create-release

name	create-release
description	Create a new release for ClaudeBar. Use when the user says "create a release", "new release", "cut a release", "ship it", or wants to bump/publish a ClaudeBar version.

Create Release

Create a new GitHub release for ClaudeBar. Publishing the release triggers the CI pipeline that signs, notarizes, and ships the DMG plus the Homebrew cask.

Steps

1. Pull latest: but pull
2. Confirm nothing is unmerged into main — this list of open PRs should be empty:

   gh pr list --repo gordonbeeming/claude-bar --state open
   

3. Determine the next version by checking existing releases:

   gh release list --repo gordonbeeming/claude-bar --limit 5
   

4. Bump the minor version (e.g. v0.2 → v0.3). Never use a patch number in the tag.
5. Create the release:

gh release create v{major}.{minor} \
  --repo gordonbeeming/claude-bar \
  --target main \
  --title "ClaudeBar v{major}.{minor} — {short description}" \
  --fail-on-no-commits \
  --notes "$(cat <<'EOF'
# ClaudeBar v{major}.{minor} — {short description}

## What's New

- {list changes since last release using git log}

## Install

```bash
brew upgrade --cask gordonbeeming/tap/claude-bar
```

Or download the DMG from the assets below.
EOF
)"

Publish it (no --draft) — the pipeline runs on release: published. 6. The release pipeline (.github/workflows/build.yml) automatically:

• Build + test
• Sign with Developer ID
• Notarize + staple with Apple
• Create + sign the DMG
• Upload the DMG asset to the release
• Update the Homebrew tap cask (GordonBeeming/homebrew-tap/Casks/claude-bar.rb)

7. Watch it finish, then report the release URL + run: gh run watch --repo gordonbeeming/claude-bar

Version Format

• Tags: v{major}.{minor} (e.g. v0.3) — NO patch number, and always include the v prefix: the release DMG asset name and the Homebrew cask URL both assume it. The workflow guard only checks that the tag matches major.minor after stripping a leading v, if any — it won't catch a missing v prefix on its own.
• CI sets CFBundleShortVersionString to {major}.{minor} and CFBundleVersion to {major}.{minor}.{runNumber} — a single combined dotted string (make bundle sets CFBundleVersion to $(VERSION).$(BUILD)).
• The tag v0.3 with run number 45 sets CFBundleShortVersionString=0.3 and CFBundleVersion=0.3.45.

Generating Release Notes

LAST_TAG=$(gh release list --repo gordonbeeming/claude-bar --limit 1 --json tagName --jq '.[0].tagName')
git fetch origin main
git log ${LAST_TAG}..origin/main --oneline

With no prior release, use:

git log origin/main --oneline

Run any hand-written notes through the humanizer:humanizer skill (Skill tool) before publishing — it strips AI-writing patterns from release-note prose. It's a globally-installed Claude Code plugin skill, not a file in this repo, so don't look for it under .claude/skills/.

Important

• Never reuse or delete existing release tags.
• Always bump the minor version; never use a .0 patch in tags (v0.3, not v0.3.0).
• Don't use --draft — a draft doesn't fire release: published, so CI won't build.
• The release triggers the full CI pipeline (notarization takes a few minutes) — wait for it to go green before telling anyone to brew upgrade.
• The release event re-runs build-and-test (it's not skipped just because the branch already built on every push), and the signing job only starts once that passes — check both jobs' logs with gh run view --log-failed --repo gordonbeeming/claude-bar. A failure in signing specifically usually means an expired notarization app-password / Developer ID cert in the prod environment, or a bad tag.