| name | version-bumper |
| description | Use when a release version is in question in the-known-world repo — "is it time for a release", "do we have enough for a bump", "cut a patch/minor/major", "bump the version", "run version-bumper", "tag a release", "push the tag", "are the tags in sync", "my local tags don't match origin", or after several PRs have landed on `main` since the last tag. |
Version Bumper
Overview
Decide whether main has accumulated enough to deserve a release, pick the increment, and cut it — package.json, commit, annotated tag, push, tag sync. One skill owns the whole chain, so a half-done bump (version raised but never tagged, tag never pushed) cannot happen.
The release mechanism is bun pm version <increment>, run on main only. It rewrites package.json, commits with the bare version as the subject, and creates the annotated tag v<version>. Nothing else in the repo records the version — no changelog, no lockfile entry, no constant.
Releases happen on main, from main, or not at all. A feature branch never gets a version bump, and unmerged work never counts toward the decision.
Five phases, in order:
- Sync tags — local and remote agree before anything reads "the latest tag".
- Decide — is a bump warranted, and which one.
- Recommend — state the call, then stop and wait for the user's yes or no.
- Preflight — clean, current, green.
- Cut and push — bump, tag, push both, verify.
Phases 1 through 3 are read-only. Nothing is written, committed, or pushed until the user answers yes.
Phase 1 — Tag sync
Always first. Every later phase reads the latest tag, so a stale tag list produces a wrong answer with no error.
git fetch origin --prune --tags
git tag --sort=v:refname
git ls-remote --tags origin | awk '{print $2}' | grep -v '\^{}$' | sed 's|refs/tags/||' | sort -V
Diff the two lists and classify every mismatch:
| Drift | Meaning | Fix |
|---|
| Remote has it, local doesn't | Fetch refspec skipped it | git fetch origin --tags (a second time is not a mistake — confirm it lands) |
Local has it, remote doesn't, and it's on main | A previous cut tagged but never pushed | git push origin <tag> |
Local has it, remote doesn't, and it's not on main | Orphan from rewritten history | Report it and ask before git tag -d <tag> |
| Both have it, different SHAs | A published tag was moved | 🛑 STOP. Never repoint a published tag. Report and hand to the user. |
Reachability check for row three:
git merge-base --is-ancestor "$(git rev-parse <tag>^{commit})" origin/main
Only once the lists match does the run continue.
Phase 2 — Decide
latest=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 origin/main)
git rev-list --count "$latest"..origin/main
git log --oneline "$latest"..origin/main
git diff --shortstat "$latest"..origin/main
git diff --name-only "$latest"..origin/main
Is a bump warranted?
Historical cadence in the 0.2.x line is 4–11 commits per release, median ~6. Use that as the shape of a normal release, not as a gate to hide behind.
| Commits since latest tag | Call |
|---|
| 0 | No bump. main is already the release. Say so and stop. |
| 1–2 | Not yet — unless one of them is user-facing, or the user asked for a cut. |
| 3+ | Bump. |
A user-facing change on its own justifies a release at any count: v0.3.0 was cut two commits after v0.2.10.
Which increment?
The package is "private": true — semver here describes the site, not a published API.
Signal in $latest..origin/main | Increment |
|---|
New route: a page.tsx under a new app/<segment>/ | minor |
New content type: a new content/<type>/ directory and a schema in lib/schemas.ts | minor |
New top-level nav destination in components/SiteMenu/ | minor |
| A whole surface redesigned, not adjusted | minor |
| Route renamed or removed, or a schema field dropped | minor, and call the break out in the report |
New entries in existing content/ directories | patch |
New art in public/ plus its SIGIL_SLUGS registration | patch |
Dependency bumps in package.json | patch |
Only .github/, .claude/, docs/, or *.test.ts | patch |
| Fixes, refactors, styling, tests | patch |
Highest matching signal wins — one new route among twelve content fills is still a minor.
major is never chosen automatically. Pre-1.0, breaking changes ride a minor. Cut a major only when the user says the words, or when they are explicitly declaring 1.0.0.
Phase 3 — Recommend, then wait
The decision in Phase 2 is a recommendation, never an action. Present it and stop. The user answers yes or no; that answer is the only thing that authorizes Phase 4 and Phase 5.
Present exactly this, then end the turn:
## 🔖 Recommending `v0.3.0` → `v0.3.1` (patch)
| Field | Value |
| -------- | --------------------------- |
| Latest | `v0.3.0` (51e4071) |
| Commits | 4 |
| Diff | 53 files, +2034 −164 |
| Tag sync | ✅ local and remote matched |
**Why patch:** content fills and CI only, no new route or content type.
- `05079f9` TKW: dates and eras skill, plus 99 date corrections (#70)
- `dbc2162` TKW: accessibility audit skill, plus map, tree, and combobox fixes (#68)
- `4ca7e41` TKW: component scaffold skill, plus conformance fixes (#71)
- `aff6f9d` TKW: stop the debounce tests racing the clock (#73)
Cut it? (yes / no)
Rules for this phase:
- One question, one word back. The user should be able to answer with "yes" or "no" and nothing else. Do not ask them to pick the increment, confirm the branch, or approve the push separately. The recommendation already answers those.
- Name the increment in the question. "Cut it?" means cutting the increment recommended above, patch/minor/major included. If they say only "no", the run ends; do not counter-propose a different increment unless they ask.
- A no is a complete answer. Report
⏭️ declined and stop. Nothing to revert, because nothing was written.
- The user may override the increment. "yes, but make it minor" is a yes with a different increment. Take it and proceed, no argument.
- A no-bump call needs no question. If Phase 2 said no bump, report that and stop. There is nothing to approve.
- Asking here is mandatory, and it overrides the general "never ask for confirmation mid-task" preference in the global
CLAUDE.md. A release commit and two pushed refs are exactly the kind of outward-facing, hard-to-reverse action that repo CLAUDE.md reserves for an explicit instruction. The user asked for this gate by name.
Phase 4 — Preflight
Runs only after a yes in Phase 3. All four must hold. Any failure stops the run — report it, do not work around it. A preflight failure after a yes is still a stop: the approval covered cutting a release, not forcing one past a red check.
git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD
git status --porcelain
git pull --ff-only origin main
bun run check
Then confirm the tree is not mid-bump — package.json must still be at the last released version:
test "v$(bun pm pkg get version | tr -d '"')" = "$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)"
A mismatch means a previous cut bumped package.json and never tagged. Stop and report; the recovery is a tag, not a second bump.
Phase 5 — Cut and push
Only runs after a yes in Phase 3.
bun pm version <patch|minor|major>
That single command writes package.json, commits, and creates the annotated tag. Then push both refs and verify:
version=$(bun pm pkg get version | tr -d '"')
git push origin main
git push origin "v$version"
git rev-parse main origin/main
git ls-remote --tags origin "v$version"
The commit subject is the bare version
0.3.1, not TKW: 0.3.1. This is the one exception to the TKW: rule in CLAUDE.md, and it is deliberate: every release commit in the repo's history reads as a bare version, and it is the bun pm version default. Never pass -m/--message. Never amend the subject afterward. The tag message is the bare version too, for the same reason.
Flags
| Flag | Use |
|---|
--no-git-tag-version | Never. The tag is the point. |
--force / -f | Never. It bypasses the dirty-tree check that Phase 4 exists to enforce. |
--allow-same-version | Never. A no-op bump is a bug in the decision, not a flag to pass. |
--preid | Only if the user explicitly asks for a prerelease. |
Report
Close every run with this, even a no-bump one:
## 🔖 Version report — `v0.3.0` → `v0.3.1`
| Field | Value |
| --------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| Previous | `v0.3.0` (51e4071) |
| Commits | 4 |
| Diff | 53 files, +2034 −164 |
| Increment | patch |
| Rationale | content fills and CI only — no new route or content type |
| Tag sync | ✅ local and remote matched |
- 🚀 `main` pushed
- 🏷️ `v0.3.1` pushed
Variants for the last two lines:
| Outcome | Lines |
|---|
| Phase 2 said no bump | ⏭️ no bump — <reason> |
| Phase 3 recommended, user said no | ⏭️ declined — nothing written, nothing pushed |
| Preflight failed after a yes | 🛑 stopped at preflight — <which check, output> |
Tag-drift runs that fixed something say what was pushed or deleted.
Red flags — STOP
| Thought | Reality |
|---|
| "The call is obvious, I'll just cut it and report after" | The user's yes is the authorization. There is no obvious enough to skip it. |
| "They said 'run version-bumper', that's the yes" | That starts the run. The yes answers the Phase 3 recommendation, which they haven't seen yet. |
| "They approved last release, so this one's covered" | Approval is per release. Ask every time. |
"I'll ask after bun pm version, it's easy to revert" | It commits and tags. Ask before, when there is nothing to revert. |
| "I'll bump from this feature branch, it's what's checked out" | main only. Check it out first. |
| "The open PR is basically merged, count it" | Only what is on origin/main counts. |
| "Tags look fine, skip Phase 1" | Phase 1 is what tells you they're fine. Run it. |
"The local and remote v0.2.4 differ — I'll force the tag" | A published tag never moves. Stop and report. |
"bun run check fails but it's unrelated" | A release ships main as it is. Red main is not releasable. |
| "Big diff, this feels like a major" | Size is not the signal. Pre-1.0, major needs the user to say so. |
| "Twelve content files and one new route — patch" | Highest signal wins. That's a minor. |
"TKW: is required, I'll prefix the version commit" | Release commits are bare versions. The one documented exception. |
| "Bumped but the push failed — I'll sort the tag out later" | An untagged bump is the failure state this skill exists to prevent. Finish or revert. |
| "I'll write a changelog entry too" | There is no changelog. Don't invent one. |
Related skills
active-rebaser — run it after a release so in-flight branches sit on the newly tagged maingit-commit-and-pr-format — governs every commit except the release commit
