Flux Controller Minor Releases

Flux Controller Minor Releases

Use this skill for upstream Flux controller minor releases (vX.Y.0) only — the release that opens a new release/vX.Y.x series. Do not use it for flux2, pkg, or other non-controller repos.

Supported controllers:

• helm-controller
• image-automation-controller
• image-reflector-controller
• kustomize-controller
• notification-controller
• source-controller
• source-watcher

Important rules

• Strictly follow the documented git commands, one step at a time. Each step below has a reason. Do not invent substitutions, batch unrelated commands into one shell invocation, or insert extra verification commands between documented steps unless asked. Adapt only the version numbers.
• Never block the conversation on long-running operations. CI checks, the tag-triggered release workflow, and approval waits must be watched in the background (run_in_background) so the user can keep steering and you get notified on completion. A foreground watch blocks the session.
• Always quote PR/issue links as full URLs (e.g. https://github.com/fluxcd/source-controller/pull/2082), never the <owner>/<repo>#<number> shorthand — full URLs are clickable from the user's terminal.
• Start background watches on every PR immediately after opening it. Kick off gh pr checks <num> -R fluxcd/<repo> --watch in the background as soon as the PR is created, and the same for tag-triggered release workflows (gh run watch <id> -R fluxcd/<repo>).
• Also start a background approval watch per PR. gh pr checks --watch only covers CI, not maintainer approval. Poll the review state in the background:

  while :; do
    state=$(gh pr view <num> -R fluxcd/<repo> --json mergeStateStatus,reviewDecision --jq '.reviewDecision+" "+.mergeStateStatus')
    case "$state" in "APPROVED CLEAN") echo "$state"; break;; esac
    sleep 30
  done
  

• Every git commit must use -s (sign-off). Never include Co-Authored-By lines, your own name, or any AI attribution in commit messages, PR titles, or PR descriptions. This applies to the skill-update PR too.
• Always wait for CI to go green before merging any PR.
• You cannot approve your own PRs. If a PR was opened by the git user driving the session, ask a maintainer to approve it (or confirm it is already approved) before merging.
• Merge release PRs yourself as soon as CI is green and a maintainer has approved — act immediately so the next step (tag push, merge to main, label PR) unblocks. Applies only to PRs opened with the user's account this session.
• Review feedback on the release PR is applied by amending, not by adding new commits. The release PR must stay at exactly two commits (Add changelog entry for vX.Y.0 and Release vX.Y.0). Use git reset --soft HEAD~2 + re-commit, or an interactive rebase, then git push --force-with-lease.
• After applying a review fix, reply Fixed, thanks! on the thread and resolve it. Reply via gh api repos/<owner>/<repo>/pulls/<n>/comments/<cid>/replies -f body='Fixed, thanks!' and resolve via the GraphQL resolveReviewThread mutation.
• Tags must be annotated and signed (git tag -s -m ...). Never create release tags through the GitHub API — that produces lightweight tags which break git tag -v verification.
• PR titles and bodies. Release-prep and label PRs use the commit subject as the title. The release→main PR uses the GitHub-default humanized branch name Release/vX.Y.x. Every PR body is a single line pointing at the flux2 minor release tracking issue: Part of: https://github.com/fluxcd/flux2/issues/NNNN.
• Do not declare the release done until every step below has run, including the final backport label PR (step 11). Tagging and merging to main are not the last step. Walk the numbered steps and confirm each one ran before reporting completion.

Preconditions

• Read the upstream procedure at website/content/en/flux/releases/procedure.md, section Controllers: minor releases (https://fluxcd.io/flux/releases/procedure/#controllers-minor-releases).
• Identify the flux2 minor-release tracking issue so PR bodies can reference it (Part of: https://github.com/fluxcd/flux2/issues/NNNN).
• Use date to get the release date for the changelog entry.
• git fetch --all --tags --prune before reasoning about branches, tags, or merged PRs. Do not trust stale local origin/* refs.
• Treat git and gh commands as confirmation points if the user wants that.

Release Flow

For the controller being released (target version vX.Y.0):

1. Create the release series branch from main and push it.

   • git switch -c release/vX.Y.x main
   • git push origin release/vX.Y.x

2. Create the release preparation branch from the series branch.

   • git switch -c release-vX.Y.0 release/vX.Y.x

3. Draft the new CHANGELOG.md entry (see "How To Build The Changelog Entry"). Then commit it.

   • git add CHANGELOG.md
   • git commit -s -m "Add changelog entry for vX.Y.0"

4. Apply the release version bump exactly as documented.

   • Update the controller self-API version in the root go.mod to vX.Y.0. Inspect the actual go.mod; do not assume the self-API path form (source-watcher uses github.com/fluxcd/source-watcher/api/v2).
   • Update config/manager/kustomization.yaml newTag to vX.Y.0.
   • git add go.mod config/manager/kustomization.yaml
   • git commit -s -m "Release vX.Y.0"

5. Push the release preparation branch.

   • git push origin release-vX.Y.0

6. Open and merge the release PR into the release series branch.

   • Base: release/vX.Y.x Head: release-vX.Y.0
   • Title Release vX.Y.0, body Part of: <tracking issue URL>.
   • Merge when CI is green and a maintainer has approved.

7. Refresh the release series branch after the merge.

   • git switch release/vX.Y.x
   • git pull origin release/vX.Y.x
   • Confirm both version refs are vX.Y.0 on the merged commit before tagging.

8. Create and push signed tags from the updated release series branch. Push the api/ tag first — the release tag depends on it.

   • git tag -s -m "api/vX.Y.0" api/vX.Y.0
   • git push origin api/vX.Y.0
   • git tag -s -m "vX.Y.0" vX.Y.0
   • git push origin vX.Y.0

9. Verify the release workflow triggered by the vX.Y.0 tag. Watch it in the background until it concludes successfully (images published + signed, SBOM, SLSA provenance, GitHub release created).

10. Merge the release series branch into main via PR. This merges the whole branch (changelog + version bump), not a cherry-pick.

    • Base: main Head: release/vX.Y.x
    • Leave the title at the GitHub default — the humanized branch name Release/vX.Y.x. Body Part of: <tracking issue URL>.
    • Merge when CI is green and approved.

11. Last: open the backport label PR against main. Do this only after step 10 has merged.

    • git switch main
    • git pull origin main
    • git switch -c label-X.Y main
    • Append to .github/labels.yaml, after the previous backport: entry:

      - name: backport:release/vX.Y.x
        description: To be backported to release/vX.Y.x
        color: '#ffd700'
      

    • git add .github/labels.yaml
    • git commit -s -m "Add backport:release/vX.Y.x label"
    • git push origin label-X.Y
    • Open PR (base main, title Add backport:release/vX.Y.x label, body Part of: <tracking issue URL>) and merge when green.
    • Why last: the label branch is cut from main. If you open it before step 10 merges, that merge moves main forward and the label PR must then be rebased onto the new main and force-pushed (git rebase main + git push --force-with-lease). Opening it last avoids the rebase entirely.

How To Build The Changelog Entry

A minor changelog entry summarizes what is new in vX.Y.0 relative to the whole vX.(Y-1) line — not every commit since the previous minor. The hard part is selecting exactly the right PRs.

Selecting the PRs (do this rigorously — do not infer from commit messages)

1. Establish the candidate set: PRs merged to main since the previous minor (v(X).(Y-1).0).
   • From merge commits: git log --merges --grep="Merge pull request" v(X).(Y-1).0..release/vX.Y.x and extract the #NNNN.
   • Cross-check against gh so squash/rebase merges are not missed: gh pr list --base main --state merged --limit 200 --json number,mergedAt,title filtered to merges after the previous minor's release timestamp.
2. Verify every candidate PR via gh pr view <n> -R fluxcd/<repo> --json number,baseRefName,state,mergedAt,title. Keep only PRs that are MERGED and have baseRefName == main. Use the PR title from GitHub, never the local merge-commit subject (these drift; e.g. a commit may say one thing while the PR title says another).
3. Exclude PRs already shipped in a patch release of the previous minor (anything > v(X).(Y-1).0 and < vX.Y.0). Read the ## (X).(Y-1).Z patch sections already in CHANGELOG.md and drop any candidate whose change shipped there. Note the patch changelogs cite the cherry-pick PR numbers (against release/v(X).(Y-1).x), which differ from the original main PR numbers — match by change, not by number.
4. Exclude release mechanics PRs: changelog cherry-pick/"Add changelog entry" PRs, the previous release's Release/v(X).(Y-1).x merge-back, and label PRs.
5. Collapse routine dependency bumps (fluxcd/pkg, CI actions, k8s/Go bumps whose content already shipped in a patch) into a single Various dependency updates bullet listing each PR link. Keep genuinely user-facing items as their own bullets. See "Dependency update PRs" below before settling for a generic line.

Writing the entry

Write the new section at the top of CHANGELOG.md, matching the existing minor entries in that repo:

• ## X.Y.0
• **Release date:** YYYY-MM-DD (from date)
• A one–two sentence intro naming the headline theme.
• Optional ⚠️ upgrade warnings (API removals, required flux migrate, etc.). When warning about a deprecated/beta API removal, link the upgrade instruction to the canonical flux2 upgrade-procedure discussion (https://github.com/fluxcd/flux2/discussions/5572), not to a one-off flux migrate PR — the discussion is the maintained guide covering both the Flux CLI and Flux Operator migration paths. Older changelog entries may still point at a migrate PR; do not copy that, use the discussion link.
• Per-API subsections (### GitRepository, ### OCIRepository, ### HelmChart, ### Bucket, …) describing notable features in prose.
• An optional ### General updates subsection for k8s/Go/dependency posture.
• Fixes: and Improvements: bullet lists, each bullet a short title plus one or more [#NNNN](https://github.com/fluxcd/<repo>/pull/NNNN) links.

Surface borderline items (repo-internal docs, a dep bump whose content already shipped in a patch) to the user rather than guessing whether to headline them.

Dependency update PRs

Do not reduce a dependency bump to a generic line without checking its substance.

• Read the PR description, follow referenced upstream PRs (e.g. Includes: fluxcd/pkg#NNNN), and look at the go.mod diff.
• Call out security fixes with their CVE/GHSA and an advisory link plus a short impact parenthetical. Use matching wording across controllers that pull the same bump.
• Only mention a dependency change relevant to what that controller actually does — a bumped module often ships capabilities the controller never exercises.

Critical Checks

• Always git fetch --all --tags --prune before comparing v(X).(Y-1).0..release/vX.Y.x or reasoning about merged PRs.
• The release series branch (step 1) is cut from main; the prep branch (step 2) is cut from release/vX.Y.x.
• Pull the release series branch again after merging the release PR and before tagging. Tag from the series-branch merge commit, not from the prep branch.
• Push api/vX.Y.0 before vX.Y.0.
• The release→main PR merges the whole branch; do not cherry-pick for a minor.
• Open the backport label PR last (after step 10 merges) to avoid a rebase.
• Inspect the actual root go.mod for the self-API path; do not assume its form.
• Do not silently special-case a controller. If a documented step seems not to apply, inspect the file and confirm before proceeding.

Bumping the API in dependent controllers

After a controller minor ships, its API module often needs bumping in the controllers that depend on it (e.g. image-reflector-controller/api in image-automation-controller, or source-controller/api in helm-controller, kustomize-controller, image-automation-controller, and source-watcher). This is a separate follow-up PR per dependent repo, not part of the 11 release steps above.

• Branch from the dependent repo's main (which may already carry an earlier bump from the same release round), then go get github.com/fluxcd/<controller>/api@vX.Y.0 followed by go mod tidy.
• The bump is usually go.mod + go.sum only. Mirror an existing sibling PR from the same round for the exact title/body/commit shape.
• But check whether the dependent repo pins the dependency's published release manifests in config/default/kustomization.yaml (remote …/releases/download/vX.Y.Z/<controller>.crds.yaml and .deployment.yaml URLs). If it does, bump those URLs to the new version too. Some repos pin them (source-controller is pinned by source-watcher, helm-controller, and kustomize-controller) and some do not (image-automation-controller does not pin image-reflector-controller). Do not assume — grep the repo.
• If the released minor removed APIs, confirm the dependent still builds: it must not import a removed package version. Run go build ./... and go vet ./....

Updating this skill

• Improvements should land as a single-commit PR on a dedicated branch. When accumulating more changes during a release session, amend and force-push rather than adding new commits.
• Keep the skill-update PR open during the session and merge it last, after the release is fully done. Do not keep a CI watch open on it throughout — check CI right before merging.
• Do not leak session-specific state, downstream/enterprise distribution details, or AI attribution into the skill file.

Useful Local Queries

• Existing release branches: git branch -r --list 'origin/release/v*.x' | sort -V
• Latest tags: git tag -l 'v*' | sort -V | tail
• Candidate PR merges since the previous minor: git log --merges --grep="Merge pull request" v(X).(Y-1).0..release/vX.Y.x
• Full merged-PR cross-check: gh pr list --base main --state merged --limit 200 --json number,mergedAt,title
• Verify a single PR for the changelog: gh pr view <n> -R fluxcd/<repo> --json number,title,url,baseRefName,state,mergedAt