flowchart TD
    START(["/release"]) --> ASSESS["Phase 1: Assess"]
    ASSESS --> PREPARE["Phase 2: Prepare & Tag"]
    PREPARE --> VERIFY["Phase 3: Verify Artifacts"]
    VERIFY --> STABILIZE["Phase 4: Stabilize"]
    STABILIZE --> CANDIDATES["4a: Find Candidate Fixes"]
    CANDIDATES --> CHERRYPICK["4b: Cherry-Pick to Release Branches"]
    CHERRYPICK --> NEXTTAG["4c: Tag Next RC"]
    NEXTTAG --> VERIFY
    STABILIZE -->|"Stable"| GA["Phase 5: Cut GA"]
    GA --> NOTES["Phase 6: Release Notes"]
    NOTES --> ANNOUNCE["Phase 7: Announce"]

    classDef loop fill:#FFF3CD,stroke:#856404,color:#856404
    class STABILIZE,CANDIDATES,CHERRYPICK,NEXTTAG loop

Follow this diagram as the workflow. The yellow loop (Phase 4) repeats until the RC is stable. Reference docs/releasing.md for the full process.

Release Kagenti

Guided workflow for creating and stabilizing releases across the Kagenti organization. Handles the multi-repo dependency order, RC iteration loop, cherry-pick coordination, and artifact verification.

When to Use
Invocation
Phase 1: Assess Current State
Phase 2: Prepare and Tag
Phase 3: Verify Artifacts
Phase 4: Stabilize (RC Iteration Loop)
Phase 5: Cut GA
Phase 6: Release Notes
Phase 7: Announce
Release Branch Git Workflow
RC Fix Tracking
Quick Reference
Related Skills

When to Use

Starting a new release cycle (first alpha or first RC)
Daily stabilization work between RCs (finding fixes, cherry-picking, tagging)
Coordinating multi-repo releases across the organization
Cutting GA after stabilization is complete
Patching an existing GA release

Invocation

/release                          # Start from Phase 1 (full assessment)
/release status                   # Show current release state + fix tracker
/release alpha vX.Y.0-alpha.N    # Cut an alpha from main
/release rc vX.Y.0-rc.N          # Cut a release candidate
/release stabilize                # Enter Phase 4: find fixes, cherry-pick, tag next RC
/release cherry-pick <PR#|SHA>    # Cherry-pick a specific fix into the release branch
/release ga vX.Y.0               # Promote to GA
/release patch vX.Y.Z            # Cut a patch release

If no arguments are given, start with Phase 1 to assess and ask what to do.

Phase 1: Assess Current State

Gather the current release landscape before making any changes.

1.1 Current tags across repos

echo "=== kagenti/kagenti ==="
gh release list --repo kagenti/kagenti --limit 5

echo "=== kagenti/kagenti-extensions ==="
gh release list --repo kagenti/kagenti-extensions --limit 5

echo "=== kagenti/kagenti-operator ==="
gh release list --repo kagenti/kagenti-operator --limit 5

echo "=== kagenti/agent-examples ==="
gh release list --repo kagenti/agent-examples --limit 5

1.2 Chart dependency versions

grep -A2 'name: kagenti-' charts/kagenti/Chart.yaml

1.3 Image tags in values.yaml

grep -n 'tag:' charts/kagenti/values.yaml charts/kagenti-deps/values.yaml

Flag any tag: latest entries — these must be pinned before any release.

1.4 Release branch state (if exists)

git fetch upstream
git branch -r | grep release
# For each release branch:
git log --oneline upstream/release-X.Y -5

1.5 Present summary and ask

Present the user with a summary built from live data:

Current state:
  kagenti:            <latest tag> | release branch: <exists/not>
  kagenti-extensions: <latest tag> | release branch: <exists/not>
  kagenti-operator:   <latest tag> | release branch: <exists/not>

Chart.yaml pins:
  kagenti-webhook-chart: <version>
  kagenti-operator-chart: <version>

Image tag issues:
  <N> images using tag: latest (must fix before RC/GA)

ASK: "What would you like to do? Options:

Cut a new alpha from main
Cut the first RC (creates release branch)
Stabilize an existing RC (cherry-pick fixes, tag next RC)
Promote to GA
Cut a patch release"

Phase 2: Prepare and Tag

Dependency order (MANDATORY)

All repos must be tagged in this order. Wait for CI to complete between each:

1. kagenti/kagenti-operator     →  first
2. kagenti/kagenti-extensions   →  second
3. kagenti/agent-examples       →  third (if applicable)
4. kagenti/kagenti              →  last (update Chart.yaml + values.yaml, then tag)

2.1 For Alpha (from `main`)

Alphas are tagged directly from main:

Confirm CI passes on main for each repo being tagged
Determine next alpha number
Pin all image tags (no tag: latest allowed, even for alphas):

bash scripts/pin-release-tags.sh <version>
bash scripts/check-release-pins.sh

2.2 For First RC (creates release branch)

The first RC marks feature freeze. This is when release branches are created.

Prerequisites — ASK the release manager:

"Are all planned features for vX.Y.0 merged to main?"
"Are there any open P0/P1 bugs against this milestone?"
"Has feature freeze been declared on Slack?"

Steps:

Tag dependency repos with RC (following dependency order):

For each dependency repo that has changes since the last release:

gh repo clone kagenti/<repo-name> /tmp/kagenti-release/<repo-name>
cd /tmp/kagenti-release/<repo-name>

# Verify CI
gh run list --branch main --limit 3

# Create release branch
git checkout -b release-X.Y main
git push origin release-X.Y

# Tag from the release branch
git tag -s vA.B.0-rc.1 -m "vA.B.0-rc.1"
git push origin vA.B.0-rc.1

# Wait for CI
gh run watch

ASK after each: "Tag pushed for . CI running. Shall I verify artifacts and proceed to the next repo?"

Update kagenti/kagenti Chart.yaml with new sub-chart RC versions

Pin all image tags:

bash scripts/pin-release-tags.sh <version>
bash scripts/check-release-pins.sh

Create the release branch in kagenti/kagenti:

git checkout main
git pull upstream main
git checkout -b release-X.Y
git push upstream release-X.Y

Tag RC1:

git tag -s vX.Y.0-rc.1 -m "vX.Y.0-rc.1"
git push upstream vX.Y.0-rc.1

Initialize the fix tracker (see RC Fix Tracking)

After tagging RC1, tell the release manager:

RC1 is tagged. From now on, the stabilization cycle begins:

Test the RC

Report bugs → fix them via PRs to main

When fixes are merged, run /release stabilize to cherry-pick them into the release branch and tag the next RC.

Repeat until stable, then /release ga to promote.

2.3 For Subsequent RCs (rc.2, rc.3, ...)

Subsequent RCs are cut from the release branch after cherry-picking fixes. This is handled by Phase 4: Stabilize.

2.4 Tag a dependency repo (helper)

REPO="kagenti/<repo-name>"
VERSION="<version>"

# Clone clean
rm -rf /tmp/kagenti-release/$(basename $REPO)
gh repo clone $REPO /tmp/kagenti-release/$(basename $REPO)
cd /tmp/kagenti-release/$(basename $REPO)

# Verify CI on the target branch
gh run list --branch <main|release-X.Y> --limit 3

# Create signed tag
git tag -s $VERSION -m "$VERSION"
git push origin $VERSION

# Wait and verify
gh run watch

After each tag, run verification (see Phase 3) and get explicit user approval before proceeding to the next repo.

Phase 3: Verify Artifacts

After tagging, verify that CI produced all expected artifacts.

3.1 GitHub Releases

for repo in kagenti kagenti-extensions kagenti-operator; do
  echo "=== kagenti/$repo ==="
  gh release view <version> --repo kagenti/$repo --json tagName,isPrerelease,publishedAt 2>/dev/null || echo "  Not found"
done

3.2 Container images

REGISTRY="ghcr.io/kagenti"
VERSION="<version>"

# kagenti/kagenti images
for img in ui-v2 backend ui-oauth-secret agent-oauth-secret api-oauth-secret; do
  echo -n "$img:$VERSION ... "
  docker manifest inspect ghcr.io/kagenti/kagenti/$img:$VERSION >/dev/null 2>&1 \
    && echo "OK" || echo "MISSING"
done

# kagenti-extensions images
for img in envoy-with-processor proxy-init client-registration; do
  echo -n "$img:$VERSION ... "
  docker manifest inspect ghcr.io/kagenti/kagenti-extensions/$img:$VERSION >/dev/null 2>&1 \
    && echo "OK" || echo "MISSING"
done

3.3 Helm charts

helm show chart oci://ghcr.io/kagenti/kagenti-extensions/kagenti-webhook-chart --version <chart-version> 2>/dev/null \
  && echo "webhook chart OK" || echo "webhook chart MISSING"

helm show chart oci://ghcr.io/kagenti/kagenti-operator/kagenti-operator-chart --version <chart-version> 2>/dev/null \
  && echo "operator chart OK" || echo "operator chart MISSING"

3.4 Pre-release flag

gh release view <version> --repo kagenti/kagenti --json isPrerelease --jq '.isPrerelease'
# Expected: true for alpha/RC, false for GA

3.5 E2E validation (optional for RCs, mandatory for GA)

gh workflow run e2e-release-validation.yaml \
  -f version=<version> \
  --repo kagenti/kagenti

ASK: "All artifacts verified. Is this RC ready for broader testing, or do you already know of issues to fix?"

Phase 4: Stabilize (RC Iteration Loop)

This is the core loop between RCs. The release manager re-enters this phase each time fixes need to be incorporated.

Entry point: /release stabilize

4a: Find Candidate Fixes

Discover PRs merged to main since the last RC that may need cherry-picking:

# Get the date of the last RC
LAST_RC="v0.6.0-rc.6"  # adjust to actual
LAST_RC_DATE=$(gh release view $LAST_RC --repo kagenti/kagenti --json publishedAt --jq '.publishedAt')

echo "=== PRs merged to kagenti/kagenti main since $LAST_RC ==="
gh pr list --repo kagenti/kagenti --state merged --base main \
  --search "merged:>$LAST_RC_DATE" --json number,title,labels,mergeCommit \
  --jq '.[] | "#\(.number) \(.title) [\(.mergeCommit.oid[:12])] labels:\([.labels[].name] | join(","))"'

echo ""
echo "=== PRs merged to kagenti/kagenti-extensions main since $LAST_RC ==="
gh pr list --repo kagenti/kagenti-extensions --state merged --base main \
  --search "merged:>$LAST_RC_DATE" --json number,title,mergeCommit \
  --jq '.[] | "#\(.number) \(.title) [\(.mergeCommit.oid[:12])]"'

echo ""
echo "=== PRs merged to kagenti/kagenti-operator main since $LAST_RC ==="
gh pr list --repo kagenti/kagenti-operator --state merged --base main \
  --search "merged:>$LAST_RC_DATE" --json number,title,mergeCommit \
  --jq '.[] | "#\(.number) \(.title) [\(.mergeCommit.oid[:12])]"'

Also check the fix tracker for known pending items:

cat /tmp/kagenti/release/<version>/rc-fixes.md 2>/dev/null || echo "No tracker yet — will create one."

ASK the release manager:

These PRs were merged since the last RC. Which should be included in the next RC?

kagenti/kagenti:
  1. #1655 - fix(ocp): skip remote tag detection [bafe0d73]
  2. #1660 - fix(ui): dashboard crash on empty state [abc123]
  3. #1670 - chore(deps): bump go to 1.22 [def456]

kagenti-extensions:
  4. #89 - fix(webhook): handle nil annotations [aaa111]

kagenti-operator:
  (none)

Select PRs to cherry-pick (comma-separated numbers, e.g. "1,2,4"), or 'none':

4b: Cherry-Pick to Release Branches

For each selected fix, cherry-pick into the appropriate release branch.

Important rules (from SOP):

All fixes MUST land on main first — never commit directly to a release branch
Always use git cherry-pick -x — the -x flag is mandatory for traceability
Follow dependency order: operator → extensions → kagenti

If fixes touch dependency repos (extensions or operator)

ASK: "PR #89 is in kagenti-extensions. Does that repo have a release-X.Y branch yet?"

If no release branch exists for the dependency repo:

# Create release branch in the dependency repo
gh repo clone kagenti/kagenti-extensions /tmp/kagenti-release/kagenti-extensions
cd /tmp/kagenti-release/kagenti-extensions
git checkout -b release-X.Y main
git push origin release-X.Y

Then cherry-pick and tag:

cd /tmp/kagenti-release/kagenti-extensions
git checkout release-X.Y
git pull origin release-X.Y
git cherry-pick -x <merge-commit-sha>
git push origin release-X.Y

# Tag the dependency repo RC
git tag -s vA.B.0-rc.N -m "vA.B.0-rc.N"
git push origin vA.B.0-rc.N
gh run watch

After dependency repo RC is tagged: Update charts/kagenti/Chart.yaml in the kagenti release branch to reference the new dependency version.

Cherry-pick into kagenti/kagenti release branch

Use the git workflow described in Release Branch Git Workflow:

# Sync local release branch with upstream
git fetch upstream release-X.Y
git checkout release-X.Y 2>/dev/null || git checkout -b release-X.Y upstream/release-X.Y
git reset --hard upstream/release-X.Y

# Cherry-pick each fix (use merge commit SHA for squash-merged PRs)
git cherry-pick -x <sha1>
git cherry-pick -x <sha2>

# If a cherry-pick has conflicts:
#   ASK: "Cherry-pick of <sha> conflicts in <files>. Options:
#         1. I'll resolve manually (show me the conflict)
#         2. Skip this commit for now
#         3. Abort and investigate"

# Push to upstream
git push upstream release-X.Y

Update the fix tracker

After cherry-picking, update the local tracking file (see RC Fix Tracking).

4c: Tag Next RC

Once all cherry-picks are on the release branch(es) and CI passes:

# Verify CI on release branch
gh run list --repo kagenti/kagenti --branch release-X.Y --limit 3

# Determine next RC number
git tag --list 'vX.Y.0-rc.*' --sort=-v:refname | head -1

Pin image tags for the new RC:

bash scripts/pin-release-tags.sh <next-rc-version>
bash scripts/check-release-pins.sh
git add charts/
git commit -s -m "chore(release): pin image tags for <next-rc-version>"
git push upstream release-X.Y

ASK: "Release branch has N new commits since rc.N. Ready to tag rc.N+1?"

git tag -s vX.Y.0-rc.N+1 -m "vX.Y.0-rc.N+1"
git push upstream vX.Y.0-rc.N+1

→ Return to Phase 3: Verify Artifacts for the new RC.

Phase 5: Cut GA

When the latest RC has soaked with no blocking issues.

Prerequisites — ASK:

"How long has it been since the last RC? (recommend 1 week minimum)"
"Are there any open release-blocking issues?"
"Has another maintainer signed off on this RC?"

Steps:

Tag dependency repos with GA (following dependency order):

# For each dependency repo that had RC tags
cd /tmp/kagenti-release/<repo>
git checkout release-X.Y
git tag -s vA.B.0 -m "vA.B.0"
git push origin vA.B.0
gh run watch

Update kagenti Chart.yaml with GA sub-chart versions

Pin image tags to GA version:

bash scripts/pin-release-tags.sh vX.Y.0
bash scripts/check-release-pins.sh
git add charts/
git commit -s -m "chore(release): pin image tags for vX.Y.0"
git push upstream release-X.Y

Tag GA:

git tag -s vX.Y.0 -m "vX.Y.0"
git push upstream vX.Y.0

Verify (Phase 3) — confirm GitHub Release is marked as "Latest" (not Pre-release)

Mark the release as "Latest" if needed:

gh release edit vX.Y.0 --repo kagenti/kagenti --latest

Phase 6: Release Notes

For Alpha

Auto-generated is sufficient:

gh release edit <version> --repo kagenti/kagenti \
  --notes "Alpha release — known issues: <list any>"

4.5 Run RC Validation CI (RC and GA only)

After verifying artifacts for an RC tag, ask the user:

RC artifacts verified. Would you like to trigger the RC Validation workflow?
This runs Kind + HyperShift E2E tests in parallel (~2 hours).

Options:
1. Run full validation (Kind + HyperShift)
2. Run Kind only (faster, ~90 min)
3. Run HyperShift only (~120 min)
4. Skip — I'll validate manually

If the user chooses to run validation:

# Full validation (default)
gh workflow run release-validation.yaml -f ref=<version>

# Kind only
gh workflow run release-validation.yaml -f ref=<version> -f skip_hypershift=true

# HyperShift only
gh workflow run release-validation.yaml -f ref=<version> -f skip_kind=true

If dependency repos were also tagged, include them:

gh workflow run release-validation.yaml -f ref=<version> \
  -f dep_builds='[{"repo":"kagenti/kagenti-extensions","ref":"<ext-version>"}]'

After triggering, show the run URL:

sleep 5
gh run list --workflow=release-validation.yaml --limit 1 --json databaseId,url --jq '.[0].url'

For GA releases, this validation MUST have passed on the final RC before tagging GA. Remind the user:

GA prerequisite: Has the RC Validation workflow passed for the latest RC?
Check with: gh run list --workflow=release-validation.yaml --limit 5

For RC

Include a testing checklist and changes since last RC:

gh release edit <version> --repo kagenti/kagenti --notes-file /tmp/rc-notes.md

Template:

Release candidate for vX.Y.0.

## Testing needed
- [ ] Clean Kind install
- [ ] OpenShift install
- [ ] Upgrade from previous GA
- [ ] E2E tests

## Changes since <previous-rc>
<list from fix tracker>

For GA

Full release notes with component compatibility table:

## Highlights
- Feature 1
- Feature 2

## Breaking Changes
- (list any)

## Component Versions

| Component | Version |
|-----------|---------|
| kagenti (platform) | vX.Y.0 |
| kagenti-extensions (webhook) | vA.B.0 |
| kagenti-operator | vC.D.0 |
| agent-examples | vE.F.0 |

## Upgrade Notes
- (special steps from previous GA)

## Full Changelog
<auto-generated>

Phase 7: Announce

For GA and significant RC releases:

echo "Announce on:"
echo "  - Slack: https://ibm.biz/kagenti-slack"
echo "  - Mailing list: kagenti-maintainers@googlegroups.com"

Release Branch Git Workflow

This section describes how to work with release branches day-to-day.

Core Rule (from SOP)

No direct commits to release branches. All fixes land on main first and are cherry-picked back. The -x flag is mandatory for traceability.

Approach A: Direct push (maintainers)

Use when you have write access to the upstream repo and the cherry-picks are straightforward:

# 1. Sync local branch with upstream
git fetch upstream release-X.Y
git checkout release-X.Y 2>/dev/null || git checkout -b release-X.Y upstream/release-X.Y
git reset --hard upstream/release-X.Y

# 2. Cherry-pick (use -x for traceability)
git cherry-pick -x <sha1>
git cherry-pick -x <sha2>
# For squash-merged PRs, use the merge commit SHA shown in the PR

# 3. Push directly to upstream
git push upstream release-X.Y

When conflicts occur:

# After a conflicting cherry-pick:
git status                    # See conflicted files
# ... resolve conflicts ...
git add <resolved-files>
git cherry-pick --continue

# If the conflict is too complex, abort and try a different approach:
git cherry-pick --abort

Approach B: PR to release branch

Use when you want review on the cherry-pick, don't have direct push access, or the cherry-pick has non-trivial conflicts:

# 1. Create a branch from the release branch
git fetch upstream release-X.Y
git checkout -b cherry-pick-<desc> upstream/release-X.Y

# 2. Cherry-pick
git cherry-pick -x <sha1>

# 3. Push to your fork
git push origin cherry-pick-<desc>

# 4. Open PR targeting the release branch
gh pr create --base release-X.Y --repo kagenti/kagenti \
  --title "fix: cherry-pick <description> for rc.N" \
  --body "Cherry-pick of #<original-PR> for the vX.Y.0-rc.N release."

When to use which approach

Scenario	Approach
Release manager with upstream push access, clean cherry-picks	A (direct push)
Cherry-pick has conflicts that need a second pair of eyes	B (PR)
Contributor without upstream write access	B (PR)
Large or risky changes being backported	B (PR)
Quick fix already reviewed on the main PR	A (direct push)

Multi-repo cherry-pick order

When fixes span multiple repos, cherry-pick and tag in dependency order:

1. kagenti-operator (if affected)     → cherry-pick, tag RC
2. kagenti-extensions (if affected)   → cherry-pick, tag RC
3. kagenti/kagenti                    → update Chart.yaml deps, cherry-pick fixes, tag RC

RC Fix Tracking

Between RCs, maintain a local tracking file to keep state across sessions.

File location

/tmp/kagenti/release/<version>/rc-fixes.md

Example: /tmp/kagenti/release/v0.6.0/rc-fixes.md

Create the tracker

mkdir -p /tmp/kagenti/release/v0.6.0
cat > /tmp/kagenti/release/v0.6.0/rc-fixes.md << 'EOF'
# v0.6.0 RC Fix Tracker

## Current RC: rc.1 (tagged YYYY-MM-DD)

## Fixes for next RC

### Cherry-picked (ready to tag)
<!-- - [x] PR #NNN - description (commits: sha1, sha2) -->

### Pending (merged to main, not yet cherry-picked)
<!-- - [ ] PR #NNN - description [merge-sha] -->

### In Progress (PR open targeting main, not yet merged)
<!-- - [ ] PR #NNN - description -->

### Dependency repo fixes
<!-- - [ ] kagenti-extensions PR #NN - description -->
<!-- - [ ] kagenti-operator PR #NN - description -->

## Previous RCs

### rc.1 (initial)
- Initial release candidate
EOF

Update the tracker

After each stabilization cycle:

Move cherry-picked items to "Cherry-picked" with [x]
Add newly discovered candidates to "Pending"
After tagging, move the "Fixes for next RC" section to "Previous RCs"

Use the tracker for release notes

The tracker provides the changelog between RCs:

grep '^\- \[x\]' /tmp/kagenti/release/v0.6.0/rc-fixes.md

Quick Reference

Release types

Type	Branch	Create release branch?	Stabilization loop?
Alpha	`main`	No	No
RC (first)	`release-X.Y` (new)	Yes — from `main`	Yes — loop until stable
RC (subsequent)	`release-X.Y`	Already exists	Yes — continue loop
GA	`release-X.Y`	Already exists	No — promote last RC
Patch	`release-X.Y`	Already exists	Optional (for non-trivial)

The stabilization cycle (daily workflow)

1. Test current RC
2. Report bugs → create PRs targeting main
3. Once fixes merge to main:
   /release stabilize
     → discovers candidate fixes
     → cherry-picks to release branch(es)
     → tags next RC
4. Verify new RC artifacts
5. Repeat from step 1

Mandatory flags and conventions

Rule	Reason
`git cherry-pick -x`	Traceability between main and release branch
`git tag -s` (or `-a` if no GPG)	Signed/annotated tags for audit
`git commit -s`	DCO sign-off required by CI
Pin all image tags before any release	Reproducible installs

Related Skills

docs/releasing.md — Full release process and policy
git:commit — Commit format conventions
ci:status — CI failure analysis
github:pr-review — PR review workflow

release

Mehr aus diesem Repository

Mehr aus diesem Repository

Release Kagenti

Table of Contents

When to Use

Invocation

Phase 1: Assess Current State

1.1 Current tags across repos

1.2 Chart dependency versions

1.3 Image tags in values.yaml

1.4 Release branch state (if exists)

1.5 Present summary and ask

Phase 2: Prepare and Tag

Dependency order (MANDATORY)

2.1 For Alpha (from main)

2.2 For First RC (creates release branch)

2.3 For Subsequent RCs (rc.2, rc.3, ...)

2.4 Tag a dependency repo (helper)

Phase 3: Verify Artifacts

3.1 GitHub Releases

3.2 Container images

3.3 Helm charts

3.4 Pre-release flag

3.5 E2E validation (optional for RCs, mandatory for GA)

Phase 4: Stabilize (RC Iteration Loop)

4a: Find Candidate Fixes

4b: Cherry-Pick to Release Branches

If fixes touch dependency repos (extensions or operator)

Cherry-pick into kagenti/kagenti release branch

Update the fix tracker

4c: Tag Next RC

Phase 5: Cut GA

Phase 6: Release Notes

For Alpha

4.5 Run RC Validation CI (RC and GA only)

For RC

For GA

Phase 7: Announce

Release Branch Git Workflow

Core Rule (from SOP)

Approach A: Direct push (maintainers)

Approach B: PR to release branch

When to use which approach

Multi-repo cherry-pick order

RC Fix Tracking

File location

Create the tracker

Update the tracker

Use the tracker for release notes

Quick Reference

Release types

The stabilization cycle (daily workflow)

Mandatory flags and conventions

Related Skills

Release Kagenti

Table of Contents

When to Use

Invocation

Phase 1: Assess Current State

1.1 Current tags across repos

1.2 Chart dependency versions

1.3 Image tags in values.yaml

1.4 Release branch state (if exists)

1.5 Present summary and ask

Phase 2: Prepare and Tag

Dependency order (MANDATORY)

2.1 For Alpha (from main)

2.2 For First RC (creates release branch)

2.3 For Subsequent RCs (rc.2, rc.3, ...)

2.4 Tag a dependency repo (helper)

Phase 3: Verify Artifacts

3.1 GitHub Releases

3.2 Container images

3.3 Helm charts

3.4 Pre-release flag

3.5 E2E validation (optional for RCs, mandatory for GA)

Phase 4: Stabilize (RC Iteration Loop)

4a: Find Candidate Fixes

4b: Cherry-Pick to Release Branches

2.1 For Alpha (from `main`)

2.1 For Alpha (from `main`)