/github-release

name: github-release
description: "Prepare and publish GitHub releases. Sanitizes code for public release (secrets scan, personal artifacts, LICENSE/README validation), creates version tags, and publishes via gh CLI. Trigger with 'release', 'publish', 'open source', 'prepare for release', 'create release', or 'github release'."
compatibility: claude-code-only

GitHub Release

Sanitize and release projects to GitHub. Two-phase workflow: safety checks first, then tag and publish.

Prerequisites

• `gh` CLI installed and authenticated (`gh auth status`)
• `gitleaks` installed for secrets scanning (`brew install gitleaks` or download from GitHub)
• Git repository with a remote configured

Workflow

Phase 1: Sanitize

Run these checks before any public release. Stop on blockers.

1. Scan for Secrets (BLOCKER)

gitleaks detect --no-git --source=. --verbose

If secrets found: **STOP**. Remove secrets, move to environment variables. Check git history with `git log -S "secret_value"` — if in history, use BFG Repo-Cleaner.

If gitleaks not installed, do manual checks:

# Check for .env files
find . -name ".env*" -not -path "*/node_modules/*"

# Check config files for hardcoded secrets
grep -ri "api_key\|token\|secret\|password" wrangler.toml wrangler.jsonc .dev.vars 2>/dev/null

2. Remove Personal Artifacts

Check for and remove session/planning files that shouldn't be published:

• `SESSION.md` — session state
• `planning/`, `screenshots/` — working directories
• `test-*.ts`, `test-*.js` — local test files

Either delete them or add to `.gitignore`.

3. Validate LICENSE

ls LICENSE LICENSE.md LICENSE.txt 2>/dev/null

If missing: create one. Check the repo visibility (`gh repo view --json visibility -q '.visibility'`). Use MIT for public repos. For private repos, consider a proprietary license instead.

4. Validate README

Check README exists and has basic sections:

grep -i "## Install\|## Usage\|## License" README.md

If missing sections, add them before release.

5. Check .gitignore

Verify essential patterns are present:

grep -E "node_modules|\.env|dist/|\.dev\.vars" .gitignore

6. Build Test (non-blocking)

npm run build 2>&1

7. Dependency Audit (non-blocking)

npm audit --audit-level=high

8. Create Sanitization Commit

If any changes were made during sanitization:

git add -A
git commit -m "chore: prepare for release"

Phase 2: Release

1. Determine Version

Check `package.json` for current version, or ask the user. Ensure version starts with `v` prefix.

2. Check Tag Doesn't Exist

git tag -l "v[version]"

If it exists, ask user whether to delete and recreate or use a different version.

3. Show What's Being Released

LAST_TAG=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || echo "")
if [ -z "$LAST_TAG" ]; then
  git log --oneline --no-merges HEAD | head -20
else
  git log --oneline --no-merges ${LAST_TAG}..HEAD
fi

4. Create Tag and Push

git tag -a v[version] -m "Release v[version]"
git push origin $(git branch --show-current)
git push origin --tags

5. Create GitHub Release

gh release create v[version] \
  --title "Release v[version]" \
  --notes "[auto-generated from commits]"

For pre-releases add `--prerelease`. For drafts add `--draft`.

6. Report

Show the user:

• Release URL
• Next steps (npm publish if applicable, announcements)

Reference Files

| When | Read | |------|------| | Detailed safety checks | [references/safety-checklist.md](references/safety-checklist.md) | | Release mechanics | [references/release-workflow.md](references/release-workflow.md) |