Tendril Release

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, Docker image push, and Azure production docs deployment.

Confirm that the workflow has been dispatched by showing the URL or logs:

gh run list --workflow=publish-tendril.yml --limit 1

Phase 8: Publish VS Code Extension (Standalone Workflow)

The VS Code extension has a decoupled release cadence and is published independently via .github/workflows/publish-vscode-extension.yml.

Production Release

Trigger via git tag:

git tag vscode-v0.1.1
git push origin vscode-v0.1.1

Or trigger via GitHub CLI:

gh workflow run publish-vscode-extension.yml --ref development -f version=0.1.1

The workflow executes:

1. Installs dependencies and runs typecheck (npm run typecheck).
2. Builds the extension and runs tests (npm test).
3. Resolves and synchronizes the version in package.json.
4. Packages the extension into .vsix using @vscode/vsce.
5. Uploads the .vsix artifact to the workflow run.
6. Creates or updates GitHub release vscode-v<version> with the .vsix asset.
7. Publishes to the Visual Studio Code Marketplace using VSCE_PAT.
8. Publishes to the Open VSX Registry using OVSX_PAT if provided.

Test Mode (Dry Run)

To verify extension typechecking, testing, and .vsix packaging without publishing to marketplaces or creating release assets:

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

In test mode (test-mode=true):

• Runs typecheck, build, unit tests, and .vsix packaging.
• Uploads the generated .vsix as a workflow artifact.
• Skips GitHub release creation, asset upload, Visual Studio Code Marketplace publishing, and Open VSX publishing.

Troubleshooting & Common Mistakes

• Authentication Errors: If gh is not authenticated, authenticate by running gh auth login.
• Merge Conflicts: If merging main back into development or development into main has conflicts, stop and notify the user to resolve them manually.
• Untracked nuget.config: Do not leave any temporary nuget.config files in the repository.