diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 28a25062..7de9e987 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -4,4 +4,4 @@ tmp/
 /vendor
 test-dnote
 /dist
-/release
+/build
diff --git a/CONBTRIBUTING.md b/CONBTRIBUTING.md
index 673ef523..b93d959d 100644
--- a/CONBTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONBTRIBUTING.md
@@ -30,13 +30,17 @@ Run Dnote with `DNOTE_DEBUG=1` to print debugging statements.
 
 ## Release
 
-This project uses [goreleaser](https://github.com/goreleaser/goreleaser) to automate the release process.
-
-The following will tag, push the tag, create release on GitHub, build artifacts, upload them, and
-push a commit to [Dnote Homebrew tap](https://github.com/dnote/homebrew-dnote).
+* Build for all target platforms, tag, push tags
+* Release on GitHub and [Dnote Homebrew tap](https://github.com/dnote/homebrew-dnote).
 
 ```sh
-VERSION=v0.4.2 make
+VERSION=0.4.8 make release
+```
+
+* Build, without releasing, for all target platforms
+
+```sh
+VERSION=0.4.8 make
 ```
 
 **Note**
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0a12480c..1cfaed29 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,14 +1,11 @@
-release:
-	@echo "** Releasing version $(VERSION)..."
-	@echo "** Tagging and pushing..."
-	@git tag -a $(VERSION) -m "$(VERSION)"
-	@git push --tags
-	@API_ENDPOINT=https://api.dnote.io goreleaser --rm-dist
-.PHONY: release
+all:
+	./scripts/build.sh $(VERSION)
+.PHONY: all
 
-build-snapshot:
-	@API_ENDPOINT=http://127.0.0.1:5000 goreleaser --snapshot --rm-dist
-.PHONY: build-snapshot
+release:
+	./scripts/build.sh $(VERSION)
+	./scripts/release.sh $(VERSION)
+.PHONY: release
 
 clean:
 	@git clean -f
diff --git a/scripts/build.sh b/scripts/build.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..5d2e290f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/build.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+#
+# build.sh compiles dnote binary for target platforms
+# it is resonsible for creating distributable files that can
+# be released by a human or a script
+# use: ./scripts/build.sh 0.4.8
+
+set -eu
+
+version="$1"
+basedir="$GOPATH/src/github.com/dnote/cli"
+TMP="$basedir/build"
+
+command_exists () {
+  command -v "$1" >/dev/null 2>&1;
+}
+
+if ! command_exists shasum; then
+  echo "please install shasum"
+  exit 1
+fi
+if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
+  echo "no version specified."
+  exit 1
+fi
+if [[ $1 == v* ]]; then
+  echo "do not prefix version with v"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+build() {
+  # init build dir
+  rm -rf "$TMP"
+  mkdir "$TMP"
+
+  # fetch tool
+  go get -u github.com/karalabe/xgo
+
+  pushd "$basedir"
+
+  # build linux
+  xgo --targets="linux/amd64"\
+    -ldflags "-X main.apiEndpoint=https://api.dnote.io -X main.versionTag=$version" .
+  mkdir "$TMP/linux"
+  mv cli-linux-amd64 "$TMP/linux/dnote"
+
+  # build darwin
+  xgo --targets="darwin/amd64"\
+    -ldflags "-X main.apiEndpoint=https://api.dnote.io -X main.versionTag=$version" .
+  mkdir "$TMP/darwin"
+  mv cli-darwin-10.6-amd64 "$TMP/darwin/dnote"
+
+  # build windows
+  xgo --targets="windows/amd64"\
+    -ldflags "-X main.apiEndpoint=https://api.dnote.io -X main.versionTag=$version" .
+  mkdir "$TMP/windows"
+  mv cli-windows-4.0-amd64.exe "$TMP/windows/dnote.exe"
+
+  popd
+}
+
+calc_checksum() {
+  os=$1
+
+  shasum -a 256 "$TMP/$os/dnote" >> "$TMP/dnote_${version}_checksums.txt"
+}
+
+build_tarball() {
+  os=$1
+
+  pushd "$TMP/$os"
+
+  cp "$basedir/LICENSE" .
+  cp "$basedir/README.md" .
+  tar -zcvf "../dnote_${version}_${os}_amd64.tar.gz" ./*
+
+  popd
+}
+
+build
+
+calc_checksum darwin
+calc_checksum linux
+
+build_tarball windows
+build_tarball darwin
+build_tarball linux
+
diff --git a/scripts/release.sh b/scripts/release.sh
index 748d2c7d..0a9adb41 100755
--- a/scripts/release.sh
+++ b/scripts/release.sh
@@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
 #!/bin/bash
+#
+# release.sh releases the tarballs and checksum in the build directory
+# to GitHub and brew. It is important to build those files using build.sh
+# use: ./scripts/release.sh v0.4.8
 
 set -eu
 
@@ -19,49 +23,17 @@ if ! command_exists hub; then
   echo "please install hub"
   exit 1
 fi
-if ! command_exists shasum; then
-  echo "please install shasum"
-  exit 1
-fi
 
-binary=dnote
+# 1. push tag
 version=$1
 version_tag="v$version"
-goos=("linux" "openbsd" "freebsd" "darwin" "windows")
-goarch=("386" "amd64")
 
-rm -rf ./release
-mkdir ./release
-cp LICENSE ./release/LICENSE
-cp README.md ./release/README.md
-
-echo "* release $version"
-
-# 1. build
-for os in "${goos[@]}"; do
-  for arch in "${goarch[@]}"; do
-    filename="${binary}_${version}_${os}_${arch}"
-    echo "* building $filename"
-
-    GOOS="$os" GOARCH="$arch" go build \
-      -o "./release/$filename" \
-      -ldflags "-X main.apiEndpoint=https://api.dnote.io -X main.versionTag=$version"
-
-    pushd ./release > /dev/null
-    cp "$filename" dnote
-    tar -czvf "$filename.tar.gz" dnote LICENSE README.md
-    shasum -a 256 "$filename" >> "dnote_${version}_checksums.txt"
-    popd > /dev/null
-  done
-done
-
-# 2. push tag
 echo "* tagging and pushing the tag"
 git tag -a "$version_tag" -m "Release $version_tag"
 git push --tags
 
-# 3. create release
-files=(./release/*.tar.gz ./release/*.txt)
+# 2. release on GitHub
+files=(./build/*.tar.gz ./build/*.txt)
 file_args=()
 for file in "${files[@]}"; do
   file_args+=("--attach=$file")
@@ -74,7 +46,6 @@ hub release create \
   --message="$version_tag"\
   "$version_tag"
 
-# 4. release on brew
-
-homebrew_sha256=$(shasum -a 256 "./release/${binary}_${version}_darwin_amd64.tar.gz" | cut -d ' ' -f 1)
+# 3. Release on Homebrew
+homebrew_sha256=$(shasum -a 256 "./build/dnote_${version}_darwin_amd64.tar.gz" | cut -d ' ' -f 1)
 (cd "$GOPATH"/src/github.com/dnote/homebrew-dnote && ./release.sh "$version" "$homebrew_sha256")