How do I install the Release skill?

Run npx skillmds@latest add kubernetes-sigs/release in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Release safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Release?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Release free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Release?

kubernetes-sigs (@kubernetes-sigs) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Release by kubernetes-sigs — Agent Skill

Name: Release
Author: kubernetes-sigs

Release

Prepare and publish a stable release in two phases by reusing the shared release-tag and release-note-doc-pr skills, building artifacts in GitHub, generating release notes and draft releases locally, validating release assets, and controlling latest-release status explicitly. Use when the user wants to perform a full release, publish a new version, or mentions releasing, shipping a version, or the end-to-end release process.

kubernetes-sigs 9a9dd87 2 files · 28.7 KB Updated Sep 17, 2026

File contents

Manual Release

Overview

Use this skill when you want a draft-first release flow with explicit control over tag creation, workflow dispatch, publication, and the follow-up documentation PR.

This skill reuses the shared scripts from:

create-release-tags
create-release-note-doc-pr

Workflow

prepare: create and push the release tag, dispatch the Release workflow manually, wait for the workflow to finish, download the workflow artifacts, generate release notes locally, create or update the draft release, upload the assets, and verify that the draft release contains the expected assets.
publish: publish the draft release with an explicit latest-release policy and then open the documentation PR for the same tag.

Quick Start

Replace <SKILL_DIR> with the path of this skill directory.

Prepare a draft release from release-1.35:

python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/release.py prepare --branch release-1.35

Publish an existing draft release and open the docs PR:

python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/release.py publish --tag v1.35.7

Preview either phase without changing state:

python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/release.py prepare --branch release-1.35 --tag v1.35.7 --dry-run
python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/release.py publish --tag v1.35.7 --dry-run

Commands

Prepare a draft release:

python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/release.py prepare \
  --branch <release-X.Y> [--tag <vX.Y.Z>] [--remote <name>] [--workflow release.yaml]

Publish a draft release:

python3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/release.py publish \
  --tag <vX.Y.Z> [--latest auto|always|never] [--remote <name>] \
  [--base-remote <name>] [--push-remote <name>] [--base-branch <name>]

Notes

.github/workflows/release.yaml now builds artifacts only. It no longer generates release notes or creates/publishes release objects.
prepare pushes the tag, manually dispatches .github/workflows/release.yaml, waits for the build to finish, downloads the workflow artifacts, generates the release notes locally, creates or updates the draft release, uploads the assets, and verifies the draft contents.
publish keeps latest-release handling explicit. --latest auto marks the release as latest only when its major.minor series is the highest stable series currently published.
The release description is generated locally by the same hack/generate-release-note.sh flow used by the docs workflow, so the skill is no longer coupled to the release GitHub Action for notes generation.
The publish phase calls the shared create-release-note-doc-pr script after the GitHub release is published.

Error Handling

If the script or any command fails, do not make up new scripts to work around the error and do not fabricate or guess at content. Instead, report the failure and exact error message to the user and let them decide how to proceed.

---name: releasedescription: Prepare and publish a stable release in two phases by reusing the shared release-tag and release-note-doc-pr skills, building artifacts in GitHub, generating release notes and draft releases locally, validating release assets, and controlling latest-release status explicitly. Use when the user wants to perform a full release, publish a new version, or mentions releasing, shipping a version, or the end-to-end release process.---# Manual Release## OverviewUse this skill when you want a draft-first release flow with explicit controlover tag creation, workflow dispatch, publication, and the follow-updocumentation PR.This skill reuses the shared scripts from:- `create-release-tags`- `create-release-note-doc-pr`## Workflow1. `prepare`: create and push the release tag, dispatch the `Release` workflow manually, wait for the workflow to finish, download the workflow artifacts, generate release notes locally, create or update the draft release, upload the assets, and verify that the draft release contains the expected assets.2. `publish`: publish the draft release with an explicit latest-release policy and then open the documentation PR for the same tag.## Quick StartReplace `<SKILL_DIR>` with the path of this skill directory.Prepare a draft release from `release-1.35`:```bashpython3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/release.py prepare --branch release-1.35```Publish an existing draft release and open the docs PR:```bashpython3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/release.py publish --tag v1.35.7```Preview either phase without changing state:```bashpython3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/release.py prepare --branch release-1.35 --tag v1.35.7 --dry-runpython3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/release.py publish --tag v1.35.7 --dry-run```## CommandsPrepare a draft release:```bashpython3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/release.py prepare \ --branch <release-X.Y> [--tag <vX.Y.Z>] [--remote <name>] [--workflow release.yaml]```Publish a draft release:```bashpython3 <SKILL_DIR>/scripts/release.py publish \ --tag <vX.Y.Z> [--latest auto|always|never] [--remote <name>] \ [--base-remote <name>] [--push-remote <name>] [--base-branch <name>]```## Notes- `.github/workflows/release.yaml` now builds artifacts only. It no longer generates release notes or creates/publishes release objects.- `prepare` pushes the tag, manually dispatches `.github/workflows/release.yaml`, waits for the build to finish, downloads the workflow artifacts, generates the release notes locally, creates or updates the draft release, uploads the assets, and verifies the draft contents.- `publish` keeps latest-release handling explicit. `--latest auto` marks the release as latest only when its `major.minor` series is the highest stable series currently published.- The release description is generated locally by the same `hack/generate-release-note.sh` flow used by the docs workflow, so the skill is no longer coupled to the release GitHub Action for notes generation.- The publish phase calls the shared `create-release-note-doc-pr` script after the GitHub release is published.## Error HandlingIf the script or any command fails, **do not make up new scripts to work aroundthe error** and **do not fabricate or guess at content**. Instead, report thefailure and exact error message to the user and let them decide how to proceed.

Frequently asked questions