git-release-workflow

Git Release Workflow

Mission

Publish a stable software version from the configured integration branch.

Startup

1. Read .git-workflow.yml.
2. Resolve shared resources from ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/shared; if running outside Claude Code, use the nearest ancestor containing git-workflow-skills.yml.
3. Inspect worktree, current branch, remotes, and recent CI status when available.
4. Confirm version and release path before mutating anything.

Inputs

• Version number.
• Workflow model.
• Source branch and target branch.
• Release note content or release note file path.
• Release artifacts/assets, if the project ships packages, archives, installers, binaries, or other distributable files.
• Tag format.
• CI status.

Release Note Encoding

• Treat release notes as UTF-8 text.
• If the user provides a release note file, read it as UTF-8 and preserve the body verbatim, including Chinese, Unicode, Markdown lists, tables, and code blocks.
• Do not summarize, translate, strip, reorder, or regenerate user-provided release text unless the user explicitly asks for it.
• For GitHub, prefer gh release create <tag> --notes-file <path> or gh release edit <tag> --notes-file <path> for multi-line release notes.
• For GitLab or other providers, prefer the provider's file/body-file option when available; otherwise upload a UTF-8 body from a temporary file after previewing it.
• Avoid passing multi-line Unicode release notes through command-line inline strings, echo, PowerShell here-strings, or shell interpolation.
• If composing a temporary release note file, write it as UTF-8 and read it back before creating the release.

Workflow

1. Confirm source_branch and target_branch.
2. Check that the worktree is clean.
3. Check source branch is synchronized with remote.
4. Validate version and tag format using config.
5. Ask whether this release needs artifacts/assets.
6. If artifacts are needed, confirm the source: local file paths, CI artifacts, or no upload for this release.
7. Confirm artifact names, checksums if available, and whether they should be uploaded as GitHub/GitLab Release assets.
8. Determine release note source: user-provided UTF-8 file, user-provided text, or the release-note template (project-local .git-workflow/templates/release-note.md first, then shared shared/templates/release-note.md).
9. Preserve user-provided release note content verbatim; only append artifact metadata after confirmation.
10. Preview release note content before release creation, especially when it contains Chinese or other Unicode text.
11. For simple-dev-main, create source-to-target PR/MR.
12. For release-branch, create release/<version> before target PR/MR.
13. Wait for required checks.
14. Merge after confirmation.
15. Sync target branch, create tag, and create release with a notes file after confirmation.
16. Upload confirmed release assets after confirmation.
17. Sync integration branch after release.

Safety Gates

PR/MR creation, merge, tag creation, release creation, release note body upload, release asset upload or overwrite, and branch synchronization require confirmation. If the release note contains Chinese or Unicode text, preview the exact body that will be sent before release creation.

Template Override

See shared/references/template-override.md for the standard override mechanism.

Shared Resources

• shared/references/template-override.md
• shared/templates/release-note.md (use resolve_template("release-note.md") to respect overrides)
• shared/templates/release-checklist.md (use resolve_template("release-checklist.md") to respect overrides)
• shared/templates/hotfix-checklist.md (use resolve_template("hotfix-checklist.md") to respect overrides)
• shared/references/branch-models.md

Handoff

• Normal development work: use git-feature-workflow.
• Commit splitting: use git-commit-discipline.
• Missing strategy: use git-branch-strategy.

Output

Return release plan, version and tag, release note source, encoding check result, release note preview, artifact list, CI status, PR/MR status, tag/release result, asset upload status, and post-release sync status.