diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 3d4cfb2..f71f17a 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -9,5 +9,6 @@ node_modules
 !.env.example
 vite.config.js.timestamp-*
 vite.config.ts.timestamp-*
+dist/
 .cursor/
 .vscode/
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index ca1d3c0..b53ea28 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -33,6 +33,16 @@ npm run tauri dev
 npm run tauri build
 ```
 
+## Release Build
+
+```bash
+npm run release
+```
+
+This runs the full Tauri production build, ad-hoc code signs the `.app` bundle, and copies the output to `dist/release/`.
+
+The resulting `GUI Video Clipper.app` can be launched directly or dragged to `/Applications`.
+
 ## Architecture
 
 GUI Video Clipper is built with [Tauri v2](https://v2.tauri.app/) (Rust backend) and [Svelte 5](https://svelte.dev/) (TypeScript frontend).
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 6ee74e8..e02b6cd 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@
     "preview": "vite preview",
     "test": "vitest run",
     "check": "svelte-check --tsconfig ./tsconfig.json",
-    "tauri": "tauri"
+    "tauri": "tauri",
+    "release": "bash scripts/build-release.sh"
   },
   "license": "MIT",
   "dependencies": {
diff --git a/scripts/build-release.sh b/scripts/build-release.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..656c088
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build-release.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "$0")" && pwd)"
+PROJECT_ROOT="$(cd "$SCRIPT_DIR/.." && pwd)"
+VERSION_FILE="$PROJECT_ROOT/VERSION"
+
+# ── Read and validate version ──────────────────────────────────────
+if [ ! -f "$VERSION_FILE" ]; then
+  echo "ERROR: VERSION file not found" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+VERSION=$(cat "$VERSION_FILE" | sed 's/^[vV]//' | tr -d '[:space:]')
+
+if ! echo "$VERSION" | grep -qE '^[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+$'; then
+  echo "ERROR: '$VERSION' is not valid semver (expected X.Y.Z)" >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+echo "=== Building GUI Video Clipper v$VERSION ==="
+echo ""
+
+# ── Install frontend dependencies ──────────────────────────────────
+echo "→ Installing dependencies…"
+cd "$PROJECT_ROOT"
+npm install --silent
+
+# ── Run tauri build ────────────────────────────────────────────────
+echo "→ Building release (this may take a few minutes)…"
+BUILD_LOG=$(mktemp)
+npx tauri build 2>&1 | tee "$BUILD_LOG" | tail -10
+
+# ── Locate built artifacts ─────────────────────────────────────────
+# Parse .app path from tauri build output (handles custom CARGO_TARGET_DIR)
+APP_SRC=$(grep '\.app$' "$BUILD_LOG" | head -1 | sed 's/^[[:space:]]*//')
+DMG_SRC=$(grep '\.dmg$' "$BUILD_LOG" | head -1 | sed 's/^[[:space:]]*//')
+rm -f "$BUILD_LOG"
+
+# Fall back to standard location if parsing failed
+if [ -z "$APP_SRC" ] || [ ! -d "$APP_SRC" ]; then
+  BUNDLE_DIR="$PROJECT_ROOT/src-tauri/target/release/bundle"
+  APP_SRC="$BUNDLE_DIR/macos/GUI Video Clipper.app"
+fi
+
+if [ ! -d "$APP_SRC" ]; then
+  echo "ERROR: .app bundle not found" >&2
+  echo "Check the build output above for errors." >&2
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+# ── Ad-hoc code sign ──────────────────────────────────────────────
+echo "→ Ad-hoc signing .app…"
+codesign --force --deep -s - "$APP_SRC"
+
+# ── Copy to dist/release/ ─────────────────────────────────────────
+DIST_DIR="$PROJECT_ROOT/dist/release"
+mkdir -p "$DIST_DIR"
+
+echo "→ Copying to dist/release/…"
+rm -rf "$DIST_DIR/GUI Video Clipper.app"
+cp -R "$APP_SRC" "$DIST_DIR/"
+
+# Copy DMG if it was built
+DMG_FILE="$DMG_SRC"
+if [ -n "$DMG_FILE" ] && [ -f "$DMG_FILE" ]; then
+  cp "$DMG_FILE" "$DIST_DIR/"
+  echo "  ✓ DMG: $(basename "$DMG_FILE")"
+fi
+
+# ── Summary ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+APP_SIZE=$(du -sh "$DIST_DIR/GUI Video Clipper.app" | cut -f1)
+echo ""
+echo "=== Build Complete ==="
+echo "  Version:  v$VERSION"
+echo "  App:      dist/release/GUI Video Clipper.app ($APP_SIZE)"
+if [ -n "$DMG_FILE" ] && [ -f "$DIST_DIR/$(basename "$DMG_FILE")" ]; then
+  DMG_SIZE=$(du -sh "$DIST_DIR/$(basename "$DMG_FILE")" | cut -f1)
+  echo "  DMG:      dist/release/$(basename "$DMG_FILE") ($DMG_SIZE)"
+fi
+echo ""
+echo "To run: open \"dist/release/GUI Video Clipper.app\""
diff --git a/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json b/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
index ed82421..0ec2f62 100644
--- a/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
+++ b/src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@
   },
   "bundle": {
     "active": true,
-    "targets": "all",
+    "targets": ["app", "dmg"],
     "icon": [
       "icons/32x32.png",
       "icons/128x128.png",