Release

Release Skill for brain-jar Plugins

Automates the full release cycle for a brain-jar plugin:

1. Build and typecheck
2. Bump version using semver
3. Update all version references
4. Commit with standard message
5. Push to remote

Usage

/release shared-memory patch "fix dependency issue"
/release shared-memory minor "add new feature"
/release perplexity-search major "breaking API change"

Procedure

1. Parse Arguments

Extract from the user's command:

• plugin: The plugin name (e.g., shared-memory, perplexity-search)
• bump: Version bump type (patch, minor, or major)
• message: Optional commit message description

2. Validate Plugin Exists

Check that plugins/<plugin>/package.json exists. If not, error out.

3. Build and Typecheck

cd plugins/<plugin>
npm run build
npm run typecheck

If either fails, stop and report the error.

4. Calculate New Version

Read current version from plugins/<plugin>/package.json.

Apply semver bump:

• patch: 1.2.3 -> 1.2.4
• minor: 1.2.3 -> 1.3.0
• major: 1.2.3 -> 2.0.0

5. Update All Version References

Update these files with the new version (same commit):

1. plugins/<plugin>/package.json - "version": "X.Y.Z"
2. plugins/<plugin>/.claude-plugin/plugin.json - "version": "X.Y.Z"
3. plugins/<plugin>/src/index.ts - version: 'X.Y.Z' in McpServer config
4. .claude-plugin/marketplace.json - version for this plugin
5. README.md - version in plugins table AND highlights section (see below)

5a. README Highlights Section

Check if a highlights section exists for this plugin:

• Look for ### <plugin> highlights (vX.Y.Z) in README.md

If section exists: Update the version in the heading.

If section doesn't exist: Create one after the plugins table:

### <plugin> highlights (vX.Y.Z)

- **<feature from message>** - <brief description based on commit message>

For subsequent releases, add new bullet points to the existing section describing what changed (based on the commit message provided).

The highlights section should be concise - 3-5 bullet points max covering the most important features/fixes.

6. Rebuild and Bundle After Version Update

cd plugins/<plugin>
npm run build

Then from the repo root, rebuild all bundles:

cd /path/to/brain-jar
npm run bundle

This ensures both dist/index.js and dist/bundle.js have the updated code. The bundle is what marketplace installs actually load.

7. Stage and Commit

git add -A
git commit -m "<type>(<plugin>): <message>

<longer description if needed>

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>"

Commit type based on bump:

• patch -> fix
• minor -> feat
• major -> feat! (breaking)

8. Push

git push

9. Report Success

Output:

• Old version -> New version
• Files updated
• Commit hash
• Remote push status

Example Output

Released shared-memory v1.3.2 -> v1.4.0

Updated files:
  - plugins/shared-memory/package.json
  - plugins/shared-memory/.claude-plugin/plugin.json
  - plugins/shared-memory/src/index.ts
  - .claude-plugin/marketplace.json
  - README.md

Commit: abc123f
Pushed to origin/main