promote

---

name: promote argument-hint: [--dry-run | --skip-preview | --finalize] description: Promote staging→main — pre-flight, version bump, changelog, PR & tag. Triggers: "promote staging" | "release" | "deploy" | "cut a release" | "--finalize" | "merge to main" | "promote to production" | "ship a release" | "tag and release" | "publish release". version: 0.5.0 allowed-tools: Bash, Read, Grep, Write, Edit, ToolSearch

Promote

Success

I₀ := PR created (staging→main) | I₁ := tag pushed + release created (--finalize) V₀ := gh pr list --base main --head staging --state open | V₁ := git tag -l $VERSION ∧ gh release view $VERSION

Let: σ := staging | μ := main | V := release version (vX.Y.Z) | Q := user choice

σ → μ for production. Pre-flight → version → changelog → commit → preview → PR. --finalize: post-merge tag + GitHub Release.

Pipeline

Step	ID	Required	Verifies via	Notes
1	pre-flight	✓	¬REFUSE	—
1b	pin-swap	—	¬branch= deps remain	no-op if zero branch= deps
2	version	✓	V detected	—
3	changelog	✓	CHANGELOG.md updated	—
4	commit	✓	git log shows commit	—
5	preview	—	deploy success	--skip-preview skips
6	summary	✓	summary printed	—
6b	changelog-commit	—	PR merged → staging	branch protection
7	create-pr	✓	PR URL shown	—
8	post-merge	—	—	reminder
9	finalize	—	tag + release ∃	--finalize only

Pre-flight

Success: PR created (promote) ∨ tag+release (finalize) Evidence: PR URL shown ∨ git tag -l $VERSION Steps: pre-flight → version → changelog → commit → preview → create-pr ¬clear → STOP + ask: "Full promote or --finalize?"

Usage

/promote                   → Full flow
/promote --skip-preview    → Skip deploy preview
/promote --dry-run         → Show what would be promoted, create nothing
/promote --finalize        → Post-merge: tag + GitHub Release

Step 1 — Pre-flight

bash ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/preflight.sh

Emits: commits_ahead, status, commit log, diff stat, open PRs on staging, CI check results, hotfix_density.

Check	Condition	Action
Release mode (trunk + staging)	status=trunk_promote_pr	Proceed. Open the staging→main merge PR — Step 1a runs the Component check only (the Gate-probe / Unfinalized-promote / Version-file guards are staging-train finalize invariants, skipped under trunk), then Steps 1b–8; auto-release.yml tags on merge. Do not run --finalize — Step 9 refuses it under trunk (single writer). See ## Trunk mode.
Release mode (trunk, no staging)	status=trunk_mode (release.model==trunk)	REFUSE / no-op. /promote does not apply — a pure trunk repo (no staging branch) releases at merge-to-main via auto-release.yml. Stop (see ## Trunk mode).
No commits	commits_ahead=0	REFUSE. Stop.
Open PRs on σ	open_prs section non-empty	WARN + Q: Continue | Wait
CI status	ci section	WARN if ¬passing
Hotfix density	hotfix_density section	WARN if gauge=warn (20–40%); recommend pause + /checkup if gauge=pause (>40%); advisory-only — never hard-block
Component set	release.component null/absent	REFUSE (S6/D13) + paste-ready release: block. On day 1 every repo takes this — it is the onboarding step, not a dead end.
Version-file drift	any release.version_files path ≠ BASE	REFUSE (S5). Message distinguishes hand-drift (file < BASE) from a promote abandoned after step 2b (file > BASE) — a reconcile command for each.
Gate provisioned	release-consistency required on main ∧ zero bypass actors	REFUSE on a protectable repo where it is missing/bypassable (name scripts/provision-release-gate.sh); WARN if the repo is un-protectable (403 — private, free plan, D17); Branch not protected → REFUSE-with-onboarding.

Step 1a — Release guards (S5/S6/S7/D8)

Trunk skip (release.model: trunk, #371 B1). Under trunk the create-PR path opens a plain staging→main merge PR: there is no pre-declared version to validate, and auto-release.yml — with its own D3 loud-red guards — is the sole tagger on push:main. So the Gate probe, Unfinalized-promote, and Version-file checks below (all staging-train finalize invariants) are SKIPPED; only the Component check runs (auto-release.sh needs release.component). Detect and short-circuit before the staging-train guards:

MODEL=$(yq -r '.release.model // "staging-train"' .claude/stack.yml 2>/dev/null \
  || { [ -f .claude/stack.yml ] && python3 -c 'import sys,yaml;d=yaml.safe_load(open(".claude/stack.yml")) or {};print(((d.get("release") or {}).get("model")) or "staging-train")' || echo staging-train; })
# → if MODEL=trunk: run ONLY the Component check below, then jump to Step 1b.
#   (The promote-PR's version heading/title, computed in Steps 2–4, is COSMETIC under
#    trunk — auto-release.sh re-derives the authoritative version from M^1..M at merge.)

Component (S6/D13):

COMPONENT=$(yq -r '.release.component // "null"' .claude/stack.yml 2>/dev/null \
  || python3 -c 'import yaml;print((yaml.safe_load(open(".claude/stack.yml")).get("release") or {}).get("component") or "null")')
{ [ "$COMPONENT" = null ] || [ -z "$COMPONENT" ]; } && { echo "REFUSE: release.component unset — paste a release: block (see stack.yml.example)"; exit 1; }

Gate probe (S7/D6/D17) — the check must be required, not merely present; a bypassable required check is advisory with better marketing, so the probe reads the actor list too:

RS=$(gh api "repos/:owner/:repo/rulesets?includes_parents=true" 2>&1) || true
case "$RS" in
  *"Upgrade to GitHub Pro"*|*"Not Found"*403*)
    echo "WARN: repo un-protectable (private, free plan) — release-consistency cannot be required here (D17). D4's derivation still yields the correct version.";;
  *)
    # Assert a main-targeting ruleset REQUIRES the `release-consistency` context with an empty bypass_actors list.
    # Absent/bypassable on a protectable repo → REFUSE; `Branch not protected` → REFUSE-with-onboarding.
    echo "REFUSE: release-consistency is not an enforced required check on main. Run: bash scripts/provision-release-gate.sh <owner/repo>"; exit 1;;
esac

Unfinalized promote (S5/D8) — the newest merged promote by PR metadata, never by commit lineage (a <merge>^2-vs-staging ancestry test false-positives after any backmerge — it flags real hotfixes #267/#257 as promotes):

LAST=$(gh pr list --base main --head staging --state merged --limit 1 --json number,mergeCommit --jq '.[0].mergeCommit.oid')
# Derive its version: price.sh "$COMPONENT" "${LAST}^1" "$LAST". No matching tag on that version → offer to resume:
#   "Unfinalized promote detected (PR merged, no tag). Run /promote --finalize?"

Version-file drift (S5) — each release.version_files path is compared to BASE; file < BASE = hand-drift (reconcile: re-stamp from BASE), file > BASE = a promote stopped after step 2b (resume: re-open the promotion PR). [] → skip.

Step 1b — Pin-swap Phase

Runs after pre-flight, before version bump. Rewrites mutable branch= git deps in [tool.uv.sources] to immutable tag= pins for the promotion commit.

Trigger: pyproject.toml exists AND [tool.uv.sources] contains at least one entry with branch=.

No-op: if zero branch= git deps found → silent skip, continue to Step 2.

Detection

Scan pyproject.toml [tool.uv.sources]:

# Detected — has branch=
roxabi-nats = { git = "https://github.com/Roxabi/roxabi-nats", branch = "staging" }

# Ignored — already pinned
roxabi-nats = { git = "https://github.com/Roxabi/roxabi-nats", tag = "v1.2.3" }

Resolution

For each detected dep:

1. Read pinned SHA from uv.lock (rev = "<sha>" in package source)
2. Run git ls-remote --tags <gitUrl> on the remote
3. Match SHA → release tag at that exact commit
4. Tag matching: prefer <pkg>/vX.Y.Z (monorepo subdirectory style), fall back to bare vX.Y.Z

user choice gate

── Decision: Pin uv git deps ──
Context:     N branch= git deps found; will be rewritten for promotion
Target:      Immutable tag pins in pyproject.toml before staging→main
Path:        Rewrite pyproject.toml, run uv lock, stage both files

Deps:
  - roxabi-nats: branch=staging → tag=roxabi-nats/v1.2.3 (SHA: abc123def456)

Options:
  1. Apply — rewrite + regenerate uv.lock + stage
  2. Abort — stop promotion, no changes
Recommended: Option 1

On Apply

# Rewrite pyproject.toml (branch= → tag=) for each dep
# Then regenerate:
uv lock
git add pyproject.toml uv.lock

On Abort

Revert pyproject.toml to original (no changes were written). Stop promotion.

Error: no tag at SHA

FAIL: No release tag found at roxabi-nats@abc123def4 on https://github.com/Roxabi/roxabi-nats.
Cut a release tag (e.g. roxabi-nats/vX.Y.Z) at abc123def4 upstream first.

Stops promotion. User must cut a tag upstream before retrying.

--dry-run

Show pin-swap plan (deps + resolved tags) but do NOT write files. Continue to show version/changelog summary, then stop.

Implementation

Logic lives in lib/pin-swap.ts (pure functions, I/O-injected). Tests in __tests__/pin-swap.test.ts.

Steps 2-4 — Version, Changelog, Commit

Read references/release-artifacts.md for full procedure.

Step 5 — Deploy Preview

¬--skip-preview ⇒

gh workflow run deploy-preview.yml --ref staging -f target=both
sleep 5
RUN_ID=$(gh run list --workflow=deploy-preview.yml --limit=1 --json databaseId --jq '.[0].databaseId')
gh run watch $RUN_ID --exit-status

Q: Looks good — proceed | Issues — abort | Skip preview, proceed

--skip-preview ⇒ skip.

Step 6 — Summary

Promotion Summary
=================
  Version:   {$VERSION}
  Commits:   {N} commits ahead of main
  PRs:       {N} merged PRs
  Files:     {N} files changed
  CI:        passing/failing/pending
  Preview:   verified/skipped

--dry-run ⇒ display + stop. "Run /promote to create the promotion PR."

Step 6b — Changelog Commit

σ may have branch protection. Direct push fails →

1. Branch: git branch chore/$VERSION-changelog staging
2. Push: git push origin chore/$VERSION-changelog
3. PR: gh pr create --base staging --head chore/$VERSION-changelog --title "chore(release): add $VERSION changelog"
4. Merge: gh pr merge <N> --auto --merge --delete-branch (merge commit — ¬squash, Release Convention). --auto only arms auto-merge and returns immediately — it does not block. Then poll until it lands, or step 7 reads a stale origin/staging:

   until [ "$(gh pr view <N> --json state --jq .state)" = MERGED ]; do sleep 10; done
   

5. Sync: git fetch origin staging && git reset --hard origin/staging

Step 7 — Create Promotion PR

gh pr create \
  --base main --head staging \
  --title "chore: promote staging to main ($VERSION)" \
  --body "$(cat <<EOF
## Promotion: staging → main ($VERSION)

{changelog}

## Pre-flight
- [x] CI passing on staging
- [x] No open PRs targeting staging (or acknowledged)
- [{preview_check}] Deploy preview verified
- [x] Release notes committed to staging

---
Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) via \`/promote\`
EOF
)"

Display PR URL.

Step 8 — Post-merge Reminder

CRITICAL: Merge commit only, never squash — see release-convention.md.

Promotion PR created: {URL}

⚠️  MERGE WITH MERGE COMMIT (not squash) — see release-convention.md.

After merge:
  1. Vercel auto-deploys to production
  2. Verify production at your domain
  3. Run /promote --finalize to tag + create GitHub Release
  4. Run /cleanup to clean up merged branches

Step 9 — Finalize (--finalize only)

Skip Steps 1-8. Post-merge only.

9.0 Trunk guard (#371 B1). /promote --finalize is the staging-train tagger. Under release.model: trunk, auto-release.yml already tags at merge-to-main, so a second tagger here breaks the single-writer property — refuse before touching anything (a failed trunk run recovers via the workflow's Re-run failed jobs, see ## Trunk mode, not via --finalize):

MODEL=$(yq -r '.release.model // "staging-train"' .claude/stack.yml 2>/dev/null \
  || { [ -f .claude/stack.yml ] && python3 -c 'import sys,yaml;d=yaml.safe_load(open(".claude/stack.yml")) or {};print(((d.get("release") or {}).get("model")) or "staging-train")' || echo staging-train; })
[ "$MODEL" = trunk ] && { echo "REFUSE: release.model==trunk — auto-release.yml owns tag/release at merge-to-main; /promote --finalize does not apply."; exit 1; }

9a. Verify merge:

git fetch origin main && git checkout main && git pull origin main
gh pr list --base main --head staging --state merged --limit 1 --json number,title,mergedAt

¬merged → REFUSE: "Merge the promotion PR first."

9b. Derive V from the merge object alone (S11/D4) — never from a witness. The finalize verdict (structural REFUSE, drift REFUSE, witness WARN, per-artifact act) is computed by lib/finalize.ts — the tested classifier IS the executed decision (#369), not a bash re-implementation of part of it. The PR title, CHANGELOG heading and version file are compared only to WARN (D7); a disagreement prints repair actions and finalize tags the derived version anyway, because the merge already shipped and a post-merge REFUSE would re-manufacture the shipped-no-release defect. Gather the inputs:

M=$(gh pr list --base main --head staging --state merged --limit 1 --json mergeCommit --jq '.[0].mergeCommit.oid')
PARENT_COUNT=$(( $(git rev-list --parents -n1 "$M" | wc -w) - 1 ))   # 3 words = 2 parents

# is-promote by PR metadata (D8), never by commit lineage: is M the newest merged staging→main PR?
NEWEST=$(gh pr list --base main --head staging --state merged --limit 1 --json mergeCommit --jq '.[0].mergeCommit.oid')
[ "$M" = "$NEWEST" ] && IS_PROMOTE=true || IS_PROMOTE=false

# Derived version + BASE floor — BOTH from price.sh, the sole deriver (D10). --base-only reuses
# the deriver's own floor predicate, so the gate and finalize never diverge from a second copy.
DERIVED=$(bash "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/price.sh" "$COMPONENT" "${M}^1" "$M"); RC=$?
{ [ "$RC" -ge 1 ] && [ "$RC" -ne 10 ]; } && { echo "REFUSE: price.sh error ($RC)"; exit 1; }
if [ "$RC" -eq 10 ]; then DERIVED=0.1.0; BASE=""; else       # first release — no floor
  set +e; BASE=$(bash "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/price.sh" --base-only "$COMPONENT" "${M}^1"); BRC=$?; set -e
  { [ "$BRC" -ge 1 ] && [ "$BRC" -ne 10 ]; } && { echo "REFUSE: price.sh --base-only error ($BRC)"; exit 1; }
  [ "$BRC" -eq 10 ] && BASE=""
fi
VERSION="${COMPONENT}/v${DERIVED}"

# Witnesses (WARN-only, D7) — empty string ⇒ artifact absent (a null witness, D12).
TITLE_V=$(gh pr view "$M" --json title --jq '.title' 2>/dev/null | grep -oE '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' | head -n1 || true)
HEADING_V=$(grep -oE '^##[[:space:]]+\[?v?[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' CHANGELOG.md 2>/dev/null | grep -oE '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' | head -n1 || true)
VFILE=$(yq -r '.release.version_files[0] // ""' .claude/stack.yml 2>/dev/null || true)
FILE_V=$([ -n "$VFILE" ] && [ -f "$VFILE" ] && grep -oE '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+' "$VFILE" | head -n1 || true)

Custom version is retained only as the multi-component escape hatch (factory/cortex), never required here.

9c/9d. Let finalize.ts rule, then reconcile tag + release per artifact (D16). Re-evaluate after each act, so a finalize that died mid-way recovers and the loop converges (tag → create-release → noop). finalize.ts owns every hard REFUSE (≠2 parents, not-a-promote, empty payload, tag/release drift) and emits the witness WARNs:

for _ in 1 2 3; do
  # Per-artifact state (D16): where do the tag and release for $DERIVED point?
  TAG_AT=$(git rev-list -n1 "$VERSION" 2>/dev/null || true)
  if   [ -z "$TAG_AT" ];     then TAG_STATE=absent
  elif [ "$TAG_AT" = "$M" ]; then TAG_STATE=points-at-M
  else                            TAG_STATE=points-elsewhere; fi
  if gh release view "$VERSION" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    { [ "$TAG_AT" = "$M" ] && RELEASE_STATE=points-at-M; } || RELEASE_STATE=points-elsewhere
  else RELEASE_STATE=absent; fi

  VERDICT=$(bun run "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/lib/finalize.ts" \
    --parent-count "$PARENT_COUNT" --is-promote "$IS_PROMOTE" \
    --derived "$DERIVED" --base "$BASE" \
    --witness-title "$TITLE_V" --witness-heading "$HEADING_V" --witness-file "$FILE_V" \
    --tag-state "$TAG_STATE" --release-state "$RELEASE_STATE") || true
  ACTION=$(printf '%s\n' "$VERDICT" | sed -n 's/^action=//p')
  printf '%s\n' "$VERDICT" | sed -n 's/^warning=/WARN: /p'   # witness disagreements (D7) — reconcile, do not block

  case "$ACTION" in
    refuse)         printf '%s\n' "$VERDICT" | sed -n 's/^reason=/REFUSE: /p'; exit 1 ;;
    tag)            git tag -a "$VERSION" -m "Release $VERSION" && git push origin "$VERSION" ;;
    create-release) TITLE="${VERSION/\/v/ v}"; gh release create "$VERSION" --title "$TITLE" --notes "$CHANGELOG_CONTENT" ;;
    noop|*)         break ;;
  esac
done

Re-running once both exist and point at M is a green no-op.

Inform: "Release $VERSION finalized. Run /cleanup to clean branches."

Trunk mode — release.model

release.model in .claude/stack.yml selects the release train (#371, Model B):

• staging-train (default — absent ⇒ this) — the staging→main promote flow documented above. The whole fleet stays here until it opts in.
• trunk — versions are derived and releases cut on every merge to main by the generated auto-release.yml. No staging branch, no promotion PR, no pre-declared version.

Under release.model: trunk the contract changes on four points:

• Merge-commits required. auto-release.sh derives from M^1..M, so a release needs a 2-parent merge. A stray 1-parent push to main (direct commit, squash, fast-forward) is loud-red, never a silent release (D3). Keep the merge queue on merge-commits (never squash).
• No /promote --finalize; the create-PR path stays open while staging exists (#371 B1). auto-release.yml is the sole tagger at merge-to-main, so /promote --finalize is refused under trunk (Step 9) — a second tagger would break the single-writer property. But a repo mid-transition that still keeps a staging branch uses /promote's create-PR path (status=trunk_promote_pr) to open the staging→main merge PR; merging it lands on main and auto-release.yml cuts the release. A pure trunk repo with no staging branch no-ops entirely (status=trunk_mode) — /promote does not apply.
• Fires on every merge; empty is a green no-op. The workflow runs on each push: main. A merge that adds no version-bumping conventional commit derives == BASE and exits green without tagging (D18). Only a bumping payload cuts a release, so most merges are no-ops.
• Recovery via workflow_dispatch. If a run dies mid-finalize (tag pushed, release not created), re-run the workflow from the Actions tab — the reconcile loop is per-artifact idempotent (D16): it creates only the missing artifact and no-ops once both the tag and release point at M.

/checkup enforces the trunk contract: it fails when auto-release.yml is absent or drifts from the generator (N11), or when a stray release-please.yml writer lingers (N10). Switch modes by flipping this one release.model value and regenerating workflows with /ci-setup.

Options

Flag	Description
(none)	Full flow: pre-flight → version → changelog → commit → preview → PR
--skip-preview	Skip deploy preview
--dry-run	Show summary + changelog, create nothing
--finalize	Post-merge: tag + GitHub Release

Edge Cases

Scenario	Behavior
Nothing to promote	REFUSE: σ up to date with μ
Open PRs on σ	Warn, list, Q
CI failing	Warn, show failures, Q
Preview fails	Show error, Q
PR already exists	Detect via gh pr list, offer update
--dry-run	Summary only, ¬create PR/commit
¬merged (--finalize)	REFUSE: merge first
Tag exists (--finalize)	REFUSE
Invalid version	REFUSE: ask for valid vX.Y.Z

Safety Rules

1. ¬force-push to μ ∨ σ
2. Promotion PR: ¬auto-merge — user merges after review (merge commit). Changelog PR (Step 6b): --auto --merge via required checks
3. Always show changelog before creating PR
4. Always check CI before promoting
5. Always warn about open PRs on σ
6. ¬push directly to μ — changelog reaches μ via promotion PR

Chain Position

• Phase: Ship
• Predecessor: — (standalone, NOT auto-triggered by /dev)
• Successor: — (manual --finalize follow-up)
• Class: standalone (user explicitly invokes /promote, never chained from a feature pipeline)

Task Integration

• /dev SKIPS this step by default (Step 4 skip logic: promote → skip)
• This skill does NOT participate in dev-pipeline tasks
• Sub-tasks created: none
• When invoked manually: runs without any /dev-owned task lifecycle

Exit

• Success standalone: print PR URL + manual next step (--finalize after merge). Stop.
• Failure: return error to user. No /dev recovery path (standalone).

$ARGUMENTS