diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 0098c11e951..c4b4e7dc00f 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -109,6 +109,10 @@ Removed Functionality
 Deprecated Functionality
 ------------------------
 
+* The ``Broker::auto_publish()`` function has been deprecated and should
+  be replaced with explicit ``Broker::publish()`` invocations that are
+  potentially guarded with appropriate ``@if`` or ``@ifdef`` directives.
+
 Zeek 7.0.0
 ==========
 
diff --git a/scripts/base/frameworks/broker/main.zeek b/scripts/base/frameworks/broker/main.zeek
index 0dd61f9139a..d41f64ab2ef 100644
--- a/scripts/base/frameworks/broker/main.zeek
+++ b/scripts/base/frameworks/broker/main.zeek
@@ -395,7 +395,7 @@ export {
 	## ev: a Zeek event value.
 	##
 	## Returns: true if automatic event sending is now enabled.
-	global auto_publish: function(topic: string, ev: any): bool;
+	global auto_publish: function(topic: string, ev: any): bool &deprecated="Remove in v8.1. Switch to explicit Broker::publish() calls. Auto-publish won't work with all cluster backends.";
 
 	## Stop automatically sending an event to peers upon local dispatch.
 	##
@@ -405,7 +405,7 @@ export {
 	##
 	## Returns: true if automatic events will not occur for the topic/event
 	##          pair.
-	global auto_unpublish: function(topic: string, ev: any): bool;
+	global auto_unpublish: function(topic: string, ev: any): bool &deprecated="Remove in v8.1. See Broker::auto_publish()";
 }
 
 @load base/bif/comm.bif
diff --git a/src/EventHandler.h b/src/EventHandler.h
index 0fbd5c1282f..9291bda8093 100644
--- a/src/EventHandler.h
+++ b/src/EventHandler.h
@@ -35,9 +35,15 @@ class EventHandler {
 
     void SetFunc(FuncPtr f);
 
-    void AutoPublish(std::string topic) { auto_publish.insert(std::move(topic)); }
+    [[deprecated("Remove in v8.1, use explicit Publish().")]]
+    void AutoPublish(std::string topic) {
+        auto_publish.insert(std::move(topic));
+    }
 
-    void AutoUnpublish(const std::string& topic) { auto_publish.erase(topic); }
+    [[deprecated("Remove in v8.1.")]]
+    void AutoUnpublish(const std::string& topic) {
+        auto_publish.erase(topic);
+    }
 
     void Call(zeek::Args* vl, bool no_remote = false, double ts = run_state::network_time);
 
diff --git a/src/broker/Manager.cc b/src/broker/Manager.cc
index 44c6c407a0a..270f57c4c1c 100644
--- a/src/broker/Manager.cc
+++ b/src/broker/Manager.cc
@@ -811,7 +811,10 @@ bool Manager::AutoPublishEvent(string topic, Val* event) {
     }
 
     DBG_LOG(DBG_BROKER, "Enabling auto-publishing of event %s to topic %s", handler->Name(), topic.c_str());
+#pragma GCC diagnostic push
+#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wdeprecated-declarations"
     handler->AutoPublish(std::move(topic));
+#pragma GCC diagnostic pop
 
     return true;
 }
@@ -837,7 +840,10 @@ bool Manager::AutoUnpublishEvent(const string& topic, Val* event) {
     }
 
     DBG_LOG(DBG_BROKER, "Disabling auto-publishing of event %s to topic %s", handler->Name(), topic.c_str());
+#pragma GCC diagnostic push
+#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wdeprecated-declarations"
     handler->AutoUnpublish(topic);
+#pragma GCC diagnostic pop
 
     return true;
 }
diff --git a/src/broker/Manager.h b/src/broker/Manager.h
index 412fa764ae8..297d7a5f05d 100644
--- a/src/broker/Manager.h
+++ b/src/broker/Manager.h
@@ -243,6 +243,7 @@ class Manager : public iosource::IOSource {
      * @param event a Zeek event value.
      * @return true if automatic event sending is now enabled.
      */
+    [[deprecated("Remove in v8.1, use explicit Publish().")]]
     bool AutoPublishEvent(std::string topic, Val* event);
 
     /**
@@ -251,6 +252,7 @@ class Manager : public iosource::IOSource {
      * @param event an event originally given to zeek::Broker::Manager::AutoPublish().
      * @return true if automatic events will no occur for the topic/event pair.
      */
+    [[deprecated("Remove in v8.1.")]]
     bool AutoUnpublishEvent(const std::string& topic, Val* event);
 
     /**
@@ -483,7 +485,7 @@ class Manager : public iosource::IOSource {
     telemetry::CounterPtr num_logs_outgoing_metric;
     telemetry::CounterPtr num_ids_incoming_metric;
     telemetry::CounterPtr num_ids_outgoing_metric;
-};
+}; // namespace zeek
 
 } // namespace Broker
 
diff --git a/src/broker/messaging.bif b/src/broker/messaging.bif
index 92bb625dd83..632cf06ce53 100644
--- a/src/broker/messaging.bif
+++ b/src/broker/messaging.bif
@@ -136,14 +136,20 @@ function Broker::__publish_id%(topic: string, id: string%): bool
 function Broker::__auto_publish%(topic: string, ev: any%): bool
 	%{
 	zeek::Broker::Manager::ScriptScopeGuard ssg;
+#pragma GCC diagnostic push
+#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wdeprecated-declarations"
 	auto rval = zeek::broker_mgr->AutoPublishEvent(topic->CheckString(), ev);
+#pragma GCC diagnostic pop
 	return zeek::val_mgr->Bool(rval);
 	%}
 
 function Broker::__auto_unpublish%(topic: string, ev: any%): bool
 	%{
 	zeek::Broker::Manager::ScriptScopeGuard ssg;
+#pragma GCC diagnostic push
+#pragma GCC diagnostic ignored "-Wdeprecated-declarations"
 	auto rval = zeek::broker_mgr->AutoUnpublishEvent(topic->CheckString(), ev);
+#pragma GCC diagnostic pop
 	return zeek::val_mgr->Bool(rval);
 	%}