diff --git a/.github/workflows/nightly-gnu.yml b/.github/workflows/nightly-gnu.yml
index 8f1480084..868ccbaa6 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/nightly-gnu.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/nightly-gnu.yml
@@ -352,69 +352,16 @@ jobs:
       # engineers can download and install the nightly directly. The branch is
       # a single-commit orphan rewritten on every build, which keeps the repo
       # small while the latest files stay reachable at stable raw URLs.
-      - name: Publish packages to auto-testing assets
+      # Publish the deb/rpm pair as assets of the rolling `nightly` release on
+      # rustfs/auto-testing (see scripts/release/publish_nightly_assets.sh).
+      - name: Publish packages to auto-testing release assets
         env:
           ASSETS_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.PF_TESTING_GH_TOKEN }}
           DEB_FILE: ${{ steps.deb.outputs.deb_file }}
           RPM_FILE: ${{ steps.rpm.outputs.rpm_file }}
           DEB_DATE: ${{ steps.deb.outputs.deb_date }}
           BUILD_REF: ${{ env.NIGHTLY_BUILD_REF }}
-        run: |
-          set -euo pipefail
-
-          if [ -z "${ASSETS_TOKEN}" ]; then
-            echo "PF_TESTING_GH_TOKEN is not configured; skipping assets upload"
-            exit 0
-          fi
-          export GH_TOKEN="${ASSETS_TOKEN}"
-
-          for f in "${DEB_FILE}" "${RPM_FILE}"; do
-            [ -f "$f" ] || { echo "missing package: $f"; exit 1; }
-          done
-
-          # Plain git + token URL: the build fleet has no gh CLI.
-          ASSETS_URL="https://x-access-token:${ASSETS_TOKEN}@github.com/rustfs/auto-testing.git"
-          rm -rf assets-work && mkdir assets-work
-          if git clone -q --depth 1 --branch assets "${ASSETS_URL}" assets-work 2>/dev/null; then
-            echo "assets branch cloned"
-          else
-            echo "assets branch does not exist yet; creating an orphan"
-            git -C assets-work init -q -b assets
-          fi
-          cd assets-work
-          git remote add origin "${ASSETS_URL}" 2>/dev/null || \
-            git remote set-url origin "${ASSETS_URL}"
-
-          mkdir -p nightly
-          cp "../${DEB_FILE}" "nightly/${DEB_FILE}"
-          cp "../${RPM_FILE}" "nightly/${RPM_FILE}"
-          cp "nightly/${DEB_FILE}" nightly/rustfs-nightly-latest.deb
-          cp "nightly/${RPM_FILE}" nightly/rustfs-nightly-latest.rpm
-
-          SOURCE_SHA="$(git -C .. rev-parse HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo "${GITHUB_SHA}")"
-          {
-            echo "# Nightly packages"
-            echo ""
-            echo "- Built: ${DEB_DATE} from \`${BUILD_REF}@${SOURCE_SHA:0:12}\`"
-            echo "- Run: ${GITHUB_SERVER_URL}/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY}/actions/runs/${GITHUB_RUN_ID}"
-            echo ""
-            echo '| File | Size | SHA256 |'
-            echo '|---|---|---|'
-            for f in "nightly/${DEB_FILE}" "nightly/${RPM_FILE}" nightly/rustfs-nightly-latest.deb nightly/rustfs-nightly-latest.rpm; do
-              printf '| %s | %s | %s |\n' "$f" "$(du -h "$f" | cut -f1)" "$(sha256sum "$f" | cut -d' ' -f1)"
-            done
-            echo ""
-            echo "Download: replace /blob/ with /raw/ in any file URL, e.g."
-            echo "\`https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rustfs/auto-testing/assets/nightly/rustfs-nightly-latest.deb\`"
-          } > BUILD-INFO.md
-
-          git add -A
-          git -c user.name="rustfs-nightly-bot" -c user.email="support@rustfs.com" \
-            commit -q -m "nightly ${DEB_DATE} (${BUILD_REF}@${SOURCE_SHA:0:12})" \
-            --allow-empty
-          git push --force origin assets
-          echo "✅ Published ${DEB_FILE} and ${RPM_FILE} to rustfs/auto-testing@assets"
-
+        run: bash scripts/release/publish_nightly_assets.sh
   # Live-Vault lane for the rustfs-kms suite (rustfs/backlog#1774).
   #
   # RUSTFS_KMS_VAULT_TOKEN is the single switch that adds the Vault KV2 and
diff --git a/scripts/release/publish_nightly_assets.sh b/scripts/release/publish_nightly_assets.sh
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..5b6d98cca
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/release/publish_nightly_assets.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Publish the nightly DEB/RPM as assets of the rolling `nightly` release on
+# rustfs/auto-testing, replacing the previous build's files in place.
+#
+# Required environment:
+#   ASSETS_TOKEN  token with contents:write on rustfs/auto-testing
+#   DEB_FILE      path to the built .deb
+#   RPM_FILE      path to the built .rpm
+#   DEB_DATE      build date (YYYY-MM-DD)
+#   BUILD_REF     branch/ref the nightly was built from
+# Optional environment:
+#   GITHUB_SHA / GITHUB_RUN_ID / GITHUB_REPOSITORY / GITHUB_SERVER_URL
+#
+# Plain curl + python3 by design: the nightly build fleet has no gh CLI.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+: "${ASSETS_TOKEN:?ASSETS_TOKEN is required}"
+: "${DEB_FILE:?DEB_FILE is required}"
+: "${RPM_FILE:?RPM_FILE is required}"
+: "${DEB_DATE:?DEB_DATE is required}"
+: "${BUILD_REF:?BUILD_REF is required}"
+
+for f in "${DEB_FILE}" "${RPM_FILE}"; do
+  [ -f "$f" ] || { echo "missing package: $f" >&2; exit 1; }
+done
+
+API="https://api.github.com/repos/rustfs/auto-testing"
+UPLOADS="https://uploads.github.com/repos/rustfs/auto-testing/releases"
+AUTH="Authorization: token ${ASSETS_TOKEN}"
+SOURCE_SHA="$(git rev-parse HEAD 2>/dev/null || echo "${GITHUB_SHA:-unknown}")"
+
+release_id="$(curl -fsS --retry 3 -H "${AUTH}" "${API}/releases/tags/nightly" \
+  | python3 -c 'import json,sys; print(json.load(sys.stdin).get("id", ""))' 2>/dev/null || true)"
+if [ -z "${release_id}" ]; then
+  echo "creating the rolling nightly release"
+  release_id="$(curl -fsS --retry 3 -X POST -H "${AUTH}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+    -d '{"tag_name":"nightly","name":"Nightly builds","body":"Rolling nightly builds. Assets are replaced on every build; the release body documents the provenance of the current files."}' \
+    "${API}/releases" | python3 -c 'import json,sys; print(json.load(sys.stdin)["id"])')"
+fi
+[ -n "${release_id}" ] || { echo "could not resolve the nightly release id" >&2; exit 1; }
+
+upload_asset() {
+  local name="$1" file="$2" asset_id
+  asset_id="$(curl -fsS --retry 3 -H "${AUTH}" "${API}/releases/tags/nightly" \
+    | ASSET_NAME="${name}" python3 -c '
+import json, sys, os
+d = json.load(sys.stdin)
+name = os.environ["ASSET_NAME"]
+print(next((a["id"] for a in d.get("assets", []) if a["name"] == name), ""))')"
+  if [ -n "${asset_id}" ]; then
+    curl -fsS --retry 3 -X DELETE -H "${AUTH}" "${API}/releases/assets/${asset_id}" >/dev/null
+  fi
+  curl -fsS --retry 3 --max-time 900 -X POST \
+    -H "${AUTH}" -H "Content-Type: application/octet-stream" \
+    --data-binary "@${file}" \
+    "${UPLOADS}/${release_id}/assets?name=${name}" >/dev/null
+  echo "uploaded ${name}"
+}
+
+upload_asset "rustfs-nightly-latest.deb" "${DEB_FILE}"
+upload_asset "rustfs-nightly-latest.rpm" "${RPM_FILE}"
+
+DEB_SHA="$(sha256sum "${DEB_FILE}" | cut -d ' ' -f 1)"
+RPM_SHA="$(sha256sum "${RPM_FILE}" | cut -d ' ' -f 1)"
+RUN_URL="${GITHUB_SERVER_URL:-https://github.com}/${GITHUB_REPOSITORY:-/rustfs/rustfs}/actions/runs/${GITHUB_RUN_ID:-0}"
+export BUILD_REF SOURCE_SHA DEB_DATE DEB_FILE RPM_FILE DEB_SHA RPM_SHA RUN_URL
+
+python3 - << 'PY' > /tmp/release-body.json
+import json, os
+e = os.environ
+deb_mb = os.path.getsize(e["DEB_FILE"]) // 1048576
+rpm_mb = os.path.getsize(e["RPM_FILE"]) // 1048576
+body = (
+    f"Nightly build from `{e['BUILD_REF']}@{e['SOURCE_SHA'][:12]}`, built {e['DEB_DATE']}.\n\n"
+    f"[Build run]({e['RUN_URL']}). The `latest` assets are replaced in place on every nightly.\n\n"
+    f"| Asset | Size | SHA256 |\n|---|---|---|\n"
+    f"| rustfs-nightly-latest.deb (={e['DEB_FILE']}) | {deb_mb} MB | `{e['DEB_SHA']}` |\n"
+    f"| rustfs-nightly-latest.rpm (={e['RPM_FILE']}) | {rpm_mb} MB | `{e['RPM_SHA']}` |\n"
+)
+print(json.dumps({"body": body}))
+PY
+
+curl -fsS --retry 3 -X PATCH -H "${AUTH}" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
+  --data-binary @/tmp/release-body.json "${API}/releases/${release_id}" >/dev/null
+
+echo "published ${DEB_FILE} and ${RPM_FILE} to the rustfs/auto-testing 'nightly' release"