diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish.yaml b/.github/workflows/publish.yaml
index 2de8d7c..2729452 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish.yaml
@@ -27,13 +27,7 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: Deploy to github packages maven repo
       run: |
-        ./mvnw deploy -f geoserver/src/pom.xml --batch-mode -DskipTests -ntp -fae \
-        -PallExtensions,communityRelease \
-        -Dsort.skip=true -Dspotless.apply.skip=true \
-        -DretryFailedDeploymentCount=10 \
-        -DallowIncompleteProjects=true \
-        -DaltDeploymentRepository="github::https://maven.pkg.github.com/camptocamp/geoserver-cloud-geoserver" \
-        -Dmaven.resolver.transport=wagon
+        make deploy
       env:
         GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..30422ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+.PHONY: install
+install:
+	./mvnw install -f geoserver/src/pom.xml --batch-mode -DskipTests -ntp -fae \
+        -PallExtensions,communityRelease \
+        -Dsort.skip=true -Dspotless.apply.skip=true
+
+.PHONY: deploy
+deploy:
+	./mvnw deploy -f geoserver/src/pom.xml --batch-mode -DskipTests -ntp -fae \
+        -PallExtensions,communityRelease \
+        -Dsort.skip=true -Dspotless.apply.skip=true \
+        -DretryFailedDeploymentCount=10 \
+        -DallowIncompleteProjects=true \
+        -DaltDeploymentRepository='github::https://maven.pkg.github.com/camptocamp/geoserver-cloud-geoserver' \
+        -Dmaven.resolver.transport=wagon
+
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a8a22c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+# GeoServer Cloud GeoServer
+
+This is the deployment repository for the customized GeoServer version used by GeoSever Cloud
+
+## Install and deploy
+
+On a local machine, before pushing to this github repository, in order to test the artifacts, run
+
+
+```
+make install
+```
+
+The CI build runs instead
+
+```
+make deploy
+```
+
+> `install` does not need to be run before `deploy`
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 8509d6f..0000000
--- a/pom.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,41 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
-  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
-  <groupId>org.geoserver.cloud</groupId>
-  <artifactId>gs-upstream</artifactId>
-  <version>2.25.3.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
-  <packaging>pom</packaging>
-  <name>GeoServer upstream dependencies</name>
-  <distributionManagement>
-    <repository>
-      <id>github</id>
-      <name>GitHub Packages</name>
-      <url>https://maven.pkg.github.com/camptocamp/geoserver-cloud-geoserver</url>
-    </repository>
-  </distributionManagement>
-  <modules>
-    <!-- modules modified in the geoserver-cloud_integration branch -->
-    <module>geoserver/src</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/community/jdbcconfig</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/community/jdbcstore</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/community/pgraster</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/community/datadir-catalog-loader</module>
-    <!-- all other required deps -->
-    <module>geoserver/src/extension/authkey</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/extension/web-resource</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/extension/css</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/extension/feature-pregeneralized</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/extension/gwc-s3</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/extension/mbstyle</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/extension/vectortiles</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/extension/wps</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/extension/importer</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/community/flatgeobuf</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/community/graticule</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/community/gwc-azure-blob</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/community/cog</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/community/security</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/community/security/oauth2</module>
-    <module>geoserver/src/community/security/oauth2-geonode</module>
-  </modules>
-</project>