# Taxmate Release Closeout

> Execute TaxMate Australia repo PR closeout, local validation, and release delivery. Use when fixing or merging TaxMate Australia GitHub PRs, handling review comments, encoding repeated review lessons into validation checks/tests, running Gitleaks gates, merging Release Please PRs, verifying published tags/releases, or cleaning TaxMate worktrees/branches after release.

- Skill: `nijanthan-dev/taxmate-release-closeout` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add nijanthan-dev/taxmate-release-closeout`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/nijanthan-dev/taxmate-release-closeout/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: nijanthan-dev (https://skillmd.com/u/nijanthan-dev)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/nijanthan-dev/taxmate-release-closeout

---


# TaxMate Release Closeout

Use this only for the `nijanthan-dev/taxmate-australia` repo. Prefer `gh` for GitHub. Recheck live state before acting; memories are hints, not truth.

## Preflight

1. Confirm repo, remote, current branch, and worktree state.
2. If work starts from `main`, create a fresh `fix/`, `feat/`, or `chore/` branch or worktree from current `origin/main`.
3. Recheck issue/PR head SHA, mergeability, and unresolved review threads.
4. Confirm the full local workflow and secret scans passed for the current head.
5. If GitHub auth lacks scope, report the missing scope and stop. Do not run `gh auth refresh` unless asked in the current turn.

## Fix PR Review Comments

1. Patch all current-head review comments, not only the easiest one.
2. If feedback repeats or points to a contract class, update `scripts/taxmate_review_guardrails.py` and focused tests before the one-off code fix.
3. Audit the same failure pattern across flat, nested, itemized, generated, and rendered paths before re-requesting independent review.
4. For generated skill/doc output, patch `scripts/skillgen.py` or the source file first; do not hand-edit generated `skills/*/SKILL.md` unless the generator owns no path.
5. Run focused tests for the touched area, then the repo's relevant validation path.
6. Reply to each review thread with the fix and resolve it.
7. Push and recheck the current head and review threads.

## Validation Gates

Run the strongest relevant local checks before merge. Common TaxMate checks include:

```bash
./scripts/taxmate validate
./scripts/check-publication-ready.sh
gitleaks dir . --redact
```

Also run secret scans on history and the PR diff before merge. If a secret reached remote Git, stop and remove it from branch history before merge.

For ATO fetch/runtime changes, preserve `curl --disable -L` ordering and verify status, final URL, and body handling through tests.

For release/version changes, inspect `.release-please-manifest.json`, `.codex-plugin/plugin.json`, `skill.json`, `plugin.lock.json`, `CHANGELOG.md`, and Release Please config as applicable.

## Merge And Release

1. Squash-merge the fix PR only after local validation and secret-scan gates pass.
2. Verify issue closure and updated `main` state.
3. Wait for Release Please to open the next release PR when the fix should ship.
4. Inspect release PR version bumps and changelog, then run the local validation required for the changed files.
5. Merge the release PR with squash merge.
6. Verify tag, GitHub release, and version artifacts.
7. Fast-forward local `main` if safe.
8. Clean merged temp branches/worktrees only after verifying no user changes would be lost. Preserve unrelated untracked paths.

## Stop Conditions

Stop and report plainly when:

- Missing GitHub scope blocks required action.
- Full local validation is absent for the current head.
- Any Gitleaks gate finds a real secret.
- Release Please fails because required repo secret/config is missing.
- Cleanup would delete user work or an active worktree.