| name | tag-alpha |
| description | Create and push a timestamped alpha tag for the Nucleus 2.0 branch in the format v2.0.0-alpha-YYYYMMDDHHMM. Use when the user asks to "tag", "release alpha", "publish alpha", "cut an alpha", or similar on this project. |
Tag alpha — Nucleus 2.0
Creates a timestamped alpha tag on the current HEAD and pushes it to origin.
Format
v2.0.0-alpha-YYYYMMDDHHMM — e.g. v2.0.0-alpha-202605151813 for May 15 2026, 18:13.
Timestamp components come from date -u +%Y%m%d%H%M (UTC, no separators, 12 chars).
Procedure
- Verify branch is
nucleus-2.0 — abort with a clear message if not. Other branches must not produce v2.0.0-alpha-* tags.
- Verify working tree is clean —
git status --porcelain empty. If dirty, ask the user whether to commit first or abort. Never tag a dirty tree.
- Verify HEAD is in sync with
origin/nucleus-2.0 — fetch first (git fetch origin nucleus-2.0). If local is behind, abort and tell the user to pull. If local is ahead, ask whether to push first (a tag on an unpushed commit is useless to others).
- Generate the timestamp with
date -u +%Y%m%d%H%M.
- Check the tag doesn't already exist —
git tag -l v2.0.0-alpha-<ts>. If it does (clock raced), wait a minute or use the next minute.
- Create an annotated tag:
git tag -a "v2.0.0-alpha-<ts>" -m "v2.0.0-alpha-<ts>"
Annotated (not lightweight) because the published history uses annotated tags.
- Push the tag:
git push origin "v2.0.0-alpha-<ts>"
- Report the tag name and commit SHA back to the user.
Hard rules
- Never tag
main or any branch other than nucleus-2.0 with this format.
- Never overwrite an existing tag. If asked to retag the same commit, refuse and explain — the user should bump to the next minute or use a different scheme.
- Never push with
--force or --force-with-lease for tags.
- Never add
Co-Authored-By or AI attribution to the tag message (per project's CLAUDE.md).
- Tag message body is just the tag name itself — concise, matches the existing convention.
When NOT to use this skill
- Stable releases (
v2.0.0, v2.0.1) — those need a different process with changelog, signing, etc.
- Tagging from
main — main uses a separate versioning scheme.
- Backporting tags onto old commits — this skill always tags
HEAD.
