diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3060067
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+name: CI
+on: [push, pull_request]
+jobs:
+  build:
+    name: Build and Test (${{ matrix.os }} / OpenJDK ${{ matrix.jdk }})
+    strategy:
+      fail-fast: true
+      matrix:
+        jdk: ['8']
+        os: [ubuntu-latest]
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
+      - name: Set up JDK ${{ matrix.jdk }}
+        uses: actions/setup-java@v3
+        with:
+          java-version: ${{ matrix.jdk }}
+          distribution: 'temurin'
+      - name: Cache Maven packages
+        uses: actions/cache@v3
+        with:
+          path: ~/.m2
+          key: ${{ runner.os }}-m2-${{ hashFiles('**/pom.xml') }}
+          restore-keys: ${{ runner.os }}-m2
+      - name: Maven Build
+        run: mvn clean package -DskipTests
+      - name: Test
+        run: mvn verify
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 42d15f4..e06bcfb 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-build/
-.*
+target/
 !.gitignore
diff --git a/VERSION.txt b/VERSION.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 266146b..0000000
--- a/VERSION.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-1.6.3
diff --git a/build.properties.xml b/build.properties.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 4ecc28a..0000000
--- a/build.properties.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<root>
-  <app>
-    <name>existdb-saml</name>
-    <description>SAML implementation for existdb</description>
-    <version>1.6.3</version>
-    <url>http://exist-db.org/xquery/exsaml</url>
-    <status>beta</status>
-    <permissions>rwxr-xr-x</permissions>
-    <website>https://exist-db.org/</website>
-  </app>
-</root>
diff --git a/build.xml b/build.xml
deleted file mode 100644
index 95aede0..0000000
--- a/build.xml
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,36 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<project xmlns:xdb="http://exist-db.org/ant" default="xar" name="existdb-saml" basedir=".">
-  <xmlproperty file="build.properties.xml" semanticAttributes="true" keepRoot="false"/>
-  <property name="build.dir" value="build"/>
-
-  <target name="clean" description="clean up build dir">
-    <delete dir="${build.dir}"/>
-    <mkdir dir="${build.dir}"/>
-  </target>
-
-  <target name="copy">
-    <copy todir="${build.dir}/${app.name}-${app.version}">
-      <fileset dir="${basedir}" excludes="${build.dir},README.md,build.xml,build.properties.xml,.idea/,.gitignore,.editorconfig,.existdb.json,expath-pkg.xml.tmpl,repo.xml.tmpl,bower.json,bower_components/**,node_modules/**,package.json,local.node-exist.json,gulpfile.js"/>
-    </copy>
-    <copy todir="${build.dir}/${app.name}-${app.version}" overwrite="true" verbose="true">
-      <fileset file="expath-pkg.xml.tmpl"/>
-      <fileset file="repo.xml.tmpl"/>
-      <filterset>
-        <filter token="name" value="${app.name}"/>
-        <filter token="version" value="${app.version}"/>
-        <filter token="url" value="${app.url}"/>
-        <filter token="description" value="${app.description}"/>
-        <filter token="website" value="${app.website}"/>
-        <filter token="status" value="${app.status}"/>
-        <filter token="permissions" value="${app.permissions}"/>
-
-      </filterset>
-      <globmapper from="*.tmpl" to="*"/>
-    </copy>
-  </target>
-
-  <target name="xar" depends="clean, copy" description="main target to create application XAR file">
-    <zip basedir="${build.dir}/${app.name}-${app.version}" destfile="${build.dir}/${app.name}-${app.version}.xar"/>
-  </target>
-
-</project>
diff --git a/collection.xconf b/collection.xconf
deleted file mode 100644
index a871791..0000000
--- a/collection.xconf
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<collection xmlns="http://exist-db.org/collection-config/1.0">
-    <index xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
-        <fulltext default="none" attributes="false"/>
-    </index>
-</collection>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/expath-pkg.xml.tmpl b/expath-pkg.xml.tmpl
deleted file mode 100644
index a67f499..0000000
--- a/expath-pkg.xml.tmpl
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<package xmlns="http://expath.org/ns/pkg" name="@url@" abbrev="@name@" version="@version@" spec="1.0">
-    <title>@name@</title>
-    <dependency package="http://expath.org/ns/crypto"/>
-    <dependency processor="http://exist-db.org" semver-min="3.2.0"/>
-</package>
diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..611cb40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<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>
+
+  <parent>
+    <groupId>org.exist-db</groupId>
+    <artifactId>exist-apps-parent</artifactId>
+    <version>1.12.0</version>
+    <relativePath/>
+  </parent>
+
+  <groupId>org.exist-db.apps</groupId>
+  <artifactId>existdb-saml-xquery</artifactId>
+  <version>1.7.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  
+
+  <name>eXist-db SAML XQuery</name>
+  <description>SAML v2.0 Implementation in XQuery</description>
+  <url>https://github.com/eXist-db/existdb-saml</url>
+
+  <scm>
+    <url>https://github.com/eXist-db/existdb-saml.git</url>
+    <connection>scm:git:https://github.com/eXist-db/existdb-saml.git</connection>
+    <developerConnection>scm:git:https://github.com/eXist-db/existdb-saml.git</developerConnection>
+  </scm>
+
+  <properties>
+    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
+    <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
+
+    <!-- used in the EXPath Package Descriptor -->
+    <package-name>http://exist-db.org/apps/exsaml</package-name>
+    
+    <exist.version>6.0.1</exist.version>
+  </properties>
+
+  <build>
+    <resources>
+      <resource>
+        <directory>src/main/xar-resources</directory>
+        <filtering>false</filtering>
+      </resource>
+      <resource>
+        <directory>src/main/xar-resources-filtered</directory>
+        <filtering>true</filtering>
+      </resource>
+    </resources>
+
+    <testResources>
+      <testResource>
+        <directory>src/test/resources</directory>
+        <filtering>false</filtering>
+      </testResource>
+      <testResource>
+        <directory>src/test/resources-filtered</directory>
+        <filtering>true</filtering>
+      </testResource>
+    </testResources>
+
+    <plugins>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-dependency-plugin</artifactId>
+      </plugin>
+
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>ro.kuberam.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>kuberam-expath-plugin</artifactId>
+        <executions>
+          <execution>
+            <id>create-xar</id>
+            <phase>package</phase>
+            <goals>
+              <goal>make-xar</goal>
+            </goals>
+            <configuration>
+              <descriptor>xar-assembly.xml</descriptor>
+              <finalName>${package-final-name}</finalName>
+            </configuration>
+          </execution>
+        </executions>
+      </plugin>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-gpg-plugin</artifactId>
+        <configuration>
+          <useAgent>true</useAgent>
+        </configuration>
+      </plugin>
+      <plugin>
+        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
+        <artifactId>maven-release-plugin</artifactId>
+        <configuration>
+          <mavenExecutorId>forked-path </mavenExecutorId>
+          <!-- avoid a bug with GPG plugin hanging http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/MGPG-9 -->
+          <autoVersionSubmodules>true</autoVersionSubmodules>
+          <tagNameFormat>@{project.version}</tagNameFormat>
+        </configuration>
+      </plugin>
+    </plugins>
+  </build>
+
+</project>
diff --git a/post-install.xql b/post-install.xql
deleted file mode 100644
index 92792cd..0000000
--- a/post-install.xql
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-xquery version "3.1";
-
-(: the target collection into which the app is deployed :)
-declare variable $target external;
-
-sm:chmod(xs:anyURI($target||'/saml-request-ids'), 'rwx------')
diff --git a/repo.xml.tmpl b/repo.xml.tmpl
deleted file mode 100644
index 07ba920..0000000
--- a/repo.xml.tmpl
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,13 +0,0 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
-<meta xmlns="http://exist-db.org/xquery/repo">
-  <description>@description@</description>
-  <website>@website@</website>
-  <status>@status@</status>
-  <license>LGPL 2.1</license>
-  <copyright>true</copyright>
-  <type>library</type>
-  <target>existdb-saml</target>
-  <prepare />
-  <finish>post-install.xql</finish>
-  <permissions user="exsaml" group="dba" password="exsamlpass" mode="rwxrwxr-x"/>
-</meta>
diff --git a/saml-request-ids/KEEPME b/saml-request-ids/KEEPME
deleted file mode 100644
index a1b0291..0000000
--- a/saml-request-ids/KEEPME
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-just to keep this dir
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/content/clean-reqids.xql b/src/main/xar-resources/clean-reqids.xq
similarity index 100%
rename from content/clean-reqids.xql
rename to src/main/xar-resources/clean-reqids.xq
diff --git a/index.html b/src/main/xar-resources/index.html
similarity index 100%
rename from index.html
rename to src/main/xar-resources/index.html
diff --git a/content/config-exsaml.xml b/src/main/xar-resources/modules/config-exsaml.xml
similarity index 100%
rename from content/config-exsaml.xml
rename to src/main/xar-resources/modules/config-exsaml.xml
diff --git a/content/exsaml.xqm b/src/main/xar-resources/modules/exsaml.xqm
similarity index 100%
rename from content/exsaml.xqm
rename to src/main/xar-resources/modules/exsaml.xqm
diff --git a/src/main/xar-resources/post-install.xq b/src/main/xar-resources/post-install.xq
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f519d3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/xar-resources/post-install.xq
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+xquery version "3.1";
+
+import module namespace sm = "http://exist-db.org/xquery/securitymanager";
+import module namespace xmldb = "http://exist-db.org/xquery/xmldb";
+
+(: the target collection into which the app is deployed :)
+declare variable $target external;
+
+declare variable $saml-request-ids-collection-name := "saml-request-ids";
+declare variable $saml-request-ids-collection-path := $target || "/" || $saml-request-ids-collection-name;
+
+let $_ :=
+    if (fn:not(xmldb:collection-available($saml-request-ids-collection-path)))
+    then
+      xmldb:create-collection($target, $saml-request-ids-collection-name)
+    else()
+return
+    sm:chmod(xs:anyURI($saml-request-ids-collection-path), "rwx------")
diff --git a/content/scheduler.xql b/src/main/xar-resources/scheduler.xq
similarity index 100%
rename from content/scheduler.xql
rename to src/main/xar-resources/scheduler.xq
diff --git a/xar-assembly.xml b/xar-assembly.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..625b318
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xar-assembly.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<package xmlns="http://expath.org/ns/pkg" name="${package-name}" abbrev="${package-abbrev}" version="${project.version}"
+  spec="1.0">
+  <title>${package-title}</title>
+  <author id="eXist-db">${project.organization.name}</author>
+  <description>${project.description}</description>
+  <website>${project.url}</website>
+  <license>GNU LGPL 2.1</license>
+  <copyright>true</copyright>
+  
+  <type>library</type>
+  
+  <status>stable</status>
+  
+  <tag>${project.artifactId}</tag>
+  
+  <dependency processor="http://exist-db.org" semver-min="${exist.version}"/>
+  <dependency package="http://expath.org/ns/crypto" semver-min="6.0.1"/>
+
+  <target>${package-abbrev}</target>
+
+  <finish>post-install.xq</finish>
+  
+  <!-- includes everything in target, README.md, and LICENSE -->
+  <fileSets>
+    <fileSet>
+      <directory>${project.build.outputDirectory}</directory>
+    </fileSet>
+    <fileSet>
+      <directory>${project.basedir}</directory>
+      <includes>
+        <include>README.md</include>
+      </includes>
+    </fileSet>
+    <fileSet>
+      <directory>${project.basedir}</directory>
+      <includes>
+        <include>LICENSE</include>
+      </includes>
+    </fileSet>
+  </fileSets>
+  
+</package>