diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 83f297f2..d6535df7 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
-# Unreleased
+# Release 4.12.0a1
+
+This release primarily tests a revised release workflow. If all goes
+well, release 4.12.0rc1 will follow soon.
 
 - Backport the `typing.NoDefault` sentinel object from Python 3.13.
   TypeVars, ParamSpecs and TypeVarTuples without default values now have
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index a59c9a0b..a557efd1 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ build-backend = "flit_core.buildapi"
 # Project metadata
 [project]
 name = "typing_extensions"
-version = "4.11.0"
+version = "4.12.0a1"
 description = "Backported and Experimental Type Hints for Python 3.8+"
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.8"