release-kaze

name	release-kaze
description	Release the Kaze macOS app to GitHub using the kaze-release CLI tool. Use this skill whenever the user wants to publish a new version, create a release, ship an update, push a release to GitHub, or update the appcast. Also use when they mention DMG creation, Sparkle signing, or anything related to distributing a new Kaze version.

Release Kaze

This skill handles releasing new versions of Kaze to GitHub using a custom Go CLI tool.

Prerequisites

Before releasing, the user must have:

1. Exported Kaze.app to ~/Downloads/Kaze.app from Xcode (Archive > Export)
2. Bumped version numbers in Xcode (MARKETING_VERSION and CURRENT_PROJECT_VERSION)
3. The following tools installed: create-dmg (brew), gh (GitHub CLI), git
4. The Sparkle sign_update binary available in DerivedData (built automatically when the project is built in Xcode)

The Release CLI

The release tool is a compiled Go binary located at:

/Users/fayazahmed/Developer/fayazara/mac/kaze-release/kaze-release

Source code is at /Users/fayazahmed/Developer/fayazara/mac/kaze-release/main.go.

What it does (in order)

1. Preflight checks -- verifies create-dmg, gh, git, and Sparkle's sign_update are available
2. Validates Kaze.app -- reads version and build number from ~/Downloads/Kaze.app/Contents/Info.plist, checks for Sparkle keys
3. Collects release notes -- prompts for bullet points (one per line, empty line to finish)
4. Creates DMG -- uses create-dmg to package ~/Downloads/Kaze.app into ~/Downloads/Kaze.dmg
5. Signs DMG -- runs Sparkle's sign_update to generate an EdDSA signature
6. Updates appcast.xml -- parses the existing appcast in the Kaze repo, prepends a new <item> entry with version info, signature, and download URL, then writes it back
7. Git push -- commits and pushes the updated appcast.xml to main
8. Creates GitHub release -- uses gh release create to create a tagged release with the DMG attached

Running it

The tool is interactive (prompts for release notes and confirmation), so it needs to be run in a terminal the user can interact with. You cannot run it directly via a non-interactive shell.

Instead, guide the user to run:

/Users/fayazahmed/Developer/fayazara/mac/kaze-release/kaze-release

Or if the binary needs to be rebuilt first:

cd /Users/fayazahmed/Developer/fayazara/mac/kaze-release && go build -o kaze-release . && ./kaze-release

Environment

• The tool auto-detects the Kaze repo at ~/Developer/fayazara/mac/Kaze. Override with KAZE_REPO env var.
• GitHub repo target: fayazara/Kaze
• Git branch: main
• DMG volume name: Kaze

Workflow Guide

When the user wants to release, walk them through this checklist:

1. Confirm they've bumped the version in Xcode
2. Confirm they've archived and exported Kaze.app to ~/Downloads/
3. Have them run the release CLI
4. After it completes, verify the GitHub release was created successfully

If something goes wrong mid-release (e.g., signing fails, git push fails), help debug using the error output from the CLI. Common issues:

• Kaze.app not found -- they need to export from Xcode first
• sign_update not found -- they need to build the project in Xcode so DerivedData has the Sparkle artifacts
• gh auth -- they may need to run gh auth login first
• Build already in appcast -- they may have forgotten to bump the build number