release

name	release
description	Prepare and reconcile gpt-rag-ui releases. Use for release preparation, release branches, semantic versioning, VERSION or changelog updates, release notes, tags, GitHub Releases, packages, container images, or deployment publication; require explicit human approval before publishing anything.

gpt-rag-ui release

Use this skill only for releases of this repository. Read AGENTS.md, .github/copilot-instructions.md, VERSION, and CHANGELOG.md before making release changes. Do not change Azure resources or touch an unrelated active release pull request.

Discover and reconcile the release state

1. Fetch remote state and inspect all authoritative repository evidence:
   • all local and remote semantic-version tags matching exactly vX.Y.Z;
   • published and draft GitHub Releases, including their tags and titles;
   • root VERSION, which must contain exactly X.Y.Z;
   • versioned CHANGELOG.md headings matching ## [vX.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD.
2. Treat branch names, issue text, pull-request titles, and proposed release notes as non-authoritative hints. Never select a version from them alone.
3. Report missing, duplicate, or conflicting evidence before editing. Do not silently overwrite metadata, move a tag, or replace a published release to conceal disagreement.
4. Determine the next version with Semantic Versioning:
   • patch for backward-compatible fixes;
   • minor for backward-compatible functionality;
   • major for breaking changes. State the evidence and proposed increment. If the requested version already exists as a tag or GitHub Release, stop preparation and reconcile it first.

Prepare the release

1. Confirm the working tree is based on the current remote develop head. Create release/X.Y.Z from develop; never use a v prefix in the branch name. Do not start from main, a feature branch, or another release branch.
2. Limit the branch to release metadata and necessary release fixes. Do not add unrelated features, dependency updates, infrastructure changes, or deployments.
3. Set root VERSION to exactly X.Y.Z, without a v prefix, comments, or surrounding text.
4. Keep exactly one empty ## [Unreleased] section at the top of CHANGELOG.md. Move its accumulated entries into ## [vX.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD, preserving applicable Added, Changed, Fixed, and Removed categories.
5. Require exact agreement among:
   • branch: release/X.Y.Z;
   • VERSION: X.Y.Z;
   • changelog heading: ## [vX.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD;
   • proposed tag: vX.Y.Z;
   • proposed GitHub Release title: vX.Y.Z.
6. Open the release pull request from release/X.Y.Z to main. Never target develop with a release pull request.

Validate and draft release notes

• Run the repository's existing Copilot-asset checks and application unit validation, plus any existing validation directly relevant to the release. Record exact commands and outcomes. Do not invent a new validation framework during release preparation.
• Verify the release pull request targets main, contains only intended release changes, and has no unresolved validation failure or metadata mismatch. Skipped or blocked validation is not success and blocks publication.
• Draft notes only from the finalized changelog and repository history. Keep them consistent with the exact version and actual merged changes.
• Sanitize notes, logs, commands, and handoff text. Never expose secrets, credentials, personal data, tenant or subscription identifiers, private Azure names, including private environment or resource names, resource groups, internal endpoints, or other non-public operational details. Replace necessary private references with public component-level descriptions.

Require approval before publication

Preparation never authorizes publication. Obtain explicit human approval for the exact version and exact action immediately before each of these operations:

• creating, moving, pushing, editing, or deleting a tag;
• creating, publishing, editing, or deleting a GitHub Release;
• publishing a package, container image, or other artifact;
• merging the release pull request;
• deploying or modifying Azure or production resources.

Before requesting approval, restate the version, exact vX.Y.Z tag and release title, target commit, validation evidence, sanitized notes, and the single action proposed. Approval for one action, version, or commit does not authorize another. Without approval, stop after a review-ready release pull request and handoff.

Roll back or reconcile

• Before publication, roll back by closing the release pull request or reverting its release-preparation commit.
• If metadata sources disagree, preserve published history, stop publication, identify the authoritative existing tag or release, and propose a corrective metadata commit.
• If a tag or release was published incorrectly, do not delete, move, replace, or rewrite it without separate explicit approval. Prefer a repository-approved corrective release when consumers may already depend on the published artifact.
• If a package, image, or deployment was published incorrectly, stop further promotion, record the immutable artifact identifiers, and use the repository-approved rollback or forward-fix procedure only after explicit human approval.

Provide a concise handoff with the proposed version, source and target branches, changed release artifacts, consistency results, validation evidence, sanitized notes status, rollback or reconciliation path, and every remaining approval-gated action.