release

name	release
description	This skill should be used when the user asks to "cut a release", "publish a new version", "prepare a release", "tag a release", or "ship it". Covers the full pipeline: update CHANGELOG.md, tag, and push to trigger GitHub Actions CI which builds, signs, notarizes, creates DMG, generates Sparkle appcast, and publishes a GitHub Release.

Release

Releases are built exclusively via GitHub Actions — never locally.

Step 1: Update CHANGELOG.md

Discover user-facing changes since the last release:

git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --oneline

Read PR descriptions via gh pr view <number> --json title,body to understand each change's user-facing impact. Do not rely on commit messages alone — they describe implementation, not user outcomes.

Add a new section under the version heading. See references/changelog-format.md for format and style guidance.

## x.y.z

- Added feature X.
- Fixed bug Y.

Step 2: Commit and Push

git add CHANGELOG.md
git commit -m "Prepare release x.y.z"
git push origin main

Step 3: Tag and Push

git tag x.y.z
git push origin x.y.z

The release.yml workflow automatically builds, signs, notarizes, creates the DMG, generates the Sparkle appcast, commits appcast.xml to main, and publishes a GitHub Release with .zip, .dmg, checksums, and release notes from CHANGELOG.md.

Dry Run

Use workflow_dispatch from the Actions tab with "Dry run" checked. This runs the full pipeline but skips creating the GitHub Release. Artifacts are always uploaded.

Local Fallback

If CI is unavailable, see references/local-release.md for the manual release procedure.