release

Release

Collaborating skills

• Changelog: skill: changelog — classify commits, determine version bump, write CHANGELOG.md entry
• Git Commit: skill: git-commit — commit the release changes with a conventional message
• Create PR: skill: create-pr — open a release PR after updating the changelog

Overview

A release is a sequence of discrete steps. Complete each one before moving to the next, and confirm with the user before pushing anything to the remote.

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Step 1: Pre-flight checks

Verify the repository is in a clean, releasable state:

# Must be on main (or the designated release branch)
git branch --show-current

# Working tree must be clean
git status

# Must be up to date with remote
git fetch origin
git log HEAD..origin/main --oneline   # should be empty

# Show commits since last tag (what will be released)
git describe --tags --abbrev=0        # last tag
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --oneline --no-merges

Stop if:

• Not on the main branch
• Uncommitted changes exist
• Local branch is behind remote — pull first

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Step 2: Determine version and update changelog

Invoke the changelog skill here. It will:

• Read commits since the last tag
• Classify them into Added / Changed / Fixed / Security / etc.
• Propose the next semver version (MAJOR / MINOR / PATCH)
• Write the new versioned section in CHANGELOG.md

Confirm the proposed version and changelog content with the user before continuing.

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Step 3: Update version in project files

After confirming the version, update the version string wherever the project declares it.

Detect which files to update:

# Common version files — check which exist
ls package.json pyproject.toml Cargo.toml mix.exs version.rb VERSION 2>/dev/null

Update the version field in whichever files are present:

# Node.js / npm
npm version <new-version> --no-git-tag-version

# Or edit manually for other ecosystems
# Python: pyproject.toml → [project] version = "x.x.x"
# Ruby gem: version.rb → VERSION = "x.x.x"
# Plain file: echo "x.x.x" > VERSION

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Step 4: Commit release changes

Use the git-commit skill with a conventional release commit:

git add CHANGELOG.md package.json   # (and any other version files updated)
git commit -m "chore: release vX.X.X"

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Step 5: Create and push the git tag

# Annotated tag with the changelog entry as the message
git tag -a vX.X.X -m "Release vX.X.X"

# Review what will be pushed
git log --oneline -3
git tag -l "vX.X.X"

Confirm with the user before pushing.

# Push commit and tag together
git push origin main
git push origin vX.X.X

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Step 6: Create GitHub release

Extract the changelog entry for this version to use as the release body:

# Show the section for this version from CHANGELOG.md
awk '/^## \[X\.X\.X\]/,/^## \[/' CHANGELOG.md | head -n -1

Create the release:

gh release create vX.X.X \
  --title "vX.X.X" \
  --notes "$(awk '/^## \[X\.X\.X\]/,/^## \[/' CHANGELOG.md | head -n -1)"

For a pre-release:

gh release create vX.X.X --prerelease --title "vX.X.X (pre-release)" --notes "..."

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Step 7: Post-release (project-specific)

Depending on the project, additional publish steps may be needed. Check and run only what applies:

# npm package
npm publish

# Python package
uv build && uv publish

# Ruby gem
gem build *.gemspec && gem push *.gem

These are opt-in — only run if the project is a published package.

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Full sequence summary

Step	Action	Requires confirmation
1	Pre-flight checks	—
2	Changelog + version decision	Yes — confirm version
3	Update version files	—
4	Commit release changes	—
5	Tag + push	Yes — before pushing
6	GitHub release	Yes — review release notes
7	Publish (if applicable)	Yes

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Checklist

• On main branch, working tree clean, up to date with remote
• Commits since last tag reviewed
• Version confirmed (MAJOR / MINOR / PATCH)
• CHANGELOG.md updated with dated versioned section
• Version files updated (package.json, etc.)
• Release commit created: chore: release vX.X.X
• Annotated tag created: git tag -a vX.X.X
• Commit and tag pushed to remote
• GitHub release created with changelog notes
• Package published (if applicable)