goal-release

name	goal-release
description	Cut a release end to end: run the draft-release skill to open the release PR and draft GitHub release, wait for CI to turn green, run the merge-pr skill to merge the release PR, then wait for the Publish workflow to publish the npm package and finalize the GitHub release. Use when the user wants to draft and merge a release in one go.

Goal Release

new_version = $ARGUMENTS

This skill drives a release all the way to publish. It runs the draft-release skill to open the release pull request (and create the draft GitHub release), waits for the PR's CI checks to pass, runs the merge-pr skill to merge it, and finally waits for the Publish workflow to publish the npm package and flip the GitHub release public.

1. Draft the Release

Run the draft-release skill with new_version.

• If new_version is provided (e.g. v1.2.3 or 1.2.3), it must match the semver shape ^v?\d+\.\d+\.\d+$ — if it does not, stop and report instead of passing it on. Pass a valid value through unchanged; draft-release normalizes the v prefix itself.
• If new_version is empty, pass no argument; draft-release determines the next version automatically via the release-dry-run skill.

When draft-release finishes, it has:

• created a release/v<version> branch with the version-bump commit,
• opened a pull request against main, and
• created a draft GitHub release v<version> with the release notes.

If draft-release failed partway (e.g. the PR exists but the draft release was not created, or it stopped before opening the PR), stop here and report the partial state to the user instead of continuing.

2. Resolve the Release PR

Use the PR number or URL that draft-release's gh pr create printed in Step 1 when available. Otherwise, identify the pull request from the current release/v<version> branch:

gh pr view --json number,title,state,headRefName

Confirm that headRefName matches the release/v<version> branch created in Step 1. This skill must only ever merge that release PR — if the resolved PR is a different one, stop and report to the user instead of merging.

3. Wait for CI

Wait for the release PR's GitHub Actions checks to finish:

gh pr checks <pr_number> --watch

If the watch reports that no checks are registered yet, wait a moment and retry — checks can take a few seconds to appear right after the PR is opened.

• If every check passes, proceed to Step 4.
• If a check fails, investigate and fix the failure on the release branch (run pnpm cicheck locally, commit, and push), then wait for the re-run. Never proceed to the merge while any check is fail or pending.
• Fixes must legitimately resolve the failure. Never make a check green by skipping or deleting tests, weakening lint or type-check configuration, or editing GitHub Actions workflows.
• Set a safety cap of 3 fix attempts. If CI is still red after the cap, stop and report the failing checks to the user instead of merging.

If any fix commit beyond draft-release's own version-bump commit was pushed, stop before merging and report the extra commits to the user for confirmation. The release PR must reach the merge step containing only reviewed, expected content.

4. Merge the Release PR

Run the merge-pr skill with the release PR number. It re-verifies the PR state and CI status, merges with gh pr merge --admin --merge, posts a thank-you comment, and cleans up the local branch.

Note: the goal-pr skill tells agents not to auto-merge PRs that touch package.json or release configuration. That restriction does not apply here — merging the version-bump release PR is this skill's explicit purpose, and the user opted into it by invoking the goal-release skill.

5. Wait for the Publish Workflow

Merging the release/v<version> PR into main triggers the Publish workflow (.github/workflows/publish.yml). In a single job it verifies package.json matches the release tag, creates and pushes the v<version> tag, runs pnpm publish (npm trusted publishing via OIDC, with provenance), and flips the draft GitHub release public. No manual "Publish release" click is needed.

1. Wait for the Publish run triggered by the merge to complete:

   gh run list --workflow "Publish" --branch "release/v<version>" \
     --limit 1 --json databaseId,status,conclusion,headBranch
   gh run watch <run_id> --exit-status   # <run_id> is the databaseId above
   

   The workflow triggers on every closed PR to main (non-release runs are job-level skipped but still listed), so filter by the release branch as shown. The run can take a few seconds to appear right after the merge — if the list is empty, wait and retry. Confirm the watched run belongs to this release (its headBranch is the release/v<version> branch of the PR merged in Step 4) and concluded with success. If it failed (e.g. an npm publish error), stop and report — the release must not be left half-published.

2. Confirm the GitHub release is published (no longer a draft):

   gh release view v<version> --json isDraft --jq .isDraft
   

   This should print false once the Publish workflow's final step has run. If it still prints true after the workflow succeeded, wait a moment and re-check before reporting.

6. Final Report

Report to the user:

• The merged release PR number and title.
• The new version and a link to the published GitHub release.
• Confirmation that the npm package was published (the Publish run concluded with success and the release is no longer a draft).
• Any CI fixes that were needed along the way.