release

name	release
description	Create a new tagged release of dexter, including GitHub release, Homebrew formula, and Scoop manifest.

Release Skill for Dexter

This skill guides the process of creating a new release of dexter.

Prerequisites

• The workspace must be on the main branch with a clean working tree
• All changes for the release should already be merged to main
• The CHANGES.md file should be up to date with the release notes for this version
• Tools required: git, gh (GitHub CLI), bb (Babashka), java, tailwindcss

Version and Tag Convention

Tags follow the pattern: 0.1-alpha-1, 0.1-alpha-2, ..., 0.1, 0.2, 1.0, etc.

Previous tags can be listed with git tag --list.

The next tag should be determined by asking the user, showing them the previous tags for context.

Release Steps

1. Verify prerequisites

git -C /Users/howard.lewisship/workspaces/hlship/dexter status
git -C /Users/howard.lewisship/workspaces/hlship/dexter branch --show-current
git -C /Users/howard.lewisship/workspaces/hlship/dexter tag --list

Confirm:

• On main branch
• Clean working tree (no uncommitted changes)
• Up to date with origin/main

2. Update CHANGES.md

Read CHANGES.md and ensure the top section has the correct version and is not still marked UNRELEASED. Ask the user to confirm the release notes are complete. If the version heading needs updating, edit it.

3. Commit the CHANGES.md update

If CHANGES.md was modified, commit it to main and push before tagging. The tag must point to a commit that includes the final release notes.

git -C /Users/howard.lewisship/workspaces/hlship/dexter add CHANGES.md
git -C /Users/howard.lewisship/workspaces/hlship/dexter commit -m "Update CHANGES.md for <tag>"
git -C /Users/howard.lewisship/workspaces/hlship/dexter push origin main

4. Create and push the tag

Ask the user to confirm the tag name. Then:

git -C /Users/howard.lewisship/workspaces/hlship/dexter tag -a <tag> -m "Release <tag>"
git -C /Users/howard.lewisship/workspaces/hlship/dexter push origin <tag>

5. Run the release task

bb release

This will:

• Build CSS with tailwindcss
• Build the uberjar
• Render the dexter (bash) and dexter.cmd (Windows) launcher scripts
• Package everything into a zip: out/dexter-<tag>.zip
• Create a GitHub release and upload the zip
• Render the Homebrew formula to out/build/dexter.rb
• Render the Scoop manifest to out/build/dexter.json

Important: The bb release command uses git describe --tags --abbrev=0 to determine the current tag, so the tag must be created and pushed before running the release.

6. Update Homebrew tap

The rendered formula is at out/build/dexter.rb. It needs to be copied to the hlship/homebrew-brew Homebrew tap repository.

Ask the user where their local clone of hlship/homebrew-brew is (likely at /Users/howard.lewisship/workspaces/hlship/homebrew-brew), then:

cp out/build/dexter.rb <brew-repo>/Formula/dexter.rb

Commit and push the updated formula in that repo.

7. Update Scoop bucket

The rendered manifest is at out/build/dexter.json. It needs to be copied to the hlship/scoop-bucket repository.

The local clone is likely at /Users/howard.lewisship/workspaces/hlship/scoop-bucket.

cp out/build/dexter.json <scoop-bucket-repo>/dexter.json

Commit and push the updated manifest in that repo.

8. Post-release

After the release:

• Add a new # <next-version> -- UNRELEASED section at the top of CHANGES.md
• Commit and push to main
• Confirm the GitHub release page looks correct: https://github.com/hlship/dexter/releases/tag/<tag>