release

Release Skill

Complete npm release workflow that handles version bumping, git operations, and GitHub releases in the correct order to trigger automatic npm publishing.

Trigger Words

Use when user says: "release", "publish", "ship it", "create release", "npm publish", "/release"

Critical: Correct Order of Operations

The workflow MUST follow this exact sequence to ensure npm publishing works:

1. Version Bump (all files)
2. Build & Test
3. Git Commit (version changes)
4. Git Tag (annotated)
5. Push Commits to main
6. Push Tag to origin
7. Create GitHub Release (triggers npm publish)
8. Verify npm publication
9. Auto-update global installation

Why Order Matters

• GitHub Actions trigger: The deploy.yml workflow only runs npm publish when github.ref starts with refs/tags/v
• Tag must exist on remote: If you create a GitHub release before pushing the tag, it fails
• Commits must be pushed first: The tag must point to a commit that exists on the remote

Pre-flight Checks

Before starting, verify:

# 1. Clean working directory (or only version-related changes)
git status

# 2. On main branch
git branch --show-current

# 3. GitHub CLI authenticated
gh auth status

# 4. Current versions in sync
echo "package.json: $(node -p "require('./package.json').version")"
echo "CLI source:   $(grep "const VERSION" src/cli/index.ts | grep -oP "'[^']+'" | tr -d "'")"
echo "README:       $(grep -oP 'v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' README.md | head -1)"
echo "docs/index:   $(grep -oP '"softwareVersion": "[^"]+"' docs/index.html | grep -oP '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+')"

Version Locations

ALL of these MUST be updated to the same version:

File	Line	Pattern
package.json	3	"version": "X.Y.Z"
src/cli/index.ts	18	const VERSION = 'X.Y.Z';
README.md	12	> **vX.Y.Z**:
docs/index.html	45	"softwareVersion": "X.Y.Z"

Complete Workflow

Step 1: Determine Version