NPM Publish

npm publish (staged)

The kit's npm model: CI STAGES the publish through trusted publishing (OIDC, environment npm-publish); a human PROMOTES it locally after byte-verification. Direct publishing is disabled after bootstrap - staged is the only path. Dry-run is every command's default.

One-time bootstrap

node scripts/socket-release/bootstrap.mts            # plan
node scripts/socket-release/bootstrap.mts --apply    # stand up, stops at gates
node scripts/socket-release/bootstrap.mts --status   # receipts

Steps run in canonical order: preflight → placeholder → npm-access-permissive → github-env → staged-config → trusted-publisher → npm-access-staged-only → verify. Two of them are npm publishing-access steps: PERMISSIVE first (direct + staged enabled, only while the 0.0.0 placeholder is pending, so the one-time direct publish can land), then STAGED-ONLY (direct publishing unchecked in the npm web UI once trusted publishing stands). A re-run never re-widens; verify FAILS a package left permissive and names the fix (node scripts/socket-release/bootstrap.mts npm-access-staged-only --apply).

STOP AND GATE, never improvise, at these moments:

• reserve name - publishing <name>@0.0.0 is irreversible; only node scripts/socket-release/bootstrap.mts placeholder --apply --reserve <name> performs it: the bootstrap renders the gate.
• npm web-2FA - the PTY prints APPROVE HERE (expires in minutes): <url>; the operator approves in their browser, the command keeps waiting.
• placeholder promote - a staged 0.0.0 needs node scripts/socket-release/npm-publish.mts --approve plus the operator's 2FA.
• npm auth dead - node scripts/socket-release/npm-web-auth.mts login (both lanes run the same router command).

Release cycle

1. Bump: edit version + CHANGELOG, commit chore: bump version to <version> (load-bearing subject), push.
2. Stage from CI: the operator dispatches the npm publish workflow from the Actions UI with publish: true (dry-run is the dispatch default; gh workflow run is guard-blocked for agents - the human clicks).
3. Soak: staged entries are maintainer-visible only. Inspect with pnpm stage list --json - an unauthenticated or wrong-account list reads as EMPTY, not as an error, so identity-check first (node scripts/socket-release/npm-web-auth.mts login).
4. Promote: node scripts/socket-release/npm-publish.mts --approve - it byte-verifies the staged tarball, promotes through the operator's 2FA, then cuts the git tag + immutable GitHub release once the version resolves live (ORDER RULE - registry first, release marker last).
5. Verify: the version resolves on the registry and the release exists; a missing tag/release heals with node scripts/socket-release/github-release.mts --tag v<version> --release.

Backfill

An already-tagged version that never published: a backfill never moves the latest pointer, so it always needs an explicit non-latest dist-tag. Dispatch the workflow with backfill-version: X.Y.Z + checkout-ref: vX.Y.Z + dist-tag: backfill (any non-latest tag), or locally

node scripts/socket-release/npm-publish.mts --staged --backfill X.Y.Z --checkout-ref vX.Y.Z --tag backfill --dry-run

Drop --dry-run only after the plan reads clean; promotion is the same --approve path.

Rollback

npm publishes are permanent (unpublish closes at 72h and burns nothing back). Roll back by deprecating the bad version and shipping a fixed one:

npm deprecate <name>@<bad-version> "broken — use <fixed-version>"

Deprecation needs the operator's npm auth (2FA) - gate, do not improvise. A never-promoted staged entry needs no rollback: reject it with node scripts/socket-release/npm-web-auth.mts stage reject <stage-id> and re-stage.