Solo Prepare Release

Solo Prepare Release

Prepare the documentation and branch for a new Solo release. This skill encodes the exact steps the Solo team follows so the README release table, the legacy table, and the version math stay consistent.

Run everything from the solo/ repo root (the directory containing version.ts, README.md, and legacy-versions.md). Verify with git rev-parse --show-toplevel before starting.

When to use

• The user asks to prepare/cut a release, bump the version, or open a release PR for Solo.

Do not use for: actually tagging/publishing the release (that is the release workflow, not this skill), or for non-Solo repos.

Inputs to gather first

Step 1 — Determine the next version

Read the current version from package.json ("version") — confirm it matches the last tag.

Decide the bump by inspecting commit subjects since the last tag:

LAST_TAG="$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)"
git log "${LAST_TAG}..HEAD" --pretty=%s

• If any subject starts with feat: (also count conventional variants feat(scope): and feat!:/feat(scope)!:), bump the minor version and reset patch to 0 → 0.79.0 becomes 0.80.0.
• Otherwise bump only the patch version → 0.79.0 becomes 0.79.1.

Detection one-liner (NEXT ends up as the bare version, no leading v):

CUR="$(node -p "require('./package.json').version")"   # e.g. 0.79.0
IFS=. read -r MAJ MIN PAT <<< "${CUR}"
if git log "${LAST_TAG}..HEAD" --pretty=%s | grep -Eq '^feat(\(.+\))?!?:'; then
  NEXT="${MAJ}.$((MIN + 1)).0"
else
  NEXT="${MAJ}.${MIN}.$((PAT + 1))"
fi
echo "Next version: ${NEXT}"

State the computed version and the reason (feat found → minor / none → patch) before proceeding.

Patch-only short-circuit: if the bump is a patch (no feat: commits since the last tag), there is nothing to prepare — do not create a branch, edit any files, or commit. Report that the next version is a patch release and that no documentation changes are needed, then stop. Skip every step below. Only continue when the bump is a minor.

Step 2 — Classify the release (LTS vs normal)

The minor number decides the support policy:

• Even minor (e.g. 0.80.x) → LTS: row label gets a (LTS) suffix, support window is 3 months.
• Odd minor (e.g. 0.81.x) → normal: no suffix, support window is 1 month.

Patch releases inherit the parity of their minor (e.g. 0.79.1 is odd → normal).

Step 3 — Create the release branch off main

git fetch origin
git switch -c "chore-prepare-release-${NEXT}" origin/main

The branch name is exactly chore-prepare-release-<next-version> (no v prefix), e.g. chore-prepare-release-0.80.0.

Step 4 — Build the new README row

The "Current Releases" table in README.md has these columns:

| Solo Version | Node.js | Consensus Node | Kubernetes | Docker Resources | Release Date | End of Support |

Fill the new row (insert it as the first data row, directly under the header separator):

Read the dependency versions from version.ts rather than assuming — they change between releases. If a version.ts value differs from the carried-forward row, use the version.ts value.

End-of-support date (macOS BSD date):

RELEASE_DATE="$(date +%Y-%m-%d)"
# normal release: +1 month
date -j -v+1m -f "%Y-%m-%d" "${RELEASE_DATE}" +%Y-%m-%d
# LTS release: +3 months
date -j -v+3m -f "%Y-%m-%d" "${RELEASE_DATE}" +%Y-%m-%d

Keep the markdown column alignment consistent with the existing rows (pad cells to the same widths). Use Edit to insert the row so surrounding rows are untouched.

Step 5 — Retire expired rows into legacy-versions.md

A release is expired when its End of Support date is strictly before today.

1. From the README "Current Releases" table, collect every row whose End of Support < today.
2. Remove those rows from README.md.
3. Prepend them to the table in legacy-versions.md, keeping that table's descending order (newest version / date at the top of the legacy table).

Formatting note: the legacy table uses its own column widths and even has a header typo (Consenus Node). Do not "fix" it — reformat each moved row to match the legacy table's existing alignment so the diff stays minimal and the table renders cleanly.

If no rows are expired (common — newest releases are still supported), skip the legacy move and only update README. Say so explicitly rather than touching legacy-versions.md.

Step 6 — Commit (signed + signed-off)

Stage and commit only the two markdown files. The commit must carry a DCO sign-off (-s) and a cryptographic signature (-S):

git add README.md legacy-versions.md
git commit -s -S -m "chore(release): update readme and legacy versions for release ${NEXT}"

If signing fails (no GPG/SSH key configured), stop and tell the user — do not commit unsigned. The repo requires "Verified" commits. If the user has commit.gpgsign=true globally, -S is redundant but harmless.

Verify the commit is signed and signed-off before finishing:

git log -1 --show-signature --pretty=full | grep -iE 'Signed-off-by|gpg|Good signature'

Step 7 — Push and open the PR

A commit was made, so this step is required — push the branch and open the PR (do not wait for confirmation):

git push -u origin "chore-prepare-release-${NEXT}"
gh pr create --base main \
  --title "chore(release): update readme and legacy versions for release ${NEXT}" \
  --body "Prepares documentation for the \`${NEXT}\` release."

The PR title is a Conventional Commit with a release scope and must match the commit subject exactly: chore(release): update readme and legacy versions for release <next-version> (e.g. chore(release): update readme and legacy versions for release 0.80.0). Never use a feat:/fix: prefix for the release-prep PR — it only touches docs, so chore(release): is correct.

Then report: the computed version, LTS/normal classification, the new README row, how many rows were moved to legacy (if any), the branch + commit, and the PR URL.

Constraints

MUST

• Stop immediately with no branch, no file edits, and no commit when the bump is patch-only (no feat: commits).
• Read dependency versions from version.ts (HEDERA_PLATFORM_VERSION, KUBECTL_VERSION), never assume them.
• Insert the new release as the first data row of the "Current Releases" table.
• Apply the even=LTS/3-month, odd=normal/1-month rule from the minor version number.
• Move only rows whose End of Support is before today, preserving legacy-table descending order and formatting.
• Commit with both -s (sign-off) and a valid signature; stop if signing is unavailable.
• Whenever a commit is made, push the branch and open the PR — with a Conventional Commit title that matches the commit subject (chore(release): update readme and legacy versions for release <next>).

MUST NOT

• Commit anything other than README.md and legacy-versions.md.
• "Fix" the existing legacy-table header typo or reflow unrelated table rows.
• Make any file change or commit for a patch-only bump.
• Bump major version — this skill only does minor/patch bumps.