dev-process

name	dev-process
description	The house development methodology for ReactiveUI projects (Godot + Unity + analyzer) — research→develop→test→bughunt→fix→commit→repeat, production-grade only, plus the changelog and version-bump rules every change must follow.

Development process & methodology

The loop

research → develop → test → bughunt → fix → commit → repeat.

• Research first: read the actual code and docs, reproduce the problem, name the root cause. No fix ships on a theory that hasn't been observed.
• Production-grade, long-term solutions only. Never a patch, never a bandaid. If the correct fix is deeper (shared infrastructure, an emitter, a contract), fix it there — special-casing on top of shared machinery is the smell that the fix is at the wrong altitude.
• Test before handing over: run the affected suites AND the boot/e2e path (unit suites don't execute editor _enter_tree; CLIs and generators have their own smoke tests). A change isn't done until the checks that would catch its regression exist.
• Never weaken a lint, test, or CI gate to get green. If a gate fails, the code is wrong.
• Campaigns run 1 branch, 1 PR: feature → dev (PR, title = squash title), then master is a fast-forward of dev (git push origin origin/dev:master) — master is release-only.
• Git authorship belongs to the user: no Co-Authored-By, no commits/pushes beyond what the task established.

Changelogs — every artifact you touched gets one, before release

Artifact	Changelog	How
RG runtime addon (addons/reactive_ui)	addons/reactive_ui/CHANGELOG.md	Hand-write; it must stay a byte-identical mirror of root CHANGELOG.md (a test enforces it)
RG editor addon (addons/reactive_ui_editor)	ide-extensions/changelog.json (single source, since 0.6.3)	changelog.mjs add --scope editor --editor X.Y.Z --message-file … then extract --ide editor --out addons/reactive_ui_editor/CHANGELOG.md and commit both — pre-0.6.3 history is a frozen verbatim tail below the cutover marker
VS Code + VS2022 extensions	ide-extensions/changelog.json (single source)	changelog.mjs add --scope <shared|vscode|vs2022> --vscode X.Y.Z --vs2022 X.Y.Z --message-file … then extract each target and commit the regenerated files with the json — the changelog-sync CI job (changelog.mjs verify) fails on drift; never hand-edit a generated CHANGELOG.md/overview.md
gdscript-analyzer crates	per-crate crates/*/CHANGELOG.md	release-plz/git-cliff generates from Conventional Commit PR titles — the squash title IS the changelog line
Unity ReactiveUIToolKit	root CHANGELOG.md (+ per-extension under ide-extensions~)	scripts/changelog.mjs-assisted, same single-source idea
Community	plans/DISCORD_CHANGELOG.md	Notable releases get a Discord-formatted entry at the top (≤2000 chars)

Version bumps — where versions live

• Policy: patch by default (bump the last digit). Minor only for genuinely additive milestones, major/0.x-minor only for breaking. On 0.x, feat = patch (analyzer repo enforces this via release-plz config).
• Bump locations per artifact: RG runtime → addons/reactive_ui/plugin.cfg; RG editor → addons/reactive_ui_editor/plugin.cfg; VS Code ext → ide-extensions/vscode/package.json; VS2022 ext → GuitkxVsix/source.extension.vsixmanifest (keep it tracking the bundled lsp-server version); lsp-server → ide-extensions/lsp-server/package.json; analyzer → workspace Cargo.toml (release-plz PR does it); Unity package → package.json.
• Release mechanics: RG publishes via the Publish button (publish.yml, workflow_dispatch; every job is idempotent — skips when its v*/editor-v*/vscode-v*/ vs2022-v* tag exists). Analyzer publishes via release-plz Release PR → single v<ver> tag → napi/wasm/dist/gdext workflows (dep-only or bindings-only changes need a hand-rolled release PR — release-plz only sees crates/**). Store listings: classic AL auto-posts via the assetlib jobs (armed by ASSETLIB_ASSET_ID / ASSETLIB_EDITOR_ASSET_ID repo variables); the new Asset Store is a manual version-add until it has an API.

Definition of done for any change

1. Root cause named; fix at the right altitude.
2. Tests/suites green, including the e2e/boot path; new regression coverage where feasible.
3. Changelog entry in every touched artifact + version bump staged.
4. Docs updated when behavior/UX changed (README(s), docs site, store descriptions if user-facing).
5. Committed on a feature branch with a clear message; PR into dev; user merges; master fast-forwarded.