team-release

name	team-release
description	Orchestrate the release team: coordinates release-manager, qa-lead, devops-engineer, and producer to execute a release from candidate to deployment.

Argument check: If no version number is provided:

1. Read production/session-state/active.md and the most recent file in production/milestones/ (if they exist) to infer the target version.
2. If a version is found: report "No version argument provided — inferred [version] from milestone data. Proceeding." Then confirm with a concise plain-text choice list: "Releasing [version]. Is this correct?"
3. If no version is discoverable: ask the user directly "What version number should be released? (e.g., v1.0.0)" and wait for user input before proceeding. Do NOT default to a hardcoded version string.

When this skill is invoked, orchestrate the release team through a structured pipeline.

Decision Points: At each phase transition, present a concise plain-text choice list to the user with the subagent's proposals as selectable options. Write the agent's full analysis in conversation, then capture the decision with concise labels. The user must approve before moving to the next phase.

Team Composition

• release-manager — Release branch, versioning, changelog, deployment
• steam-publishing-manager — Steamworks-specific app/package/depot, review, variant, pricing, and launch-readiness coordination (invoke if Steam is a target storefront)
• qa-lead — Test sign-off, regression suite, release quality gate
• devops-engineer — Build pipeline, artifacts, deployment automation
• security-engineer — Pre-release security audit (invoke if game has online/multiplayer features or player data)
• analytics-engineer — Verify telemetry events fire correctly and dashboards are live
• community-manager — Patch notes, launch announcement, player-facing messaging
• producer — Go/no-go decision, stakeholder communication, scheduling

How to Delegate

Use the subagent workflow to spawn each team member as a subagent:

• custom agent: release-manager — Release branch, versioning, changelog, deployment
• custom agent: steam-publishing-manager — Steamworks planning, review readiness, variants, pricing, launch operations
• custom agent: qa-lead — Test sign-off, regression suite, release quality gate
• custom agent: devops-engineer — Build pipeline, artifacts, deployment automation
• custom agent: security-engineer — Security audit for online/multiplayer/data features
• custom agent: analytics-engineer — Telemetry event verification and dashboard readiness
• custom agent: community-manager — Patch notes and launch communication
• custom agent: producer — Go/no-go decision, stakeholder communication
• custom agent: network-programmer — Netcode stability sign-off (invoke if game has multiplayer)

Always provide full context in each agent's prompt (version number, milestone status, known issues). Launch independent agents in parallel where the pipeline allows it (e.g., Phase 3 agents can run simultaneously).

Pipeline

Phase 1: Release Planning

Delegate to producer:

• Confirm all milestone acceptance criteria are met
• Identify any scope items deferred from this release
• Set the target release date and communicate to team
• Output: release authorization with scope confirmation

Phase 2: Release Candidate

Delegate to release-manager:

• Cut release branch from the agreed commit
• Bump version numbers in all relevant files
• Generate the release checklist using $release-checklist
• Freeze the branch — no feature changes, bug fixes only
• Output: release branch name and checklist

If Steam is a target storefront, also delegate to steam-publishing-manager:

• Generate or refresh the base Steam plan using $steam-publish-plan
• Confirm whether $steam-coming-soon, $steam-store-assets, $steam-review-ready, $steam-demo, $steam-playtest, $steam-early-access, $steam-dlc, $steam-soundtrack, $steam-bundles-pricing, $steam-launch-ops, or $steam-deck-ready are needed for this release
• Output: Steam-specific release risks and missing artifacts

Phase 3: Quality Gate (parallel)

Delegate in parallel:

• qa-lead: Execute full regression test suite. Test all critical paths. Verify no S1/S2 bugs. Sign off on quality.
• devops-engineer: Build release artifacts for all target platforms. Verify builds are clean and reproducible. Run automated tests in CI.
• security-engineer (if game has online features, multiplayer, or player data): Conduct pre-release security audit. Review authentication, anti-cheat, data privacy compliance. Sign off on security posture.
• network-programmer (if game has multiplayer): Sign off on netcode stability. Verify lag compensation, reconnect handling, and bandwidth usage under load.

Phase 4: Localization, Performance, and Analytics

Delegate (can run in parallel with Phase 3 if resources available):

• Verify all strings are translated (delegate to localization-lead if available)
• Run performance benchmarks against targets (delegate to performance-analyst if available)
• analytics-engineer: Verify all telemetry events fire correctly on release build. Confirm dashboards are receiving data. Check that critical funnels (onboarding, progression, monetization if applicable) are instrumented.
• Output: localization, performance, and analytics sign-off

Phase 5: Go/No-Go

Delegate to producer:

• Collect sign-off from: qa-lead, release-manager, devops-engineer, security-engineer (if spawned in Phase 3), network-programmer (if spawned in Phase 3), and technical-director
• Evaluate any open issues — are they blocking or can they ship?
• Make the go/no-go call
• Output: release decision with rationale

If producer declares NO-GO:

• Surface the decision immediately: "PRODUCER: NO-GO — [rationale, e.g., S1 bug found in Phase 3]."
• Ask the user directly in plain text with options:
  • Fix the blocker and re-run the affected phase
  • Defer the release to a later date
  • Override NO-GO with documented rationale (user must provide written justification)
• Skip Phase 6 entirely — do not tag, deploy to staging, deploy to production, or spawn community-manager.
• Produce a partial report summarizing Phases 1–5 and what was skipped (Phase 6) and why.
• Verdict: BLOCKED — release not deployed.

Phase 6: Deployment (if GO)

Delegate to release-manager + devops-engineer:

• Tag the release in version control
• Generate changelog using $changelog
• Deploy to staging for final smoke test
• Deploy to production
• Monitor for 48 hours post-release

If Steam is a target storefront, delegate to steam-publishing-manager in parallel:

• Confirm store page, pricing, packages, depots, and release toggles match the approved plan
• Verify Steam-specific launch operations and monitoring are ready
• Output: final Steam storefront readiness note

Delegate to community-manager (in parallel with deployment):

• Finalize patch notes using $patch-notes [version]
• Prepare launch announcement (store page updates, social media, community post)
• Draft known issues post if any S3+ issues shipped
• Output: all player-facing release communication, ready to publish on deploy confirmation

Phase 7: Post-Release

• release-manager: Generate release report (what shipped, what was deferred, metrics)
• producer: Update milestone tracking, communicate to stakeholders
• qa-lead: Monitor incoming bug reports for regressions
• community-manager: Publish all player-facing communication, monitor community sentiment
• analytics-engineer: Confirm live dashboards are healthy; alert if any critical events are missing
• Schedule post-release retrospective if issues occurred

Error Recovery Protocol

If any spawned agent (as a subagent) returns BLOCKED, errors, or cannot complete:

1. Surface immediately: Report "[AgentName]: BLOCKED — [reason]" to the user before continuing to dependent phases
2. Assess dependencies: Check whether the blocked agent's output is required by subsequent phases. If yes, do not proceed past that dependency point without user input.
3. Offer options via a concise plain-text choice list with choices:
   • Skip this agent and note the gap in the final report
   • Retry with narrower scope
   • Stop here and resolve the blocker first
4. Always produce a partial report — output whatever was completed. Never discard work because one agent blocked.

Common blockers:

• Input file missing (story not found, GDD absent) → redirect to the skill that creates it
• ADR status is Proposed → do not implement; run $architecture-decision first
• Scope too large → split into two stories via $create-stories
• Conflicting instructions between ADR and story → surface the conflict, do not guess

File Write Protocol

All file writes (release checklists, changelogs, patch notes, deployment scripts) are delegated to sub-agents and sub-skills. Each enforces the "May I write to [path]?" protocol. This orchestrator does not write files directly.

Output

A summary report covering: release version, scope, quality gate results, go/no-go decision, deployment status, and monitoring plan.

Verdict: COMPLETE — release executed and deployed. Verdict: BLOCKED — release halted; go/no-go was NO or a hard blocker is unresolved.

Next Steps

• Monitor post-release dashboards for 48 hours.
• Run $retrospective if significant issues occurred during the release.
• Update production/stage.txt to Live after successful deployment.