/ca-release

name: ca-release
description: Cut a release the only sanctioned way — SemVer bump from the commit log, a CHANGELOG section, an annotated tag. Takes the declared target's name as its only argument. The only path to a version tag.
argument-hint: "[target]"

$ca-release — tagged release

The only permitted path to a version tag. A release is a deployment-readiness assertion: the codebase at this SHA satisfies the bar for shipping. `$ca-release` aggregates existing compliance — it does not duplicate it.

Flow

Routes to the `release` skill, which resolves everything about the release from the project's **declared target file**, `<project-root>/.codearbiter/release-targets.md` — the tag prefix, the manifests, the changelog, the payload scope, and the optional checks. Nothing about any target is written here.

`$ca-release` takes the target's name as its only argument. When the declared file names exactly one target, a bare `$ca-release` uses it; when it names more, the argument is required and the skill STOPs rather than guessing. A project with no declared file at all enters the skill's own back-fill lane, which proposes a row and writes nothing without explicit confirmation.

1. **Pre-flight** — declared row resolved, working tree clean, not on the default branch, suite green, no blocking `[CONFIRM-NN]` open. Resolve `LAST_TAG` within that target's own tag series and scope the commit window to the row's declared payload, so a sibling target's commit never bumps this one or lands in its changelog. 2. **Version** — classify the window by Conventional Commits type and apply the highest-precedence bump, against a base that accounts for both the last tag and every declared manifest. Every bumping commit must carry a `CHANGELOG:` footer; a missing one BLOCKs and is never auto-filled. 3. **Surfaces** — roll the section into the declared changelog, update every declared manifest, and run the row's declared `pre-tag` checks. Those checks are check-only: one that mutates the tree BLOCKs. 4. **Tag** — commit the release edits, then compose the annotated tag. Never push it or publish a Release without explicit user authorization — publication is a separate decision.

Arguments

• **`[target]`** — the name of a row in the declared target file (e.g. the name in `[ca]`). Optional only when exactly one target is declared. An unrecognised name STOPs; it is never resolved to a guess.

There are no version, `--auto`, or `--dry-run` arguments. The version is always derived from the commit log and the declared manifests — supplying one by hand is the thing this lane exists to prevent.

Routes to

`release` (`${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/routines/release/SKILL.md`), which is authoritative for the phase contents and gates summarized above.

When NOT to use

• Tagging an in-progress branch → land work first via `$ca-feature` / `$ca-fix`.
• Pushing an already-composed tag → that is a separate user-authorized step.
• A changelog only → it is a phase output, not a standalone deliverable.
• Creating a declared target file ahead of a release → that is `context-creation`'s job, or the skill's back-fill lane at release time.

Hard gate

MUST NOT compose a tag on a red suite. MUST NOT guess the version — it is derived from the commit log and the declared manifests. MUST NOT auto-fill a missing `CHANGELOG:` footer. MUST NOT resolve an unrecognised or ambiguous target to a guess. MUST NOT write to the default branch or force-push. MUST NOT push the tag or publish a Release without explicit user authorization. Any BLOCK may be bypassed only via `$ca-override`.