diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c906e93b..515bcf1f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -211,6 +211,26 @@ So the steps to publish and release in different Gradle invocations are:
 
 (in the above example, steps 1 and 2 could be also combined into `./gradlew publishToSonatype closeSonatypeStagingRepository`, to make only the releasing done in a separate step)
 
+### Summary Tasks
+
+If you declare multiple repositories, you get a separate set of tasks for each of the repositories.
+If you for example declared the repositories `sonatype` and `otherNexus`, you get these tasks:
+- `closeSonatypeStagingRepository`
+- `closeOtherNexusStagingRepository`
+- `releaseSonatypeStagingRepository`
+- `releaseOtherNexusStagingRepository`
+- `closeAndReleaseSonatypeStagingRepository`
+- `closeAndReleaseOtherNexusStagingRepository`
+
+For convenience there are also summary tasks generated, that group the tasks for the different repositories, which are
+- `closeStagingRepository`
+- `releaseStagingRepository`
+- `closeAndReleaseStagingRepository`
+
+In the typical use-case, which is only one repository for publishing to Maven Central, these tasks still are useful,
+especially if you are using Kotlin DSL build scripts, because those summary tasks are always added, independent of
+declared repositories. Due to that there are type-safe accessors generated that can be used conveniently for task dependencies.
+
 ### Full example
 
 #### Groovy DSL
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/io/github/gradlenexus/publishplugin/NexusPublishPlugin.kt b/src/main/kotlin/io/github/gradlenexus/publishplugin/NexusPublishPlugin.kt
index 313b4d26..78f70181 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/io/github/gradlenexus/publishplugin/NexusPublishPlugin.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/io/github/gradlenexus/publishplugin/NexusPublishPlugin.kt
@@ -45,8 +45,9 @@ import java.time.Duration
 class NexusPublishPlugin : Plugin<Project> {
 
     companion object {
-        // visibility for testing
-        const val SIMPLIFIED_CLOSE_AND_RELEASE_TASK_NAME = "closeAndReleaseStagingRepository"
+        private const val SIMPLIFIED_CLOSE_AND_RELEASE_TASK_NAME = "closeAndReleaseStagingRepository"
+        private const val SIMPLIFIED_CLOSE_TASK_NAME = "closeStagingRepository"
+        private const val SIMPLIFIED_RELEASE_TASK_NAME = "releaseStagingRepository"
     }
 
     override fun apply(project: Project) {
@@ -125,10 +126,17 @@ class NexusPublishPlugin : Plugin<Project> {
                 enabled = false
             }
         }
-        rootProject.tasks.register<Task>(SIMPLIFIED_CLOSE_AND_RELEASE_TASK_NAME) {
+        rootProject.tasks.register(SIMPLIFIED_CLOSE_AND_RELEASE_TASK_NAME) {
             group = PublishingPlugin.PUBLISH_TASK_GROUP
             description = "Closes and releases open staging repositories in all configured Nexus instances."
-            enabled = false
+        }
+        rootProject.tasks.register(SIMPLIFIED_CLOSE_TASK_NAME) {
+            group = PublishingPlugin.PUBLISH_TASK_GROUP
+            description = "Closes open staging repositories in all configured Nexus instances."
+        }
+        rootProject.tasks.register(SIMPLIFIED_RELEASE_TASK_NAME) {
+            group = PublishingPlugin.PUBLISH_TASK_GROUP
+            description = "Releases open staging repositories in all configured Nexus instances."
         }
     }
 
@@ -235,7 +243,7 @@ class NexusPublishPlugin : Plugin<Project> {
                     }
                 }
             }
-            configureSimplifiedCloseAndReleaseTask(rootProject, extension)
+            configureSimplifiedCloseAndReleaseTasks(rootProject, extension)
         }
     }
 
@@ -346,25 +354,37 @@ class NexusPublishPlugin : Plugin<Project> {
             }
         }
 
-    private fun configureSimplifiedCloseAndReleaseTask(rootProject: Project, extension: NexusPublishExtension) {
+    private fun configureSimplifiedCloseAndReleaseTasks(rootProject: Project, extension: NexusPublishExtension) {
         if (extension.repositories.isNotEmpty()) {
-            val closeAndReleaseSimplifiedTask = rootProject.tasks.named(SIMPLIFIED_CLOSE_AND_RELEASE_TASK_NAME)
-            closeAndReleaseSimplifiedTask.configure {
-                val repositoryNamesAsString = extension.repositories.joinToString(", ") { "'${it.name}'" }
-                val instanceCardinalityAwareString = if (extension.repositories.size > 1) {
-                    "instances"
-                } else {
-                    "instance"
-                }
+            val repositoryNamesAsString = extension.repositories.joinToString(", ") { "'${it.name}'" }
+            val instanceCardinalityAwareString = if (extension.repositories.size > 1) {
+                "instances"
+            } else {
+                "instance"
+            }
+            val closeAndReleaseSimplifiedTask = rootProject.tasks.named(SIMPLIFIED_CLOSE_AND_RELEASE_TASK_NAME) {
                 description = "Closes and releases open staging repositories in the following Nexus $instanceCardinalityAwareString: $repositoryNamesAsString"
-                enabled = true
+            }
+            val closeSimplifiedTask = rootProject.tasks.named(SIMPLIFIED_CLOSE_TASK_NAME) {
+                description = "Closes open staging repositories in the following Nexus $instanceCardinalityAwareString: $repositoryNamesAsString"
+            }
+            val releaseSimplifiedTask = rootProject.tasks.named(SIMPLIFIED_RELEASE_TASK_NAME) {
+                description = "Releases open staging repositories in the following Nexus $instanceCardinalityAwareString: $repositoryNamesAsString"
             }
             extension.repositories.all {
                 val repositoryCapitalizedName = this.capitalizedName
                 val closeAndReleaseTask = rootProject.tasks.named<Task>("closeAndRelease${repositoryCapitalizedName}StagingRepository")
-                closeAndReleaseSimplifiedTask.configure {
+                closeAndReleaseSimplifiedTask {
                     dependsOn(closeAndReleaseTask)
                 }
+                val closeTask = rootProject.tasks.named<Task>("close${repositoryCapitalizedName}StagingRepository")
+                closeSimplifiedTask {
+                    dependsOn(closeTask)
+                }
+                val releaseTask = rootProject.tasks.named<Task>("release${repositoryCapitalizedName}StagingRepository")
+                releaseSimplifiedTask {
+                    dependsOn(releaseTask)
+                }
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/test/kotlin/io/github/gradlenexus/publishplugin/TaskOrchestrationTest.kt b/src/test/kotlin/io/github/gradlenexus/publishplugin/TaskOrchestrationTest.kt
index 9b64c7a4..98f367fa 100644
--- a/src/test/kotlin/io/github/gradlenexus/publishplugin/TaskOrchestrationTest.kt
+++ b/src/test/kotlin/io/github/gradlenexus/publishplugin/TaskOrchestrationTest.kt
@@ -31,7 +31,9 @@ import org.junit.jupiter.api.Disabled
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.io.TempDir
 import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.CsvSource
 import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.MethodSource
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.ValueSource
 import java.nio.file.Path
 
 @KotlinParameterizeTest
@@ -93,44 +95,64 @@ class TaskOrchestrationTest {
             .contains("closeSonatypeStagingRepository", "releaseSonatypeStagingRepository")
     }
 
-    @Test
-    internal fun `simplified close and release task without repository name should be available but trigger nothing if no repositories are configured`() {
+    @ParameterizedTest(name = "{0}")
+    @ValueSource(
+        strings = [
+            "closeAndReleaseStagingRepository",
+            "closeStagingRepository",
+            "releaseStagingRepository"
+        ]
+    )
+    internal fun `simplified task without repository name should be available but trigger nothing if no repositories are configured`(simplifiedTaskName: String) {
         initSingleProjectWithDefaultConfiguration()
         project.extensions.configure<NexusPublishExtension> {
             repositories.clear()
         }
 
-        val simplifiedCloseAndReleaseTasks = project.getTasksByName(NexusPublishPlugin.SIMPLIFIED_CLOSE_AND_RELEASE_TASK_NAME, true)
+        val simplifiedTasks = project.getTasksByName(simplifiedTaskName, true)
 
-        assertThat(simplifiedCloseAndReleaseTasks).hasSize(1)
-        assertThat(simplifiedCloseAndReleaseTasks.first().dependsOn).isEmpty()
+        assertThat(simplifiedTasks).hasSize(1)
+        assertThat(simplifiedTasks.first().dependsOn).isEmpty()
     }
 
-    @Test
-    internal fun `simplified closeAndRelease task without repository name should depend on all closeAndRelease (created one per defined repository)`() {
+    @ParameterizedTest(name = "{0}")
+    @CsvSource(
+        textBlock = """
+            closeAndReleaseStagingRepository, closeAndReleaseSonatypeStagingRepository, closeAndReleaseOtherNexusStagingRepository
+            closeStagingRepository          , closeSonatypeStagingRepository          , closeOtherNexusStagingRepository
+            releaseStagingRepository        , releaseSonatypeStagingRepository        , releaseOtherNexusStagingRepository"""
+    )
+    internal fun `simplified task without repository name should depend on all normal tasks (created one per defined repository)`(simplifiedTaskName: String, sonatypeTaskName: String, otherNexusTaskName: String) {
         initSingleProjectWithDefaultConfiguration()
         project.extensions.configure<NexusPublishExtension> {
             repositories.create("otherNexus")
         }
 
-        val closeAndReleaseTask = getJustOneTaskByNameOrFail(NexusPublishPlugin.SIMPLIFIED_CLOSE_AND_RELEASE_TASK_NAME)
+        val simplifiedTasks = getJustOneTaskByNameOrFail(simplifiedTaskName)
 
-        assertThat(closeAndReleaseTask.taskDependencies.getDependencies(null).map { it.name })
+        assertThat(simplifiedTasks.taskDependencies.getDependencies(null).map { it.name })
             .hasSize(2)
-            .contains("closeAndReleaseSonatypeStagingRepository")
-            .contains("closeAndReleaseOtherNexusStagingRepository")
+            .contains(sonatypeTaskName)
+            .contains(otherNexusTaskName)
     }
 
-    @Test
-    internal fun `description of simplified closeAndRelease task contains names of all defined Nexus instances`() {
+    @ParameterizedTest(name = "{0}")
+    @ValueSource(
+        strings = [
+            "closeAndReleaseStagingRepository",
+            "closeStagingRepository",
+            "releaseStagingRepository"
+        ]
+    )
+    internal fun `description of simplified task contains names of all defined Nexus instances`(simplifiedTaskName: String) {
         initSingleProjectWithDefaultConfiguration()
         project.extensions.configure<NexusPublishExtension> {
             repositories.create("otherNexus")
         }
 
-        val closeAndReleaseTask = getJustOneTaskByNameOrFail(NexusPublishPlugin.SIMPLIFIED_CLOSE_AND_RELEASE_TASK_NAME)
+        val simplifiedTasks = getJustOneTaskByNameOrFail(simplifiedTaskName)
 
-        assertThat(closeAndReleaseTask.description)
+        assertThat(simplifiedTasks.description)
             .contains("sonatype")
             .contains("otherNexus")
     }