tar.gz",
+    ],
+)
+
+load("@rules_pkg//:deps.bzl", "rules_pkg_dependencies")
+
+rules_pkg_dependencies()