release

name	release
description	Guide for performing the DirectX Tool Kit for DirectX 12 release process. Use this skill when asked to help with releasing a new version, publishing packages, or updating ports.

Release Process

Prerequisites

• All changes merged into the main branch with all tests passing.
• GPG signing configured for your GitHub account (for verified tags).
• Access to the MSCodeHub mirror repository and Azure DevOps pipelines.
• Local repository:
  • VCPKG at d:\vcpkg (synced with main branch)
• PATs will be needed for scripts that access GitHub and ADO.

Steps

Phase 1: Prepare the Release

1. Git pull the local repository to ensure it is up to date with the main branch.
2. Run the PowerShell script build\preparerelease.ps1 which will generate a topic branch for the release, update the version number in CMakeLists.txt, the README.md file, the release notes in the nuspec files, and create a stub in the CHANGELOG.md file for the new release.
3. Edit the CHANGELOG.md file to update it with a summary of changes.
4. Submit the topic branch for review and merge into main once approved. Allow the GitHub Actions workflows and the Azure DevOps pipelines to complete successfully before proceeding.

Phase 2: Tag and Create GitHub Release

5. Run the PowerShell script build\completerelease.ps1 which will set a tag on the project repo and the test repo, and create a release on GitHub with the release notes from CHANGELOG.md. Ensure you have set up GPG signing for your GitHub account so that the tags will be verified.
6. Git pull the local repository to ensure it is up to date with the main branch. Be sure to include --tags.

Phase 3: MSCodeHub and Signed Binaries

7. Push the main branch to the MSCodeHub mirror repository. Be sure to include --tags.
8. Create a PR on MSCodeHub from the main branch to the release branch.
9. Merge the PR on MSCodeHub to update the release branch, which will trigger the Azure DevOps pipeline to build the NuGet packages.
10. Edit the GitHub release and upload the signed binaries from the matching DirectXTK release to the release assets (xwbtool.exe, xwbtool_arm64.exe, and MakeSpriteFont.exe).

Phase 4: Source Archive Signing

11. Download the GitHub source .zip archive from the release. Unzip and compare to the local repo to ensure it matches — keep in mind there may be some CR/LF differences.
12. Run minisign on the .zip to generate a signature file, and upload the signature file to the release assets.

Phase 5: NuGet Validation and Publishing

13. Validate the NuGet packages with https://github.com/walbourn/directxtk-tutorials by pushing the NuGet packages to a local Packages Source folder, and refreshing the NuGet packages from that folder. Then build using BuildAllSolutions.targets.
14. Run the PowerShell script build\promotenuget.ps1 -Version <version> -Release to promote the version to the Release view on the project-scoped ADO feed. The -Version parameter is required and should match the NuGet package version (e.g., 2026.6.2.1).
15. Run the MSCodeHub pipeline to publish the NuGet packages to nuget.org. The pipeline will automatically push the most recent package promoted to the Release view to nuget.org.

Phase 6: VCPKG Port Update

16. Git pull a local repository of VCPKG to d:\vcpkg in sync with the main branch of the VCPKG repository.
17. Run the PowerShell script build\updatevcpkg.ps1 to update the DirectXTK12 port in VCPKG with the new release version. This will edit the files in ports\directxtk12.
18. Test the VCPKG port using the script at assets/vcpkgdxtk12.cmd (in this skill folder). Copy it to d:\vcpkg and run from there after bootstrapping VCPKG.
19. Run .\vcpkg x-add-version directxtk12 to update the VCPKG versioning history.
20. Submit a PR to the VCPKG repository to update the DirectXTK12 port back to the main GitHub repo. The PR will be reviewed and merged by the VCPKG maintainers.

Phase 7: Finalize

When fully completed, be sure to update the GitHub release with links to the matching NuGet packages, the VCPKG port, and the winget manifests for the tools.

Key Scripts

Script	Purpose
build\preparerelease.ps1	Creates topic branch, updates version numbers and changelog stub
build\completerelease.ps1	Sets tags, creates GitHub release from changelog
build\promotenuget.ps1	Promotes NuGet package to Release view on ADO feed
assets\vcpkgdxtk12.cmd	Tests VCPKG port across all triplets and features
build\updatevcpkg.ps1	Updates DirectXTK12 VCPKG port files