deft-directive-release

name	deft-directive-release
description	Cut a v0.X.Y release of the deft framework safely. Use when the user says "release", "cut release", "v0.X.Y", or "publish release" -- to walk an 8-phase workflow that pre-flights, runs an end-to-end rehearsal against a temp repo, lands a draft on the real repo, gates on user review, then publishes or rolls back. Re-uses the deft-directive-swarm Phase 6 Step 5 Slack announcement template.

Deft Directive Release

Structured 8-phase workflow for cutting a v0.X.Y release of the deft framework. Operationalizes the task release / task release:publish / task release:rollback / task release:e2e surface introduced in #716 (safety hardening of #74).

Legend (from RFC2119): !=MUST, ~=SHOULD, ≉=SHOULD NOT, ⊗=MUST NOT, ?=MAY.

See also: deft-directive-swarm Phase 6 Step 5 (Slack announcement template re-used by Phase 8 below) | deft-directive-review-cycle (user-gate pattern) | deft-directive-refinement (conversational phased flow).

Platform Requirements

! GitHub as the SCM platform; the GitHub CLI (gh) must be installed and authenticated. The full pipeline plus the rehearsal target (task release:e2e) all dispatch through gh.

Branch-Protection Policy Guard

! Before any Phase 1 state mutation, run the skill-level branch-policy guard documented in scripts/policy.py / scripts/preflight_branch.py (#746 / #747). Releases run on the configured base branch (default master) so the operator MUST be on the explicit-opt-in side of the policy OR have set DEFT_ALLOW_DEFAULT_BRANCH_COMMIT=1 for the release session. Concretely:

uv run python scripts/preflight_branch.py --project-root . --quiet || exit 1

or invoke task verify:branch. This is the canonical surface that surfaces the policy state to the operator before the pipeline starts writing files. The release pipeline's other safety surfaces (the dirty-tree guard, base-branch check, task ci:local gate) remain independent of this check.

Deterministic Questions Contract

! Every numbered-menu prompt rendered in this skill (Phase 1 version-bump magnitude check, Phase 2 dry-run review yes/back/quit, Phase 5 publish/rollback/defer) MUST follow ../../contracts/deterministic-questions.md: the final two numbered options MUST be Discuss and Back, in that order. Existing back/quit options remain valid; this contract simply adds Discuss as a peer alongside Back. The Discuss-pause semantic is documented verbatim in the contract -- implicit resumption is forbidden.

When to Use

• User says "release", "cut release", "v0.X.Y", "publish release", "ship a release"
• The framework's [Unreleased] CHANGELOG section is non-empty and the operator wants to cut a tagged release
• A previous release rehearsal succeeded and the operator is ready for the production cut

Phase 1 — Pre-flight

! Validate the local + remote state before any irreversible action.

1. ! Verify the operator is on the configured base branch (default master) and the working tree is clean
2. ! Confirm the next version number (X.Y.Z) with the user. Major / minor / patch decision flows from the [Unreleased] content (breaking change → major; new feature → minor; fix-only → patch)
3. ! Inspect [Unreleased] content vs the proposed version bump. If a breaking change appears in ### Changed / ### Removed but only a patch is proposed, surface the mismatch and ask the user to choose
4. ! Verify task ci:local passes locally (or task check as the graceful-degradation fallback per tasks/release.yml line 9-10). The task release script will refuse to proceed otherwise -- but Phase 1 catches it earlier
5. ! Verify gh auth status reports authenticated (task release will refuse otherwise)
6. ! Run task reconcile:issues -- --apply-lifecycle-fixes to clear any closed-issue / non-completed-folder vBRIEFs before invoking task release (#734). The release pipeline carries the deterministic gate at Step 3 (scripts/release.py::check_vbrief_lifecycle_sync, refuses with EXIT_VIOLATION on any Section (c) mismatch), but Phase 1 is the operator's first-line defence -- running the apply-mode flag here is the canonical clean path; --allow-vbrief-drift on the pipeline exists only as the explicit-acknowledgment escape hatch (analogous to --allow-dirty). The recurrence record is the v0.21.0 cut, which surfaced 13 stranded vBRIEFs (8 cycle-relevant + 5 historical residue) post-publish; the gate now blocks that drift before any irreversible action
7. ! Verify the proposed v<version> tag is not already in use locally, on origin, or as a published GitHub release (#784). The release pipeline carries the deterministic gate at Step 4 (scripts/release.py::check_tag_available, refuses with EXIT_VIOLATION before any state mutation -- CHANGELOG promotion, ROADMAP refresh, build, commit), but Phase 1 is the operator's first-line defence. Quickly probe with git tag -l v<version> (local), git ls-remote --tags origin refs/tags/v<version> (remote), and gh release view v<version> --repo <owner>/<repo> (release-only, where gh release view exits 0 only when the release exists). The recurrence record is the v0.22.0 → v0.23.0 release attempt on 2026-05-01: the operator typed 0.22.0 (the prior release from 12 hours earlier) and the legacy pipeline ran 8 steps before failing at git tag -- leaving a wrong-version local commit + dist/deft-0.22.0.zip orphan + manual git reset --hard recovery. The new pre-flight gate blocks that mode before any irreversible action
8. ~ Ask the operator for an optional one-line release summary (recommended 80-160 chars; can be skipped). The summary is the canonical narrative for THIS release across three audiences: (a) injected as a Markdown blockquote at the top of the promoted CHANGELOG.md [<version>] section, (b) auto-flowed into the GitHub release body via the existing _section_for_version pickup, and (c) populated VERBATIM into the Phase 8 Slack *Summary*: slot. Capture the wording once here; do NOT regenerate per-audience downstream

⊗ Skip the version-bump magnitude check -- a patch release that ships breaking changes is the kind of regression that Repair Authority [AXIOM] (#709) is designed to prevent.

⊗ Skip the vBRIEF-lifecycle-sync check (#734); the gate exists because operators consistently forget the manual task scope:complete move step. The v0.21.0 cut surfaced 13 stranded vBRIEFs (8 cycle-relevant + 5 historical residue) post-publish as the recurrence record this gate prevents. If task release reports [3/13] Pre-flight vBRIEF lifecycle sync... FAIL (<count> mismatches; run task reconcile:issues -- --apply-lifecycle-fixes to fix), the canonical recovery is the apply-mode invocation -- --allow-vbrief-drift is reserved for cases where the operator has explicitly reviewed the drift and chosen to defer the lifecycle reconcile to the next refinement pass (e.g. an emergency hot-fix release).

⊗ Skip the tag-availability check (#784); the gate exists because the legacy 12-step pipeline only invoked git tag at Step 9, after Steps 1-8 had already mutated state (CHANGELOG promoted, ROADMAP refreshed, dist built, release commit made locally). A duplicate-tag failure at Step 9 stranded the operator with an unpushed wrong-version commit + orphaned dist/deft-<wrong>.zip artifact + manual git reset --hard recovery (forbidden by AGENTS.md SCM rules without explicit permission). The recurrence record is the v0.22.0 → v0.23.0 release attempt on 2026-05-01. If task release reports [4/13] Pre-flight tag availability... FAIL (<surface> tag v<version> already exists ...), the canonical recovery is to choose a different version (the most likely cause is operator typo of a prior release).

⊗ Hand-write a different one-line narrative for each of the three downstream surfaces (CHANGELOG / GitHub release / Slack) -- that drift is exactly the gap the --summary flag is designed to close. If the operator insists on per-audience tone, populate the canonical --summary ONCE here and document the deviation in the Phase 8 anti-pattern.

Phase 2 — Dry-run review

! Invoke task release -- <version> --dry-run --skip-tag --skip-release and present the plan to the user. If Phase 1 collected an operator summary, also pass --summary "<text>" so the dry-run preview reflects the canonical narrative the operator just authored.

task release -- <version> --dry-run --skip-tag --skip-release --summary "<text>"

The dry-run prints [N/13] <step>... DRYRUN (would <action>) for every pipeline step (Step 13 is the post-create verify-isDraft gate added by #724; Step 4 is the tag-availability pre-flight gate added by #784). Step 6 (CHANGELOG promotion) surfaces whether a summary was supplied (truncated to ~60 chars in the preview) so the operator can validate the wording before any file is written. Capture the output and present it to the user, then wait for explicit confirmation before continuing.

! Wait for explicit user confirmation: yes / back / quit.

• yes (or confirmed / approve) → proceed to Phase 3
• back → return to Phase 1 for re-validation (e.g. user wants to amend the version or [Unreleased] content)
• quit → abort the workflow cleanly; no state changes

⊗ Skip the dry-run preview. The dry-run is the operator's last opportunity to catch a bad version number, malformed CHANGELOG, or wrong base branch before the pipeline starts writing files.

Phase 3 — E2E sanity

! Invoke task release:e2e against an auto-created+destroyed temp repo to verify the full pipeline shape works end-to-end before touching the real repo.

task release:e2e

The harness provisions deftai/deftai-release-test-<ts>-<uuid6>, runs the smoke-test rehearsal, and destroys the temp repo in a try/finally clause. Cleanup runs even if the rehearsal fails. If gh repo delete fails, surface the manual-cleanup hint to the user and continue.

! Treat a non-zero exit from task release:e2e as a hard refusal to proceed to Phase 4. Surface the diagnostic and ask whether to debug (return to Phase 1) or abort (quit).

? Skip allowed when the operator has just run task release:e2e successfully against the same branch in the past 30 minutes. Note the prior run timestamp in the user-facing summary.

Phase 4 — Production draft

! Invoke task release -- <version> (NO --dry-run, NO --skip-tag, NO --skip-release). If Phase 1 collected an operator summary, pass --summary "<text>" so the production cut writes the same blockquote the dry-run previewed.

task release -- <version> --summary "<text>"

Per #716 default-draft hardening, this lands the release as a --draft on the real repo. Binaries upload via release.yml CI, but the artifact is NOT yet visible to consumers. The operator-authored summary becomes part of the promoted CHANGELOG.md [<version>] section AND the GitHub release body (auto-pickup via _section_for_version). The same wording is the canonical source for the Phase 8 Slack *Summary*: slot.

! Maintainer-mode release notes auto-lead with an "Upgrading from an older version?" banner (#1413). When the cut targets the canonical framework repo (deftai/directive), scripts/release.py Step 12 prepends the banner from the editable template at .github/release-notes/upgrade-banner.md to the notes passed to gh release create (via _prepend_upgrade_banner). The banner points consumers at the canonical deft-install --yes --upgrade --repo-root . --json upgrade command and #1411. This is GitHub-release-body-only -- it is NEVER injected into CHANGELOG.md, so the CHANGELOG section and the release body intentionally differ by this leading block. To change the wording, edit the template file; do not hand-edit the published release body. Consumer-mode releases (any non-deftai/directive repo) are unaffected -- a downstream project that vendors the release pipeline never inherits deft's upgrade guidance. A missing/unreadable template degrades gracefully (notes ship without the banner; the cut is never blocked).

! Verify isDraft within 5 seconds; flip immediately if not (#724). Immediately after gh release create --draft returns success, scripts/release.py Step 11 polls gh release view v<version> --json isDraft up to 5 times at 1-second intervals. If the release exists with isDraft=false, the pipeline auto-flips it via gh release edit v<version> --draft=true and emits a WARNING: release landed as public; flipping to draft (defense-in-depth, see #724) line. This closes the ~90-second public-exposure window observed during the v0.21.0 cut where a manual recovery created a public release before the operator noticed and flipped it. The verify gate is defense in depth even when --draft was passed correctly: it catches the case where gh release create partially succeeded (release record written, error returned) AND the operator-error variant where an alternate code path sent the release without --draft. A release-not-found-within-budget result emits a WARN and does NOT fail the pipeline (release.yml CI may still be processing).

! Wait for task release to exit 0 before continuing. A non-zero exit means the pipeline halted partway through; consult Phase 7's task release:rollback recovery before retrying.

⊗ Pass --no-draft here unless the operator has explicitly opted into direct-publish (e.g. automated security patch). The default-draft contract is the foundation of the safety hardening surface.

⊗ Skip the post-create verify-isDraft gate -- the gate is the only reliable safety net against "create call exited 0 but the release somehow landed as public" variants (#724). If task release is invoked manually outside the canonical scripts/release.py flow, the operator MUST run gh release view v<version> --json isDraft followed by gh release edit --draft=true on isDraft=false BEFORE handing off to Phase 5.

Phase 5 — Draft review gate (user-only authority)

! After task release exits 0, present the draft release for user review.

1. ! Run gh release view v<version> --json url,name,body,assets,isDraft --repo <owner>/<repo> and present the output to the user
2. ! Surface the asset list (size + filename) so the user can verify binaries uploaded correctly
3. ! Surface the auto-generated release notes (or the CHANGELOG section that was promoted into the release body)
4. ! Wait for explicit user confirmation:
   • publish (or yes / confirmed / approve) → proceed to Phase 6 (Publish branch)
   • rollback → proceed to Phase 6 (Rollback branch)
   • defer → halt and exit. Surface the draft URL so the operator can return later with task release:publish or task release:rollback. Do NOT auto-merge; do NOT silently wait

⊗ Bypass the user-only authority gate. Even under time pressure or long-context, the release MUST receive an explicit publish / rollback / defer decision from the user. This mirrors the Phase 5→6 gate in skills/deft-directive-swarm/SKILL.md.

Phase 6 — Publish or rollback

! Branch on the user's Phase 5 decision.

Publish branch (user said publish)

task release:publish -- <version>

The companion script flips --draft=false, then re-reads the release to verify isDraft == false actually flipped. State machine:

• draft found → flip to public; verify; exit 0
• already published → exit 0 no-op (idempotent re-runs are safe)
• not-found → exit 1 (cannot publish a missing release)
• gh-error → exit 1 with diagnostic

! Wait for task release:publish to exit 0 before continuing.

Rollback branch (user said rollback)

task release:rollback -- <version>

The state-aware unwind detects the post-release state and applies the matching tiered recovery. Time-windowed download-count guard:

• release age < 5 min → threshold = 0 (rollback safe; nobody noticed yet)
• release age 5-30 min → threshold = max(--allow-low-downloads, 10) (filters bot fetches)
• release age > 30 min → refuse without --allow-data-loss

Three escape hatches (escalating warnings):

• --allow-low-downloads N -- accept up to N downloads
• --allow-data-loss -- accept any count (consumer impact)
• --force-strict-0 -- require exactly 0 regardless of release age

Race-condition mitigation: download_count is double-read with a 5s sleep between reads; rollback only proceeds if both reads agree below threshold.

! When the guard refuses, surface the recommendation to the user: rollback is risky on a released artifact with non-zero downloads. Prefer the hot-fix path (cut the next patch with a withdrawal note in [Unreleased]/Changed rather than deleting the broken release).

Phase 7 — Post-publish verification

! Only enter Phase 7 if Phase 6 took the Publish branch (rollback branch ends here with the unwind log).

1. ! Verify GitHub auto-closed the discrete-task issue(s) referenced via Closes #N in the release notes (mirrors skills/deft-directive-swarm/SKILL.md Phase 6 Step 2)
2. ! Run gh issue view <N> --json state --jq .state for each closed issue. If any didn't auto-close, manually close with gh issue close <N> --comment "Closed by release v<version> (squash auto-close did not trigger)" (Layer 1, #167)
3. ! Verify ROADMAP.md correctness via task roadmap:render (the release pipeline already invoked this; Phase 7 is the second-pass sanity check)
4. ! Verify binaries are downloadable from the public release URL: gh release view v<version> --json assets --jq '.assets[].url' and curl one to confirm 200 OK
5. ! For any umbrella / staying-OPEN issue (Refs #N) referenced in the release notes, run the Layer 3 reopen sweep from skills/deft-directive-swarm/SKILL.md Phase 6 Step 1: any protected issue that auto-closed MUST be reopened with a comment citing #701

⊗ Skip the post-publish verification. The closing-keyword false-positive (Layer 1 / Layer 2 / Layer 3) and the incremental-renderer-drift (#641, #614) are exactly the kind of issues that surface only AFTER a release is public.

Phase 8 — Slack announcement

! Generate the canonical Slack release announcement and present it to the user for copy-paste, re-using the template from skills/deft-directive-swarm/SKILL.md Phase 6 Step 5.

The announcement block MUST include:

:rocket: *deft v<version>* -- <release title>

*Summary*: <one-sentence description of the release scope>

*Key Changes*:
- <bullet per significant change, 3-5 items max>

*Stats*: 1 release | ~<duration> elapsed | <N> commits since v<previous>
*Release*: <GitHub release URL>

! Populate version from the freshly-published gh release view v<version> output. Populate release title from the CHANGELOG section heading (or the GitHub release title). Summarize key changes from the promoted [Unreleased] -> [<version>] CHANGELOG section (NOT raw commit messages). Populate stats from git log v<previous>..v<version> --oneline | wc -l.

! Populate the *Summary*: slot VERBATIM from the operator-authored blockquote at the top of the CHANGELOG [<version>] section (the line beginning with > immediately after the ## [<version>] - <date> heading). The Phase 1 prompt + Phase 4 --summary flag exist precisely so this populate step is mechanical -- one canonical narrative authored once at Phase 1, propagated through Phase 4 promotion, and copy-pasted here without re-authoring. If the CHANGELOG section has no blockquote (operator skipped the Phase 1 prompt), generate a one-sentence summary from the ### Added / ### Changed bullets and surface to the operator that this is a regenerated narrative (NOT canonical) so they can decide whether to amend the CHANGELOG before publishing.

! Present the block as a code-fenced snippet the user can copy directly. Do NOT post to Slack from inside this skill -- the user owns the actual broadcast.

Skill Completion

! When Phase 8 completes (or when Phase 5 took the defer / quit path, or when Phase 6 completed the rollback branch), explicitly confirm skill exit:

deft-directive-release complete -- exiting skill.
Next: <one-line guidance>

Where <one-line guidance> is one of:

• "release v live -- monitor consumer reports for ~24h before cutting v"
• "release v rolled back -- the underlying defect needs a hot-fix in the next CHANGELOG entry"
• "release deferred -- resume by running task release:publish -- <version> (or task release:rollback -- <version>) when ready"

⊗ Exit silently without confirming completion or providing next-step guidance.

Anti-Patterns

• ⊗ Run task release without a Phase 2 dry-run preview -- the dry-run is the only safe place to catch a bad version, malformed CHANGELOG, or wrong base branch
• ⊗ Skip Phase 3 (e2e rehearsal) on the assumption that "the dry-run is enough" -- the e2e harness catches gh-CLI auth issues, repo permission gaps, and pipeline-shape regressions that the dry-run cannot detect
• ⊗ Pass --no-draft to task release without explicit operator opt-in -- the default-draft contract is the foundation of the safety hardening surface
• ⊗ Auto-publish a draft without the Phase 5 user-only authority gate -- even under time pressure or long-context, the release MUST receive an explicit publish / rollback / defer decision
• ⊗ Run task release:rollback against a release that has > 30 minutes of consumer-driven downloads without first weighing the hot-fix path -- a withdrawal note in the next patch is almost always less disruptive than deleting a public artifact
• ⊗ Use --allow-data-loss without first reading the script docstring's hot-fix-path recommendation -- the flag is an explicit acknowledgment of consumer impact, not a default
• ⊗ Skip the Phase 7 Layer 3 reopen sweep -- protected umbrellas can auto-close on a release-merge squash even when the release notes use Refs #N only
• ⊗ Post the Phase 8 Slack announcement directly from this skill -- the user owns the broadcast; the skill only generates the template
• ⊗ Hardcode master as the base branch -- delegate to the configured base branch from task release --base-branch <branch>
• ⊗ Skip the post-create verify-isDraft gate (#724) -- a successful gh release create exit code does NOT prove the release actually landed in draft state; the 5-second poll-and-flip gate in scripts/release.py Step 11 is the only safety net against operator-error variants and partial-success races, and any manual recovery path that bypasses scripts/release.py MUST run gh release view --json isDraft followed by gh release edit --draft=true on isDraft=false before handing off to Phase 5
• ⊗ Manually rewrite the Phase 8 Slack *Summary*: line to deviate from the CHANGELOG [<version>] blockquote -- the canonical narrative is authored ONCE at Phase 1 via --summary and propagates verbatim across all three audiences (CHANGELOG / GitHub release body / Slack). Per-audience hand-edits create documentation drift that the deterministic --summary flow is designed to prevent. If the operator wants Slack-specific tone, fold it into the canonical Phase 1 wording before passing --summary, OR amend the CHANGELOG blockquote BEFORE Phase 8 so all three surfaces stay aligned