create-release-workflow

Release Workflow

Overview

Standardized release process: draft CHANGELOG entry → git tag → GitHub release → update README → commit.

See CHANGELOG.md.

Version Prompting

Before starting the process, determine the next version:

git describe --tags --abbrev=0

This prints the latest tag (e.g., v0.1.0). Decide the bump type:

• Major (1.0.0): Breaking behavioral rules, SKILL.md structure, or plugin compatibility
• Minor (0.2.0): New rules, commands, or ADRs
• Patch (0.1.1): Bug fixes, docs, non-breaking refactors

No prior tag? Start at v0.1.0.

Setup

Before starting:

• git status — working tree must be clean
• git log origin/main..HEAD — no unpushed commits
• git fetch — remote accessible

Process

1. Draft CHANGELOG Entry

Read CHANGELOG.md to find the current latest version. Read the git log since the last tag:

git log --oneline $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD
# If no prior tag:
git log --oneline --all

Categorize commits: Added (feat:), Changed (refactor:, perf:), Fixed (fix:), Docs (docs:). Update CHANGELOG.md following Keep a Changelog format.

2. Create Git Tag

git tag -a v{NEW_VERSION} -m "Release v{NEW_VERSION}"
git push origin v{NEW_VERSION}

3. Create GitHub Release

Extract the current version's entry from CHANGELOG.md and use it as the release body:

# Extract changelog section for this version
python3 << 'PYEOF' > /tmp/changelog-entry.md
import sys
with open('CHANGELOG.md') as f:
    content = f.read()
version = 'v{NEW_VERSION}'
start = content.find(f'## [{version}]')
if start == -1:
    print(f"Error: no CHANGELOG entry for {version}", file=sys.stderr)
    sys.exit(1)
end = content.find('\n## [', start + 1)
if end == -1:
    end = content.find('\n[Unreleased]:', start)
    if end == -1:
        end = len(content)
print(content[start:end].strip())
PYEOF

gh release create v{NEW_VERSION} \
  --title "v{NEW_VERSION}" \
  --notes-file /tmp/changelog-entry.md