| name | captain-release |
| description | Captain-only. Quality-check, commit, push, create PR, and cut a release in one flow. The "code is ready" command for captain-owned branches. Every PR is a release. Formerly `/release` — v2 rename to captain-actor-verb. |
| agency-skill-version | 2 |
| when_to_use | Captain has staged coordination work on a captain-* branch and wants to land it as a PR + release. NEVER from master. NEVER from a worktree agent branch (agents use /pr-submit → /pr-captain-land). NEVER auto-invoked. |
| argument-hint | [--no-push] [--no-pr] <commit description> |
| paths | [] |
| required_reading | ["agency/REFERENCE-QUALITY-GATE.md","agency/REFERENCE-CODE-REVIEW-LIFECYCLE.md","agency/REFERENCE-GIT-MERGE-NOT-REBASE.md"] |
captain-release
Captain's one-flow release command for captain-owned branches (captain-*). Runs quality-check → commit → push → create PR → version-bump → summary. Every PR is a release.
Name pattern: captain- actor prefix (captain-only), release verb. Grouped with captain-log, captain-review in the captain family.
Why this exists
When captain has staged coordination work (a framework fix, a refactor, a doc update) on a captain-* branch, that work needs to land as a PR with proper QG + release tagging + version bump. Without one cohesive command, each step gets skipped or done out of order. captain-release bundles the full flow.
Agents use a different path: /pr-submit → captain's /pr-captain-land. That's the agent-owned-work flow. captain-release is for captain-owned work (framework fixes, REFERENCE doc updates, captain-* coord artifacts).
Required reading
Before proceeding, Read the files listed in required_reading: frontmatter.
Usage
/captain-release <commit description>
/captain-release --no-push <description>
/captain-release --no-pr <description>
Preconditions
- Captain NOT on master. Running on master aborts — never push directly to master; always PR.
- Working tree has staged or uncommitted changes relevant to this release.
- A QGR receipt exists for the current state (via prior
/pr-prep or /quality-gate).
Flow / Steps
Step 1: Pre-flight
- Check current branch. If master, abort.
- Show
git status + git diff --stat HEAD.
- If no changes, inform user and stop.
- Check for pending post-merge (C#372 Fix B). Run
./agency/tools/post-merge-state check. If exit 1, STOP — a prior PR is in pending-post-merge state (merged but release not yet cut). Run /pr-captain-post-merge <pending-PR> first, then re-invoke this skill. A release cannot start while the last release is incomplete. Exit 0 → continue.
Step 2: Quality gate
Run ./agency/tools/commit-precheck. Verify formatting, linting, tests pass. If fails, stop and report.
Step 3: Commit
Invoke /git-safe-commit with the commit description from <arguments>. Produces a commit on the captain-* branch.
Step 4: Push (unless --no-push)
- Show commits that will be pushed.
- Ask for confirmation.
./agency/tools/git-push --force-with-lease <branch>.
Step 5: PR (unless --no-pr and push happened)
- Check if PR exists:
gh pr view <branch>.
- If exists: report URL.
- If not:
./agency/tools/pr-create --title "..." --body "...".
Never raw gh pr create. The pr-create tool validates a QGR receipt before allowing PR creation.
Step 6: Version bump
- Parse PR title for release version (D#-R# → version #.# OR
agency_version increment).
- Update
agency/config/manifest.json: bump appropriate version field + updated_at.
- Commit the bump via
/git-safe-commit --no-work-item.
- Push:
./agency/tools/git-push <branch>.
Step 7: Summary
Release complete:
Committed: <commit-hash> <message>
Version: <old> → <new>
Pushed: origin/<branch>
PR: <url> (or skipped)
Post-merge: run /pr-captain-post-merge after PR merges on GitHub
Failure modes
- On master: abort (never push directly to master).
- commit-precheck fails: stop, report which check failed; captain fixes + retries.
- push rejected: probably branch protection or force-with-lease race; captain investigates.
- pr-create rejected (no QGR): run
/pr-prep to produce a receipt, retry.
- version bump already done on branch: skill detects (manifest diff), skips Step 6 bump.
What this does NOT do
- Does not merge the PR — that's
/pr-captain-merge.
- Does not run post-merge — that's
/pr-captain-post-merge after GitHub merges the PR.
- Does not push master — master is pushed only via merged PRs.
- Does not land agent-owned work — for that, agent uses
/pr-submit → captain uses /pr-captain-land.
Captain-only — three-layer defense
paths: [] — no file-path auto-activation; universally discoverable for the captain but scoped out of worktree contexts.- Name contains
captain- — scope visible in listing.
- Step 1 precondition — captain must be on a captain-* branch, not master or agent branch.
(Historically disable-model-invocation: true was a fourth layer. That flag was removed 2026-04-20 because the captain session IS the principal's session — DMI was blocking the captain from invoking captain-* skills. See REFERENCE-SKILL-CONVENTIONS.md §1.)
Status
active (v2, refactored from legacy release 2026-04-19).
Related
/pr-captain-merge — merge step after PR is reviewed/pr-captain-post-merge — release step after merge/pr-captain-land — alternative flow when landing agent-owned work/pr-prep — QG before this skill runs/git-safe-commit — underlying commit toolagency/tools/pr-create — underlying PR creation toolagency/tools/commit-precheck — QG precheck- the-agency#296 — PR lifecycle ownership
- the-agency#315 — V1→V2 migration
OFFENDERS WILL BE FED TO THE — CUTE — ATTACK KITTENS!
