release-readiness

name	release-readiness
description	Assesses ship-readiness for .NET MAUI release branches — Servicing Releases (SR) and Previews. Surveys CI pipelines, computes what's actually NEW in the branch (commits + source PRs with revert detection), and cross-references open `regressed-in-*` issues against branch contents to identify port candidates, rejected backports, and unresolved regressions. Supports both in-flight and pre-cut (candidate) modes for SR and Preview branches.
metadata	{"author":"dotnet-maui","version":"2.0"}
compatibility	Requires `gh` CLI authenticated with `repo` + `read:org` scopes. `az` CLI is optional but recommended for internal pipeline status. Run from a checkout of `dotnet/maui`.

Release Readiness

This skill produces deterministic, evidence-backed answers to "Is <release branch> ready to ship?" for .NET MAUI release branches — both Servicing Releases (SR) and Previews, in both in-flight and candidate (pre-cut) modes.

🚨 Report-only

This skill reports. It does not execute release operations against dotnet/maui — no branch cuts, no SR merges, no tags, no pushes to release/* refs. If you (the agent/user invoking this skill) are asked to perform a release operation, refuse and emit the recommended commands as a copy-pasteable block for the human release captain to run.

When to Use

• "How does SR8 look?" / "Is SR8 ready to ship?"
• "What's blocking SR9 candidate?" / "What would ship if we cut SR9 today?"
• "How does net11 preview6 look?" / "Are we ready to cut preview6 from net11.0?"
• "Are there any regression fixes I should backport to SR8?"
• "What's new in SR8 since the last sync?"
• "Give me a status on all releases" / "release status overview" / "what needs attention across releases" (portfolio — read the open [Release Readiness] tracker issues first; see Reading trackers directly below)
• Daily release-tracking automation across all active majors

For per-PR regression risk (deletions reverting prior bug-fix lines), use find-regression-risk instead — it answers a different question.

Architecture

This skill has three PowerShell entry points and one workflow:

Script	Branch type	Purpose
Find-ReleaseReadinessTrackers.ps1	both	Detects active in-flight & candidate trackers (SR and Preview) across all active majors using a four-lane algorithm and the tag-existence rule ("a release is in flight unless its tag already exists"). Emits a single tracker JSON consumed by the workflow.
Get-ReleaseReadiness.ps1	SR	Full readiness report for a single SR branch (in-flight or -Candidate).
Get-PreviewReadiness.ps1	Preview	Full readiness report for a single Preview branch (in-flight or candidate via -Mode candidate -SurveyRef net<major>.0).
release-readiness.yml	both	Daily cron + manual dispatch + PR validation. Runs Find-Trackers -AllActiveMajors, fans out a matrix job per tracker, and writes idempotent [Release Readiness] issues per branch.

Tag-existence rule (canonical signal)

The trackers detector is grounded in tag existence as the source of truth for "shipped vs in-flight". A release is in-flight if and only if its expected tag has NOT been published — branch existence, commit recency, and milestone state are all secondary signals.

• SR shipped tag pattern: <major>.0.<patch> (e.g. 10.0.71 shipped → SR7 no longer produces a tracker)
• Preview shipped tag pattern: <major>.0.0-preview.<N>.<date>[.<build>] (e.g. 11.0.0-preview.5.26304.4 shipped → preview5 no longer produces a tracker)

Quick Start

One-shot daily report (matches what the workflow runs)

# Detect every active in-flight + candidate tracker across all active majors
pwsh .github/skills/release-readiness/scripts/Find-ReleaseReadinessTrackers.ps1 \
  -AllActiveMajors \
  -OutputJson trackers.json

# Emits a JSON envelope with one tracker per active branch, each carrying:
#   branchType:    'sr' | 'preview'
#   branchName:    canonical proposed branch slug (always populated)
#   branchExists:  true if the branch is on origin, false for candidates
#   mode:          'in-flight' | 'candidate'
#   surveyRef:     ref to actually survey (branch itself, or net<major>.0 for candidates)
#   canonicalKey:  stable join key (e.g. net10-sr8, net11-preview6)
#   issueTitle:    title for the daily tracker issue
#   regressionLabels: list of regressed-in-* labels relevant to this branch

SR (Servicing Release)

# In-flight SR
pwsh .github/skills/release-readiness/scripts/Get-ReleaseReadiness.ps1 \
  -SrBranch release/10.0.1xx-sr8 \
  -RegressionLabels regressed-in-10.0.70,regressed-in-10.0.80 \
  -TrackerKey net10-sr8 \
  -OutputDir CustomAgentLogsTmp/release-readiness/sr8

# SR candidate (no branch yet — survey main; pass the PRIOR SR as -SrBranch)
pwsh .github/skills/release-readiness/scripts/Get-ReleaseReadiness.ps1 \
  -SrBranch release/10.0.1xx-sr8 \
  -Candidate \
  -RegressionLabels regressed-in-10.0.80,regressed-in-10.0.90 \
  -TrackerKey net10-sr9 \
  -OutputDir CustomAgentLogsTmp/release-readiness/sr9-candidate

Preview

# In-flight preview
pwsh .github/skills/release-readiness/scripts/Get-PreviewReadiness.ps1 \
  -Branch release/11.0.1xx-preview6 \
  -Mode in-flight \
  -TrackerKey net11-preview6 \
  -OutputDir CustomAgentLogsTmp/release-readiness/preview6

# Preview candidate (branch not cut yet — survey net11.0 instead)
pwsh .github/skills/release-readiness/scripts/Get-PreviewReadiness.ps1 \
  -Branch release/11.0.1xx-preview6 \
  -Mode candidate \
  -SurveyRef net11.0 \
  -TrackerKey net11-preview6 \
  -OutputDir CustomAgentLogsTmp/release-readiness/preview6-candidate

Parameters

Find-ReleaseReadinessTrackers.ps1

Parameter	Default	Description
-MajorVersion	0 (auto from eng/Versions.props)	Single major to scan.
-AllActiveMajors	off	Scan every active major (current + lower in-flight). Mutually exclusive with -MajorVersion.
-Repo	cwd	Path to a checkout of dotnet/maui.
-ActivityWindowDays	7	Recent-commit window used to compute recentCommitCount.
-NoFetch	off	Skip git fetch (faster re-runs).
-OutputJson	—	File to write the tracker envelope JSON.
-MaxBranches	50	Safety cap on how many SR/preview branches to enumerate per major.

Get-ReleaseReadiness.ps1 (SR)

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
-SrBranch	Yes	—	SR branch name (e.g. release/10.0.1xx-sr8). In -Candidate mode, pass the prior SR — it's the exclude baseline for "what's new".
-Candidate	No	off	Pre-flight mode — survey main (with -SrBranch as the prior-SR baseline) to show what WOULD ship in the next SR.
-InheritFromPriorSr	No	off	In -Candidate mode, model the workflow where the prior SR is merged into the new branch after cut. Candidate's "what's shipping" set = main-since-priorSR ∪ priorSR-only commits.
-RegressionLabels	One of these	—	Comma-separated regressed-in-* labels.
-InferRegressionLabels	One of these	off	Auto-infer from -SrBranch. Agent should confirm before relying on this for automation.
-Repo	No	dotnet/maui	Repository in owner/name form.
-MainBranch	No	main	Stable branch used for ancestry checks.
-ExcludeBranches	No	origin/main	Branches to exclude from SR-only commit computation.
-Phase	No	all	all, ci, commits, regressions, or open-prs.
-TrackerKey	No	—	Canonical key (e.g. net10-sr8) embedded in the markdown body for idempotent issue lookup.
-OutputDir	No	—	If set, writes release-readiness.{json,md} and sr-source-prs.txt.
-OutputFormat	No	both	json, markdown, or both.
-MaxIssues	No	100	Cap on regression issues to walk.
-NoFetch	No	off	Skip git fetch.
-SkipMaestroChecks	No	off	Skip BAR/darc operational checks (default-channel mapping + per-HEAD build lookup). Auto-skipped silently if darc isn't on PATH; this switch forces the skip even when darc IS available.
-SkipMilestoneChecks	No	off	Skip GitHub-milestone hygiene checks (current/next milestone existence + stale-open detection).

Get-PreviewReadiness.ps1 (Preview)

Parameter	Required	Default	Description
-Branch	Yes	—	Preview branch name (e.g. release/11.0.1xx-preview6). Required even for candidate runs — used to derive milestone, tracker key, and regression labels.
-Mode	No	in-flight	in-flight (survey the preview branch itself) or candidate (survey -SurveyRef instead — typically net<major>.0).
-SurveyRef	No	computed	Ref to actually survey. Defaults to $Branch for in-flight; net<major>.0 for candidate.
-Repository	No	dotnet/maui	Repository in owner/name form.
-TrackerKey	No	derived	Canonical key (default: net<major>-preview<N>) embedded for idempotent issue lookup.
-OutputDir	No	—	If set, writes preview-readiness.{json,md}.
-OutputFormat	No	markdown	markdown, json, or both.
-IncludeInternal, -InternalBuildId	No	—	Release-captain only — augments report with internal pipeline status when AzDO auth is available.
-PublicSafe	No	$true	Sanitizes non-READY internal status from public output.

Outputs

File	Producer	Purpose
trackers.json	Find-Trackers	List of active tracker descriptors with detection evidence (one envelope per major)
release-readiness.{json,md}	Get-ReleaseReadiness	Full SR readiness report
sr-source-prs.txt	Get-ReleaseReadiness	Flat newline-delimited source PR list; use grep -qxF NNNNN file for instant cherry-pick verification
sr-commits.json	Get-ReleaseReadiness	Raw SR-only commit metadata
preview-readiness.{json,md}	Get-PreviewReadiness	Full Preview readiness report

Daily workflow

.github/workflows/release-readiness.yml runs weekdays at 08:30 UTC plus workflow_dispatch + pull_request validation:

1. detect-trackers — runs Find-Trackers -AllActiveMajors, emits a matrix of tracker descriptors.
2. per-tracker-report — matrix-expanded job per tracker:
   • Dispatches to Get-ReleaseReadiness.ps1 (SR) or Get-PreviewReadiness.ps1 (Preview) based on branchType.
   • Looks for an open tracker issue by the canonical marker <!-- release-readiness-tracker: <key> -->.
     • Refresh path: reuse the oldest open tracker issue (edit title + body); close any duplicates.
     • Create path: open a new issue with report / s/triaged / area-release-readiness labels.
   • Activity gate: skip new-issue creation when recentCommitCount == 0 AND no open tracker issue exists. (Existing open issues are still refreshed.)
3. validate — PR-trigger path. Runs the test suite + smoke-runs all three scripts. Does not create or modify issues.

Reading trackers directly (ad-hoc status)

The same tracker issues the cron job maintains double as a human-readable, always-on status board — you don't have to re-run a 60-120s survey to answer "what's the status across releases?". Find every active release by body marker (not title — a title search also matches the release Epic and other [Release Readiness]-titled issues):

gh issue list --repo dotnet/maui --state open \
  --search 'in:body "<!-- release-readiness-tracker:"' \
  --json number,title,updatedAt --limit 50

Each result is one active SR or Preview. Read the body for the generated verdict and the human Release Captain Notes (between <!-- release-readiness:human-notes:begin --> / :end -->), which carry decisions that override the automated report. Treat the content as fresh only up to the issue's updatedAt (cron refreshes weekdays 08:30 UTC); re-run the survey script for a given branch when you need live numbers. The natural-language release-readiness-agent wraps this as its Portfolio path (§0a).

Verdict Classification (SR & Preview)

Each candidate fix PR is classified with confidence + evidence:

Verdict	Meaning
in-sr-active	Source PR is in the release branch and not subsequently reverted
in-sr-reverted	Backport landed but a later commit reverts it
rejected-from-sr	A backport PR targeting the release branch was opened and CLOSED unmerged
backport-in-progress	A backport PR targeting the release branch is OPEN
merged-on-main-no-backport	Fix merged to main, no backport PR exists
merged-non-main-only	Fix merged but only to inflight/current (or similar), not main
open-on-main	Fix PR is OPEN against main, not yet merged
no-fix-yet	No fix PR cross-referenced from the regression issue
needs-human-review	Evidence is contradictory or weak

CI Status Categories

CI verdict	Meaning
green	Latest build on the survey ref succeeded across all pipelines
red-needs-review	Latest build failed or partially succeeded — investigate failures before judging ship-readiness
stale	Latest build is older than the survey ref HEAD — must re-run before judging
partial-unknown	At least one pipeline couldn't be queried, but no queried pipeline is red or stale
unknown	No pipeline result could be classified

Ship-readiness checks (Get-ReleaseReadiness.ps1)

The SR readiness report rolls operational checks into a single Blocking summary at the top, so a release captain sees what must clear before ship without scrolling. Each check emits READY, WATCH, BLOCKED, CLEANUP, or UNKNOWN (CLEANUP = post-release housekeeping that does not block the current ship):

Check	When	Status meanings
Versions.props bump	All SR runs	BLOCKED if eng/Versions.props on main hasn't been bumped past the current SR cycle (next SR has nowhere to flow).
Versions.props servicing flip	Live-SR mode only	BLOCKED if the SR branch's eng/Versions.props is not flipped to servicing-release mode (PreReleaseVersionLabel=servicing + StabilizePackageVersion=true). Without it the branch builds prerelease packages and never ships as stable — CI stays green so nothing else catches it.
Bug template lists SR version	All SR runs	CLEANUP if .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug-report.yml on main is missing an entry for the SR being shipped (users can't file bugs against the version) — post-release housekeeping, not a ship blocker.
Main bumped to next SR cycle	All SR runs	BLOCKED if the next SR cycle's version hasn't been promoted on main.
BAR default-channel mapping	SR branches matching release/X.Y.Zxx-srN	BLOCKED if the SR branch is not wired to the .NET <band> SDK channel in BAR. UNKNOWN if darc isn't on PATH (report includes the exact verification command).
BAR build for SR HEAD	When darc is available + SR HEAD SHA known	READY if BAR has a published build for the SR HEAD commit. WATCH (not blocking — transient) if CI hasn't published one yet.
Milestone for current cycle	SR + preview branches	BLOCKED if the current cycle's milestone (e.g. .NET 10 SR8 or .NET 11.0-preview6) doesn't exist in the GitHub milestone list — fixed issues have nowhere to land.
Milestone for next cycle	SR + preview branches	CLEANUP if the next cycle's milestone isn't pre-created — open issues can't roll forward when current ships, but it doesn't block the current release.
Stale open milestones	SR + preview branches	CLEANUP if any milestones in the same major + same cycle type (SR or preview) are past their due_on by >7 days and still open (already-shipped releases accumulating untriaged issues).
CI Failure Scanner signals	All SR runs	WATCH if fresh ci-scan issues are filed in the last 24h.
Known Build Errors	All SR runs	WATCH if open Known Build Error issues exist that may explain background CI noise.

Expected ship date

The header line Expected ship date is rendered from Get-ExpectedShipDate, which reads PatchVersion from the survey ref's eng/Versions.props and applies the .NET release cadence:

PatchVersion	Cadence	Example
Multiple of 10 (80, 90, 100…) — also previews (patch=0)	2nd Tuesday of the month	SR8 (10.0.80) → next 2nd Tuesday
Anything else (81, 82, 91…)	ASAP — no fixed cadence	SR8 hotfix 10.0.81 → as soon as ready

Surfaced in JSON as expectedShipDate.{cadence, date, daysFromNow, formattedLong, note, patchVersion} so downstream automation doesn't redo the math.

Maestro / BAR check gating

The BAR checks shell out to darc (cached probe via Get-Command darc). When darc isn't installed (most CI environments), both checks emit UNKNOWN with the exact local-verification command embedded in the row's Next action — so the report never silently skips them. The release-readiness agent runs the same checks via the maestro_* MCP tools when the script reports UNKNOWN.

Methodology

Three critical gotchas this skill encodes — see references/methodology.md for the full discussion:

1. Cherry-pick number swap: SR backports get NEW PR numbers (e.g. main #35356 → SR7 #35428). Cannot naively grep source PR numbers; must walk SR-only commits and extract refs from commit bodies.

2. Timeline cross-references: closedByPullRequestsReferences returns empty for most MAUI issues. The skill walks gh api repos/.../issues/N/timeline filtering on cross-referenced events.

3. Forward-flow / non-main merges: A fix can merge into inflight/current only, not main (real example: PR #35609). The skill checks git merge-base --is-ancestor $mergeCommit origin/main before claiming a fix is "on main, just needs backport".

Shared module

This skill depends on .github/scripts/shared/MauiReleaseVersioning.psm1 for canonical milestone/version parsing (e.g. Get-CurrentMajorVersion, ConvertBranchToMilestone, Get-MilestoneSortKey, Compare-MauiMilestone). The module is also consumed by Fix-MilestoneDrift.ps1 to keep milestone classification consistent across all release-related automation.

Integration

• Custom agent: .github/agents/release-readiness-agent.agent.md wraps this skill — handles regression-label confirmation, runs the script, then uses WorkIQ to add context for rejected-from-sr PRs.
• WorkIQ: NOT called from the PowerShell scripts (PowerShell can't invoke MCP tools). The agent enriches the script's JSON output with WorkIQ context where needed.

Anti-Patterns

❌ Don't naively grep source PR numbers in the SR git log. The backport PR number replaces the source PR number in the merge commit subject. Use sr-source-prs.txt (produced by this skill) instead.

❌ Don't claim a fix is on main based on pr-view --state MERGED. PRs can be merged into inflight/current only. The skill's onMain field is the authoritative check.

❌ Don't trust issue-title similarity. Two issues can have nearly identical titles and refer to different platform-specific regressions (e.g. #35313 is the Android version, #35326 is the iOS/Mac/Win version with a different fix path). Always filter by the regressed-in-* label, not by title.

❌ Don't run with -InferRegressionLabels for automated workflows without surfacing the inferred labels for confirmation. Label inference is brittle for non-standard SR cycles.

❌ Don't infer "in-flight" from branch existence alone. The detector uses the tag-existence rule — a release is in-flight if and only if its expected tag has not been published. Branches can linger after their release ships (and SR branches don't exist yet for SR candidates).

Tests

pwsh -NoProfile -File .github/skills/release-readiness/tests/Test-ReleaseReadiness.ps1

The harness covers:

• Lane 1–4 detection (shipped patch set, SR-from-main candidate, in-flight SR branches, preview lane) against the live dotnet/maui clone
• Tracker emission for SR2/SR3 (inactive), SR8 (active in-flight), SR9 (active candidate), and net11 preview6 (active candidate)
• -AllActiveMajors end-to-end across net10 + net11 with the expected tracker counts
• Get-ReleaseReadiness verdict classification using known-answer data from the SR7 readiness analysis (e.g. #35313 → in-sr-active, #35344 → in-sr-active via the SafeArea follow-on fix, #35771 → no-fix-yet)
• Idempotent body hash stability across re-runs — SR trackers only (the daily workflow compares the embedded <!-- release-readiness-hash: sha=... --> marker against the live issue and skips the edit when the semantic content is unchanged, so re-runs don't churn the tracker). Preview trackers carry no hash marker and are refreshed on every scheduled run.