diff --git a/.github/workflows/auto-release.yaml b/.github/workflows/auto-release.yaml
deleted file mode 100644
index 7a106d007e..0000000000
--- a/.github/workflows/auto-release.yaml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,103 +0,0 @@
-# Copyright 2022 Google LLC
-#
-# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
-# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
-# You may obtain a copy of the License at
-#
-#      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
-#
-# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
-# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
-# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
-# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
-# limitations under the License.
-# Github action job to test core java library features on
-# downstream client libraries before they are released.
-on:
-  pull_request:
-name: auto-release
-jobs:
-  approve:
-    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    if: contains(github.head_ref, 'release-please')
-    steps:
-    - uses: actions/github-script@v6
-      with:
-        github-token: ${{secrets.YOSHI_APPROVER_TOKEN}}
-        debug: true
-        script: |
-          // only approve PRs from release-please[bot]
-          if (context.payload.pull_request.user.login !== "release-please[bot]") {
-            return;
-          }
-
-          // only approve PRs like "chore(main): release <release version>"
-          if (  !context.payload.pull_request.title.startsWith("chore(main): release") ) {
-            return;
-          }
-
-          // only approve PRs with pom.xml and versions.txt changes
-          const filesPromise = github.rest.pulls.listFiles.endpoint({
-            owner: context.repo.owner,
-            repo: context.repo.repo,
-            pull_number: context.payload.pull_request.number,
-          });
-          const changed_files = await github.paginate(filesPromise)
-
-          if ( changed_files.length < 1 ) {
-            console.log( "Not proceeding since PR is empty!" )
-            return;
-          }
-
-          if ( !changed_files.some(v => v.filename.includes("pom")) || !changed_files.some(v => v.filename.includes("versions.txt")) ) {
-            console.log( "PR file changes do not have pom.xml or versions.txt -- something is wrong. PTAL!" )
-            return;
-          }
-
-          // trigger auto-release when
-          // 1) it is a SNAPSHOT release (auto-generated post regular release)
-          // 2) there are dependency updates only
-          // 3) there are no open dependency update PRs in this repo (to avoid multiple releases)
-          if (
-            context.payload.pull_request.body.includes("Fix") ||
-            context.payload.pull_request.body.includes("Build") ||
-            context.payload.pull_request.body.includes("Documentation") ||
-            context.payload.pull_request.body.includes("BREAKING CHANGES") ||
-            context.payload.pull_request.body.includes("Features")
-          ) {
-            console.log( "Not auto-releasing since it is not a dependency-update-only release." );
-            return;
-          }
-
-          const promise = github.rest.pulls.list.endpoint({
-            owner: context.repo.owner,
-            repo: context.repo.repo,
-            state: 'open'
-          });
-          const open_pulls = await github.paginate(promise)
-
-          if ( open_pulls.length > 1 && !context.payload.pull_request.title.includes("SNAPSHOT") ) {
-            for ( const pull of open_pulls ) {
-              if ( pull.title.startsWith("deps: update dependency") ) {
-                console.log( "Not auto-releasing yet since there are dependency update PRs open in this repo." );
-                return;
-              }
-            }
-          }
-
-          // approve release PR
-          await github.rest.pulls.createReview({
-            owner: context.repo.owner,
-            repo: context.repo.repo,
-            body: 'Rubber stamped release!',
-            pull_number: context.payload.pull_request.number,
-            event: 'APPROVE'
-          });
-
-          // attach kokoro:force-run and automerge labels
-          await github.rest.issues.addLabels({
-            owner: context.repo.owner,
-            repo: context.repo.repo,
-            issue_number: context.payload.pull_request.number,
-            labels: ['kokoro:force-run', 'automerge']
-          });
diff --git a/owlbot.py b/owlbot.py
index acc22a43ca..7036c8a4ac 100644
--- a/owlbot.py
+++ b/owlbot.py
@@ -21,4 +21,4 @@
     s.move(library)
 
 s.remove_staging_dirs()
-java.common_templates(excludes=["README.md", ".kokoro/build.sh", "renovate.json"])
+java.common_templates(excludes=["README.md", ".kokoro/build.sh", "renovate.json", ".github/workflows/auto-release.yaml"])