/tendril-release

name: tendril-release
description: Updates the used Ivy NuGet packages to the latest stable versions in a branch from development, builds/verifies, merges into development, creates a PR into main, merges it, merges main back to development, and triggers the GitHub Actions release workflow.

Tendril Release Automator

This skill automates the release preparation and deployment process for Ivy Tendril. It manages package updates, local branch integration, GitHub PR generation and merging, branch synchronization, and triggers the final release workflow.

Invocation

/tendril-release

What This Skill Does

1. **Creates a release branch** off `development`. 2. **Updates Ivy NuGet packages** to their latest stable version available on NuGet. 3. **Builds the project** to verify compilation and package compatibility. 4. **Commits and merges** the changes back into `development`. 5. **Increments the patch version** in `Directory.Build.props` (e.g. `1.0.35` -> `1.0.36`). 6. **Creates a Pull Request** from `development` into `main`. 7. **Merges the PR** into `main` (if mergeable). 8. **Synchronizes the branches** by merging `main` back into `development`. 9. **Triggers the GitHub release workflow** (`publish-tendril.yml`) on `main` (or on a test branch like `development` with `test-mode` enabled), publishing NuGet packages and desktop installers.

Prerequisites

• **GitHub CLI** (`gh`) must be installed and authenticated with PR and workflow write access.
• **PowerShell 7** (`pwsh`) must be installed on the system.
• **VSCE_PAT Secret**: Repository secret containing a Personal Access Token with Marketplace (Manage) permissions to publish the VS Code extension to the Visual Studio Code Marketplace.
• **OVSX_PAT Secret** (optional): Repository secret containing an access token to publish the VS Code extension to the Eclipse Open VSX Registry.

---

Step-by-Step Workflow

Phase 1: Create Release Prep Branch

Ensure the workspace is clean and up to date, then check out a temporary package update branch from `development`:

git checkout development
git pull origin development
git checkout -b release/update-packages

Phase 2: Update Ivy packages

Run the PowerShell update script. This script temporarily disables local `IvySource` references to allow NuGet resolution, finds all package references starting with `Ivy` or `Ivy.*` in all project files, runs `dotnet add` to update them to their latest versions, and restores the original settings when finished:

pwsh src/.releases/UpdateIvyPackages.ps1

Phase 3: Verify Build

Verify that the package updates do not break compilation. Run builds with `IvySource` set to `false` to verify NuGet package resolution:

dotnet build src/Ivy.Tendril/Ivy.Tendril.csproj /p:IvySource=false

If the build fails, abort the process and notify the developer. Do not proceed to commit.

Phase 4: Merge to Development and Increment Version

If the build succeeds, commit the changes and merge the branch back into `development`:

git add .
git commit -m "chore: update Ivy NuGet package dependencies to latest stable"
git push origin release/update-packages

# Switch to development and merge
git checkout development
git merge release/update-packages --no-ff -m "Merge branch 'release/update-packages' into development"
git push origin development

# Clean up local and remote release branch
git branch -d release/update-packages
git push origin --delete release/update-packages

# Increment the patch version in Directory.Build.props and commit
pwsh src/.releases/IncrementVersion.ps1
git add src/Directory.Build.props
git commit -m "chore: bump patch version for release"
git push origin development

Phase 5: Create and Merge PR into Main

Generate a Pull Request to merge the updated `development` branch into `main`:

gh pr create --base main --head development --title "Release: Merge development into main" --body "Automated release PR created by Tendril Release Skill."

Once the PR is created, wait for or trigger the merge:

• **If checks are required or you want to queue it**:

  gh pr merge --merge --auto

• **If you can merge immediately**:

  gh pr merge --merge

Phase 6: Sync Main Back into Development

Keep the branches in sync by merging `main` back into `development` after the PR is merged:

git checkout main
git pull origin main
git checkout development
git merge main --no-ff -m "Merge branch 'main' into development to sync"
git push origin development

Phase 7: Trigger Release Workflow

Trigger the release Action workflow (`publish-tendril.yml`) on `main`:

gh workflow run publish-tendril.yml --ref main

The release workflow executes the following pipeline jobs:

• `version`: Resolves the release version from git tags or `src/Directory.Build.props`.
• `publish-nuget`: Packs, signs, and pushes NuGet packages to nuget.org.
• `publish-desktop`: Builds and packages native desktop installers (Windows, macOS, Linux).
• `upload-release-assets`: Downloads desktop installers and publishes them to the GitHub release.

Test Mode Deployment

To run a test deployment dry run (which compiles, packages, and uploads unsigned NuGet and desktop installer artifacts to the workflow run, while skipping all signing, notarization, NuGet push, GitHub release creation, Docker image push, and Azure production docs deployment), trigger the workflow with `test-mode` set to `true` (this can be run on `development` or `main`):

gh workflow run publish-tendril.yml --ref development -f test-mode=true

In test mode (`test-mode=true`):

• It performs a side-effect-free release dry run.
• It compiles, packages, and uploads unsigned NuGet and desktop installer artifacts to the workflow run.
• It completely skips all signing (SSL.com NuGet and Windows signing, Apple codesign and productsign), Apple notarization, NuGet push, GitHub release creation, D