diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index f2f0831cdd..16645bb2ad 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -85,8 +85,12 @@
       <version>1.1</version>
       <scope>test</scope>
     </dependency>
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.eclipse.jgit</groupId>
+      <artifactId>org.eclipse.jgit</artifactId>
+      <version>3.1.0.201310021548-r</version>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
-
   <repositories>
     <repository>
       <id>repo.jenkins-ci.org</id>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/GHAsset.java b/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/GHAsset.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e70730aac4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/GHAsset.java
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+package org.kohsuke.github;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Date;
+
+public class GHAsset {
+    GitHub root;
+    GHRepository owner;
+    private String url;
+    private String id;
+    private String name;
+    private String label;
+    private String state;
+    private String content_type;
+    private long size;
+    private long download_count;
+    private Date created_at;
+    private Date updated_at;
+
+    public String getContentType() {
+        return content_type;
+    }
+
+    public void setContentType(String contentType) throws IOException {
+        edit("content_type", contentType);
+        this.content_type = contentType;
+    }
+
+    public Date getCreatedAt() {
+        return created_at;
+    }
+
+    public long getDownloadCount() {
+        return download_count;
+    }
+
+    public String getId() {
+        return id;
+    }
+
+    public String getLabel() {
+        return label;
+    }
+
+    public void setLabel(String label) throws IOException {
+        edit("label", label);
+        this.label = label;
+    }
+
+    public String getName() {
+        return name;
+    }
+
+    public GHRepository getOwner() {
+        return owner;
+    }
+
+    public GitHub getRoot() {
+        return root;
+    }
+
+    public long getSize() {
+        return size;
+    }
+
+    public String getState() {
+        return state;
+    }
+
+    public Date getUpdatedAt() {
+        return updated_at;
+    }
+
+    public String getUrl() {
+        return url;
+    }
+
+    private void edit(String key, Object value) throws IOException {
+        new Requester(root)._with(key, value).method("PATCH").to(getApiRoute());
+    }
+
+    public void delete() throws IOException {
+        new Requester(root).method("DELETE").to(getApiRoute());
+    }
+
+
+    private String getApiRoute() {
+        return "/repos/" + owner.getOwnerName() + "/" + owner.getName() + "/releases/assets/" + id;
+    }
+
+    GHAsset wrap(GHRelease release) {
+        this.owner = release.getOwner();
+        this.root = owner.root;
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    public static GHAsset[] wrap(GHAsset[] assets, GHRelease release) {
+        for (GHAsset aTo : assets) {
+            aTo.wrap(release);
+        }
+        return assets;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/GHRelease.java b/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/GHRelease.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3efd04b11c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/GHRelease.java
@@ -0,0 +1,187 @@
+package org.kohsuke.github;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.Date;
+
+import static java.lang.String.format;
+
+public class GHRelease {
+    GitHub root;
+    GHRepository owner;
+
+    private String url;
+    private String html_url;
+    private String assets_url;
+    private String upload_url;
+    private long id;
+    private String tag_name;
+    private String target_commitish;
+    private String name;
+    private String body;
+    private boolean draft;
+    private boolean prerelease;
+    private Date created_at;
+    private Date published_at;
+
+    public String getAssetsUrl() {
+        return assets_url;
+    }
+
+    public void setAssetsUrl(String assets_url) {
+        this.assets_url = assets_url;
+    }
+
+    public String getBody() {
+        return body;
+    }
+
+    public void setBody(String body) {
+        this.body = body;
+    }
+
+    public Date getCreatedAt() {
+        return created_at;
+    }
+
+    public void setCreatedAt(Date created_at) {
+        this.created_at = created_at;
+    }
+
+    public boolean isDraft() {
+        return draft;
+    }
+
+    public void setDraft(boolean draft) {
+        this.draft = draft;
+    }
+
+    public String getHtmlUrl() {
+        return html_url;
+    }
+
+    public void setHtmlUrl(String html_url) {
+        this.html_url = html_url;
+    }
+
+    public long getId() {
+        return id;
+    }
+
+    public void setId(long id) {
+        this.id = id;
+    }
+
+    public String getName() {
+        return name;
+    }
+
+    public void setName(String name) {
+        this.name = name;
+    }
+
+    public GHRepository getOwner() {
+        return owner;
+    }
+
+    public void setOwner(GHRepository owner) {
+        this.owner = owner;
+    }
+
+    public boolean isPrerelease() {
+        return prerelease;
+    }
+
+    public void setPrerelease(boolean prerelease) {
+        this.prerelease = prerelease;
+    }
+
+    public Date getPublished_at() {
+        return published_at;
+    }
+
+    public void setPublished_at(Date published_at) {
+        this.published_at = published_at;
+    }
+
+    public GitHub getRoot() {
+        return root;
+    }
+
+    public void setRoot(GitHub root) {
+        this.root = root;
+    }
+
+    public String getTagName() {
+        return tag_name;
+    }
+
+    public void setTagName(String tag_name) {
+        this.tag_name = tag_name;
+    }
+
+    public String getTargetCommitish() {
+        return target_commitish;
+    }
+
+    public void setTargetCommitish(String target_commitish) {
+        this.target_commitish = target_commitish;
+    }
+
+    public String getUploadUrl() {
+        return upload_url;
+    }
+
+    public void setUploadUrl(String upload_url) {
+        this.upload_url = upload_url;
+    }
+
+    public String getUrl() {
+        return url;
+    }
+
+    public void setUrl(String url) {
+        this.url = url;
+    }
+
+    GHRelease wrap(GHRepository owner) {
+        this.owner = owner;
+        this.root = owner.root;
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    static GHRelease[] wrap(GHRelease[] releases, GHRepository owner) {
+        for (GHRelease release : releases) {
+            release.wrap(owner);
+        }
+        return releases;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Because github relies on SNI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Name_Indication) this method will only work on
+     * Java 7 or greater.  Options for fixing this for earlier JVMs can be found here
+     * http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12361090/server-name-indication-sni-on-java but involve more complicated
+     * handling of the HTTP requests to github's API.
+     *
+     * @throws IOException
+     */
+    public GHAsset uploadAsset(File file, String contentType) throws IOException {
+        Requester builder = new Requester(owner.root);
+
+        String url = format("https://uploads.github.com%sreleases/%d/assets?name=%s",
+                owner.getApiTailUrl(""), getId(), file.getName());
+        return builder.contentType(contentType)
+                .with(new FileInputStream(file))
+                .to(url, GHAsset.class).wrap(this);
+    }
+
+    public GHAsset[] getAssets() throws IOException {
+        Requester builder = new Requester(owner.root);
+
+        GHAsset[] assets = (GHAsset[]) builder
+                .method("GET")
+                .to(owner.getApiTailUrl(format("releases/%d/assets", id)), GHAsset[].class);
+        return GHAsset.wrap(assets, this);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/GHReleaseBuilder.java b/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/GHReleaseBuilder.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0b368dbb78
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/GHReleaseBuilder.java
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+package org.kohsuke.github;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+public class GHReleaseBuilder {
+    private final GHRepository repo;
+    private final Requester builder;
+
+    public GHReleaseBuilder(GHRepository ghRepository, String tag) {
+        this.repo = ghRepository;
+        this.builder = new Requester(repo.root);
+        builder.with("tag_name", tag);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param body The release notes body.
+     */
+    public GHReleaseBuilder body(String body) {
+        if (body != null) {
+            builder.with("body", body);
+        }
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Specifies the commitish value that determines where the Git tag is created from. Can be any branch or
+     * commit SHA.
+     *
+     * @param commitish Defaults to the repository’s default branch (usually "master"). Unused if the Git tag
+     *                  already exists.
+     * @return
+     */
+    public GHReleaseBuilder commitish(String commitish) {
+        if (commitish != null) {
+            builder.with("target_commitish", commitish);
+        }
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Optional.
+     *
+     * @param draft {@code true} to create a draft (unpublished) release, {@code false} to create a published one.
+     *                          Default is {@code false}.
+     */
+    public GHReleaseBuilder draft(boolean draft) {
+        builder.with("draft", draft);
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param name the name of the release
+     */
+    public GHReleaseBuilder name(String name) {
+        if (name != null) {
+            builder.with("name", name);
+        }
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Optional
+     *
+     * @param prerelease {@code true} to identify the release as a prerelease. {@code false} to identify the release
+     *                               as a full release. Default is {@code false}.
+     */
+    public GHReleaseBuilder prerelease(boolean prerelease) {
+        builder.with("prerelease", prerelease);
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    public GHRelease create() throws IOException {
+        return builder.to(repo.getApiTailUrl("releases"), GHRelease.class).wrap(repo);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/GHRepository.java b/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/GHRepository.java
index 5302413c3a..93748037f8 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/GHRepository.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/GHRepository.java
@@ -146,6 +146,15 @@ public List<GHIssue> getIssues(GHIssueState state) throws IOException {
         return Arrays.asList(GHIssue.wrap(root.retrieve().to("/repos/" + owner.login + "/" + name + "/issues?state=" + state.toString().toLowerCase(), GHIssue[].class), this));
     }
 
+    public GHReleaseBuilder createRelease(String tag) {
+        return new GHReleaseBuilder(this,tag);
+    }
+
+    public List<GHRelease> getReleases() throws IOException {
+        return Arrays.asList(GHRelease.wrap(root.retrieve().to("/repos/" + owner.login + "/" + name + "/releases",
+                GHRelease[].class), this));
+    }
+
     protected String getOwnerName() {
         return owner.login;
     }
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/Requester.java b/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/Requester.java
index 795c2e2a1e..fa9bc3191c 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/Requester.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/kohsuke/github/Requester.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@
 
 import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
 
+import javax.net.ssl.HttpsURLConnection;
 import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
@@ -47,7 +48,7 @@
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.zip.GZIPInputStream;
 
-import static org.kohsuke.github.GitHub.*;
+import static org.kohsuke.github.GitHub.MAPPER;
 
 /**
  * A builder pattern for making HTTP call and parsing its output.
@@ -62,6 +63,8 @@ class Requester {
      * Request method.
      */
     private String method = "POST";
+    private String contentType = "application/x-www-form-urlencoded";
+    private InputStream body;
 
     private static class Entry {
         String key;
@@ -113,6 +116,11 @@ public Requester with(String key, Map<String, String> value) {
         return _with(key, value);
     }
 
+    public Requester with(InputStream body) {
+        this.body = body;
+        return this;
+    }
+
     public Requester _with(String key, Object value) {
         if (value!=null) {
             args.add(new Entry(key,value));
@@ -125,6 +133,11 @@ public Requester method(String method) {
         return this;
     }
 
+    public Requester contentType(String contentType) {
+        this.contentType = contentType;
+        return this;
+    }
+
     public void to(String tailApiUrl) throws IOException {
         to(tailApiUrl,null);
     }
@@ -162,13 +175,25 @@ private <T> T _to(String tailApiUrl, Class<T> type, T instance) throws IOExcepti
 
             if (!method.equals("GET")) {
                 uc.setDoOutput(true);
-                uc.setRequestProperty("Content-type","application/x-www-form-urlencoded");
+                uc.setRequestProperty("Content-type", contentType);
 
-                Map json = new HashMap();
-                for (Entry e : args) {
-                    json.put(e.key, e.value);
+                if (body == null) {
+                    Map json = new HashMap();
+                    for (Entry e : args) {
+                        json.put(e.key, e.value);
+                    }
+                    MAPPER.writeValue(uc.getOutputStream(), json);
+                } else {
+                    try {
+                        byte[] bytes = new byte[32768];
+                        int read = 0;
+                        while ((read = body.read(bytes)) != -1) {
+                            uc.getOutputStream().write(bytes, 0, read);
+                        }
+                    } finally {
+                        body.close();
+                    }
                 }
-                MAPPER.writeValue(uc.getOutputStream(),json);
             }
 
             try {
@@ -269,7 +294,7 @@ private void findNextURL(HttpURLConnection uc) throws MalformedURLException {
 
 
     private HttpURLConnection setupConnection(URL url) throws IOException {
-        HttpURLConnection uc = (HttpURLConnection) url.openConnection();
+        HttpsURLConnection uc = (HttpsURLConnection) url.openConnection();
 
         // if the authentication is needed but no credential is given, try it anyway (so that some calls
         // that do work with anonymous access in the reduced form should still work.)
diff --git a/src/test/java/org/kohsuke/LifecycleTest.java b/src/test/java/org/kohsuke/LifecycleTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f9e8b820ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/test/java/org/kohsuke/LifecycleTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+package org.kohsuke;
+
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+import org.apache.commons.io.IOUtils;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.api.Git;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.api.errors.GitAPIException;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.dircache.DirCache;
+import org.eclipse.jgit.transport.UsernamePasswordCredentialsProvider;
+import org.kohsuke.github.GHAsset;
+import org.kohsuke.github.GHIssue;
+import org.kohsuke.github.GHMilestone;
+import org.kohsuke.github.GHMyself;
+import org.kohsuke.github.GHRelease;
+import org.kohsuke.github.GHRepository;
+import org.kohsuke.github.GitHub;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.io.FileInputStream;
+import java.io.FileWriter;
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.io.PrintWriter;
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Properties;
+
+public class LifecycleTest extends TestCase {
+    private GitHub gitHub;
+
+    @Override
+    public void setUp() throws Exception {
+        super.setUp();
+        gitHub = GitHub.connect();
+    }
+
+    public void testCreateRepository() throws IOException, GitAPIException {
+        GHMyself myself = gitHub.getMyself();
+        GHRepository repository = myself.getRepository("github-api-test");
+        if (repository != null) {
+            repository.delete();
+        }
+        repository = gitHub.createRepository("github-api-test",
+                "a test repository used to test kohsuke's github-api", "http://github-api.kohsuke.org/", true);
+
+        assertTrue(repository.getReleases().isEmpty());
+        try {
+            GHMilestone milestone = repository.createMilestone("Initial Release", "first one");
+            GHIssue issue = repository.createIssue("Test Issue")
+                    .body("issue body just for grins")
+                    .milestone(milestone)
+                    .assignee(myself)
+                    .label("bug")
+                    .create();
+            File repoDir = new File(System.getProperty("java.io.tmpdir"), "github-api-test");
+            delete(repoDir);
+            Git origin = Git.cloneRepository()
+                    .setBare(false)
+                    .setURI(repository.gitHttpTransportUrl())
+                    .setDirectory(repoDir)
+                    .setCredentialsProvider(getCredentialsProvider(myself))
+                    .call();
+
+            commitTestFile(myself, repoDir, origin);
+
+
+            GHRelease release = createRelease(repository);
+
+            GHAsset asset = uploadAsset(release);
+
+            updateAsset(release, asset);
+
+            deleteAsset(release, asset);
+        } finally {
+            repository.delete();
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void updateAsset(GHRelease release, GHAsset asset) throws IOException {
+        asset.setLabel("test label");
+        assertEquals("test label", release.getAssets()[0].getLabel());
+    }
+
+    private void deleteAsset(GHRelease release, GHAsset asset) throws IOException {
+        asset.delete();
+        assertEquals(0, release.getAssets().length);
+    }
+
+    private GHAsset uploadAsset(GHRelease release) throws IOException {
+        GHAsset asset = release.uploadAsset(new File("pom.xml"), "application/text");
+        assertNotNull(asset);
+        GHAsset[] assets = release.getAssets();
+        assertEquals(1, assets.length);
+        assertEquals("pom.xml", assets[0].getName());
+
+        return asset;
+    }
+
+    private GHRelease createRelease(GHRepository repository) throws IOException {
+        GHRelease builder = repository.createRelease("release_tag")
+                .name("Test Release")
+                .body("How exciting!  To be able to programmatically create releases is a dream come true!")
+                .create();
+        List<GHRelease> releases = repository.getReleases();
+        assertEquals(1, releases.size());
+        GHRelease release = releases.get(0);
+        assertEquals("Test Release", release.getName());
+        return release;
+    }
+
+    private void commitTestFile(GHMyself myself, File repoDir, Git origin) throws IOException, GitAPIException {
+        File dummyFile = createDummyFile(repoDir);
+        DirCache cache = origin.add().addFilepattern(dummyFile.getName()).call();
+        origin.commit().setMessage("test commit").call();
+        origin.push().setCredentialsProvider(getCredentialsProvider(myself)).call();
+    }
+
+    private UsernamePasswordCredentialsProvider getCredentialsProvider(GHMyself myself) throws IOException {
+        Properties props = new Properties();
+        File homeDir = new File(System.getProperty("user.home"));
+        FileInputStream in = new FileInputStream(new File(homeDir, ".github"));
+        try {
+            props.load(in);
+        } finally {
+            IOUtils.closeQuietly(in);
+        }
+        return new UsernamePasswordCredentialsProvider(props.getProperty("login"), props.getProperty("password"));
+    }
+
+    private void delete(File toDelete) {
+        if (toDelete.isDirectory()) {
+            for (File file : toDelete.listFiles()) {
+                delete(file);
+            }
+        }
+        toDelete.delete();
+    }
+
+    private File createDummyFile(File repoDir) throws IOException {
+        File file = new File(repoDir, "testFile-" + System.currentTimeMillis());
+        PrintWriter writer = new PrintWriter(new FileWriter(file));
+        try {
+            writer.println("test file");
+        } finally {
+            writer.close();
+        }
+        return file;
+    }
+}