| name | release-update |
| description | Walks through the monthly release-day site update for positron-website. Archives last month's notes, promotes next.md into release.md, bumps versions, refreshes _freeze, flags downstream doc updates, and opens the PR. Use when the user starts the monthly release PR (typically invoked as /release-update). |
Monthly release update
The pattern is well-established. Reference PRs: #295 (2026.03 release) and #351 (2026.05 release).
This skill is a guided checklist. Drive the mechanical edits; pause for user input where noted with ⏸.
1. Gather and derive inputs
Only one input from the user: the new release's full version, e.g. 2026.06.0-179. Derive everything else via the gh CLI and arithmetic, then confirm the full set with the user before touching files.
a. Confirm the new release exists and capture its date
gh release view <new release full version> --repo posit-dev/positron --json tagName,publishedAt --jq '"\(.tagName) \(.publishedAt[:10])"'
If this exits non-zero or reports "release not found", stop and re-confirm the version with the user. On success, the printed YYYY-MM-DD is the new release date.
b. Compute next month's expected release
Decompose the new version YYYY.MM.0-BUILD and increment MM. If MM == 12, roll over to YYYY+1 and MM = 01. Append .0. Examples:
2026.06.0-179 → next release 2026.07.02026.12.0-179 → next release 2027.01.0
c. Identify the previous month's .0 build
Decompose the new version and decrement MM (roll back the year if MM == 01). Call this <prev YYYY.MM>.
Then check the current _environment file:
grep RELEASE_VERSION _environment
-
If RELEASE_VERSION starts with <prev YYYY.MM>.0- already (no patches happened last month), use it directly. Strip the surrounding quotes.
-
Otherwise (patches happened, e.g. 2026.05.2-3), find the .0 build via:
gh release list --repo posit-dev/positron --limit 100 --json tagName --jq ".[] | select(.tagName | startswith(\"<prev YYYY.MM>.0-\")) | .tagName"
Should print exactly one tag. If zero or multiple, stop and ask the user.
d. Capture the previous .0 date
gh release view <prev .0 version> --repo posit-dev/positron --json tagName,publishedAt --jq '"\(.tagName) \(.publishedAt[:10])"'
The printed date is the previous release date (the .0 ship date, regardless of any patches). This is what goes into the archive YAML date: field.
e. Show the user the full derived set for sign-off
Print a summary like:
New release: 2026.06.0-179 (2026-06-02)
Next release: 2026.07.0
Previous .0: 2026.05.0-179 (2026-05-04)
Archive file: release-notes/release-2026-05.qmd
Branch name: release-2026-06-0
Also note: any "### Patch notes" already at the top of release-notes/release.md will be carried forward into the archive (correct behavior).
⏸ Wait for explicit confirmation before editing files.
2. Branch
git checkout main && git pull
git checkout -b release-YYYY-MM-0
YYYY-MM is the new release's year-month (e.g. release-2026-06-0). The -0 suffix is an iteration counter; bump if a prior branch already exists.
3. File edits
_environment
RELEASE_VERSION="<new full version>"
NEXT_RELEASE="<next month .0>"
Archive last month: create release-notes/release-YYYY-MM.qmd
Filename uses the previous month (e.g. release-2026-05.qmd for a PR releasing 2026.06).
Body = current contents of release-notes/release.md, with this YAML prepended:
---
title: "<prev .0 version> Release Notes"
date: <prev release date>
subtitle: <https://github.com/posit-dev/positron/releases/tag/<prev .0 version>>
---
Keep any "### Patch notes" section from release.md at the top of the body. It belongs in the archive.
Promote release-notes/next.md to release-notes/release.md
Overwrite release.md with the current contents of next.md. Do not edit the content during this move.
next.md is the final, shipped copy: it gets pushed to the S3 bucket for in-product release notes during the release cycle, so by release day it has already been edited and reviewed. Treat this step as a straight copy.
Reset release-notes/next.md
Overwrite with release-notes/release-notes-template.md (which is the empty-state stub with Something cool is 🪩, Added new ✨, Fixed 🐛, Updated bundled version ⚙️).
release-notes.qmd alias
Update the aliases line (around line 15) to point to the new release month:
aliases:
- release-notes/release-YYYY-MM.html
Use the new release's year-month, not the archived month.
4. Refresh _freeze
The site uses execute: freeze: auto. Only re-render the specific pages that reference the _environment variables, not the whole site.
First, check which pages currently use the env vars so you do not miss a newly-added one:
grep -rln 'env RELEASE_VERSION\|env NEXT_RELEASE' --include='*.qmd' .
As of writing, the set is download.qmd and release-notes.qmd. If grep returns a new file, render it too.
Then render each file individually:
quarto render download.qmd
quarto render release-notes.qmd
⏸ Show the user the resulting _freeze/ diff. Expect only version-string changes; flag anything unexpected.
Commit _freeze/ changes in a dedicated commit so the diff stays reviewable (e.g. Update `_freeze` , matching prior PRs).
5. Flag downstream doc updates (do NOT auto-edit)
Read the just-promoted release.md and skim for features that may date other pages. Common targets observed in prior release PRs:
- Extensions / marketplace changes:
extensions.qmd, migrate-vscode.qmd, migrate-rstudio-rproj.qmd. PR #351 reworded these when P3M replaced Open VSX as the default.
- Resolved RStudio gaps:
faqs.qmd, migrate-rstudio-compare.qmd. PR #351 deleted the "no inline output for Quarto" caveat once inline output shipped.
- New diagnostics or troubleshooting commands:
troubleshooting.qmd. PR #295 added a section for a new diagnostics command.
- Quarto integration changes:
quarto.qmd.
- Notebook editor changes:
notebooks-alpha.qmd (or whatever the current notebook page is named).
⏸ Surface the list to the user and let them decide what to edit. Keep each content fix in its own commit so the PR diff stays readable.
6. Commit structure
Match the cadence of PRs #295 / #351:
Update to YYYY.MM release (the four mechanical files: _environment, archive file, release.md, next.md, release-notes.qmd).Update `_freeze` (only _freeze/ files).- One commit per incidental doc fix from step 5, with a descriptive subject (e.g.
Update info about extension gallery, Remove "no inline output" from FAQ).
Heredoc the commit messages so they format cleanly. Do not skip hooks.
7. PR
git push -u origin release-YYYY-MM-0
PR conventions from past releases:
- Title:
Updates for YYYY.MM release
- Body: one line, celebratory.
Release is out today! 🎉 or similar. Reviewers read the diff; no summary needed.
- Base:
main.
⏸ Confirm title and body with the user before running gh pr create. Do not merge automatically.
8. After the PR merges
Merging does not publish positron.posit.co. A merge to main republishes positron.posit.co/dailies only. The released site is published by the Release Documentation Bundles workflow, which is step 6 of the release process.
The order matters. That workflow builds from main and reads RELEASE_VERSION from _environment, so this PR has to merge first, along with any downstream doc fixes from step 5 that should ship with the release. Whatever sits in an open PR does not go out. The workflow then cuts the docs release, uploads the bundles, and publishes the rendered site to the root of gh-pages.
⏸ Tell the user this step is still outstanding once the PR merges. Leave the workflow run to them.
Once it finishes, the footer on the live site should read the new RELEASE_VERSION, and the new notes should be at https://positron.posit.co/download.html#release-notes. Until then the live site still shows last month's release, which is expected.
Style and repo conventions
- Sentence case for headings inside
.qmd content (per the Posit style guide; PR #295 had a follow-up commit to fix this).
- No em dashes anywhere in file contents (repo style preference). Use commas, semicolons, parentheses, or two sentences.
- For keyboard shortcuts in
.qmd, use the {{< kbd ... >}} shortcode, not <kbd> tags. Using <kbd> is OK in .md file, though.
- Suggest
/doc-reviewer if the user wants a style pass on the new highlights or any other prose edits before opening the PR.
Things to watch for
- If there were no patches last month,
release.md will lack a "### Patch notes" section. That is fine; the archive simply starts at "### Release highlights".
- Workbench profile excludes videos via a Lua filter; no special handling needed during this PR.
