diff --git a/RELEASES.md b/RELEASES.md
index 241f1106e011..329d7ae10980 100644
--- a/RELEASES.md
+++ b/RELEASES.md
@@ -131,7 +131,7 @@ to all committers.
 | [1.7](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/tag/v1.7.0)  | LTS           | March 10, 2023                 | September 2026*                | @containerd/committers |
 | [2.0](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/tag/v2.0.0)  | Active        | November 5, 2024               | November 7, 2025               | @containerd/committers |
 | [2.1](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/tag/v2.1.0)  | Active        | May 7, 2025                    | May 5, 2026 (_tentative_)      | @containerd/committers |
-| [2.2](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/milestone/49)         | _Future_      | November 5, 2025 (_tentative_) | November 6, 2026 (_tentative_) | _TBD_                  |
+| [2.2](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/milestone/49)         | Beta          | November 5, 2025 (_tentative_) | November 6, 2026 (_tentative_) | @containerd/committers |
 | [2.3](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/milestone/50)         | _Future_      | May 6, 2026 (_tentative_)      | _TBD_                          | _TBD_                  |
 
 \* Support for the 1.7 release branch is provided by @containerd/committers until March 10, 2026. Extended support through September 2026 is provided by @chrishenzie and @samuelkarp.
diff --git a/releases/v2.2.0-beta.toml b/releases/v2.2.0-beta.toml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..07a173d77b89
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releases/v2.2.0-beta.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+# commit to be tagged for new release
+commit = "HEAD"
+
+project_name = "containerd"
+github_repo = "containerd/containerd"
+match_deps = "^github.com/(containerd/[a-zA-Z0-9-]+)$"
+ignore_deps = [ "github.com/containerd/containerd" ]
+
+# previous release
+previous = "v2.1.0"
+
+pre_release = true
+
+preface = """\
+The second minor release of containerd 2.x focuses on continued stability alongside
+new features and improvements. This is the second time-based released for containerd.
+
+This is a beta release and some functionality is still under development.
+"""
+
+postface = """\
+### Which file should I download?
+* `containerd-<VERSION>-<OS>-<ARCH>.tar.gz`:         ✅Recommended. Dynamically linked with glibc 2.35 (Ubuntu 22.04).
+* `containerd-static-<VERSION>-<OS>-<ARCH>.tar.gz`:  Statically linked. Expected to be used on Linux distributions that do not use glibc >= 2.35. Not position-independent.
+
+In addition to containerd, typically you will have to install [runc](https://github.com/opencontainers/runc/releases)
+and [CNI plugins](https://github.com/containernetworking/plugins/releases) from their official sites too.
+
+See also the [Getting Started](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/blob/main/docs/getting-started.md) documentation.
+"""
diff --git a/version/version.go b/version/version.go
index b2a0254f9ac0..a4936bf6dcf5 100644
--- a/version/version.go
+++ b/version/version.go
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ var (
 	Package = "github.com/containerd/containerd/v2"
 
 	// Version holds the complete version number. Filled in at linking time.
-	Version = "2.1.0+unknown"
+	Version = "2.2.0-beta+unknown"
 
 	// Revision is filled with the VCS (e.g. git) revision being used to build
 	// the program at linking time.