Asc Release

asc release

Use this skill to prepare a new app version with asc, pause for the build number, then attach the build and submit for App Review

Core rules

• Use asc --help and subcommand --help before relying on command syntax
• Include all platforms unless the user explicitly excludes platforms
• Include all localizations unless the user explicitly narrows localizations
• Do not localize changelogs unless the user explicitly asks for localization
• Use the same provided changelog text across every included localization by default
• Stop after metadata updates and wait for the user to provide a build number in a later prompt
• Do not select a build or submit for review before the user provides the build number
• Prefer explicit app, version, platform, locale, version ID, and build selectors
• Preview remote writes with --dry-run when supported
• Some quick-edit commands do not support --dry-run; validate after targeted writes when no dry run is available
• Use --output json for parsing and --output table for user-facing checks
• Use structured parsers such as jq for JSON output; do not parse table output
• Keep user-facing summaries short: app, version, platform, state, validation, blockers, and next action
• Do not include app IDs or version IDs in normal user-facing summaries unless they are needed to disambiguate or debug a failure
• Do not show commit SHA or submission ID values in the user-facing overview

Inputs to resolve

Resolve these before changing App Store Connect:

• App ID or app name
• New version string
• Platforms to include
• Localizations to include
• Currently released version for each platform
• Changelog text provided by the user
• Whether changelogs should be localized

If the user has not supplied a changelog, ask for it before creating or updating version metadata

Phase 1: Prepare metadata

1. Resolve the app and included platforms
   • Use all platforms by default
   • Exclude only platforms the user names
   • Resolve platform-specific current released versions and target new versions
   • If App Store Connect has no version history for a platform, report that and continue only with resolved App Store Connect platforms
   • Common discovery commands:

asc apps list --bundle-id "BUNDLE_ID" --output json --pretty
asc versions list --app "APP_ID" --output table --paginate
asc versions list --app "APP_ID" --output json --pretty --paginate
rg "MARKETING_VERSION|PRODUCT_BUNDLE_IDENTIFIER" "*.xcodeproj/project.pbxproj"

2. Open the new version for every included platform

   • Discover the current asc version-create command with asc versions --help and related subcommand help
   • Create the new app-store version only when it does not already exist
   • If the target version already exists, reuse its VERSION_ID and continue with localization updates
   • Store every resolved target VERSION_ID

3. Resolve localizations for every included platform

   • Use all existing localizations by default
   • Narrow localizations only when the user asks
   • Create missing target-version localizations when needed
   • Inspect source and target localizations before copying fields:

asc localizations list --version "VERSION_ID" --output json --pretty
asc localizations list --version "VERSION_ID" --output table

4. Copy promotional text from the currently released version

   • For each included platform and locale, read the released version localization
   • Copy only the promotional text from the released version to the target new version
   • Do not copy unrelated version metadata unless needed by asc to preserve existing values
   • Track the promotional text copied for each locale so it can be reported in the Phase 1 summary

5. Add changelog text to the new version

   • Set whatsNew or the current asc equivalent on every included target-version localization
   • Use the exact changelog text provided by the user across all included localizations
   • Localize changelogs only when the user explicitly requests localization

6. Validate and apply

   • Prefer the canonical metadata workflow when practical:

asc metadata pull --app "APP_ID" --version "NEW_VERSION" --platform PLATFORM --dir "./metadata"
asc metadata validate --dir "./metadata" --output table
asc metadata push --app "APP_ID" --version "NEW_VERSION" --platform PLATFORM --dir "./metadata" --dry-run --output table
asc metadata push --app "APP_ID" --version "NEW_VERSION" --platform PLATFORM --dir "./metadata"

• For small targeted edits, use the current quick-edit command discovered with asc localizations update --help, asc versions update --help, or related help
• Version-localization quick edits commonly look like this:

asc localizations update --version "VERSION_ID" --locale "LOCALE" --promotional-text "PROMOTIONAL_TEXT" --whats-new "CHANGELOG_TEXT" --output table

• After quick edits, pull remote metadata to a temporary directory and validate the current App Store Connect state:

TMP_DIR="$(mktemp -d)"
asc metadata pull --app "APP_ID" --version "NEW_VERSION" --platform PLATFORM --dir "$TMP_DIR" --force --output table
asc metadata validate --dir "$TMP_DIR" --output table

• Always validate after editing and before submission

7. Stop

   • Report the prepared app, version, platforms, localizations, validation state, and next action
   • Include a compact table of promotional text by locale for each prepared platform
   • Do not include app IDs or version IDs in the summary unless there is an ambiguity or blocker that requires them
   • If the user has not provided a build number yet, also report the latest Xcode Cloud build number and commit message
   • Ask the user for the build number
   • End the turn without attaching a build or submitting for review

   Discover the latest Xcode Cloud build with:

asc xcode-cloud --help
asc xcode-cloud workflows --help
asc xcode-cloud build-runs --help
asc xcode-cloud workflows list --app "APP_ID" --output json --pretty
asc xcode-cloud build-runs list --workflow-id "WORKFLOW_ID" --sort "-number" --limit 1 --output json --pretty

Report attributes.number, attributes.executionProgress, and attributes.sourceCommit.message for the latest run

Phase 2: Attach build and submit

Use this phase only when the user has provided the build number after Phase 1 If the previous Phase 1 summary reported a latest successful Xcode Cloud build, treat a follow-up such as "go on", "continue", or "use latest" as permission to use that build number

1. Resolve the build for each relevant platform
   • Match the user-provided build number to the included platforms
   • Resolve the user-provided build number to a unique build ID before submitting
   • Confirm each build is processed and eligible for App Store release
   • If more than one build matches a platform, disambiguate before submitting
   • Discover current build command syntax before relying on it:

asc builds --help
asc builds list --help

• Inspect the matching build with:

asc builds list --app "APP_ID" --version "NEW_VERSION" --build-number "BUILD_NUMBER" --platform PLATFORM --output json --pretty --paginate
asc builds list --app "APP_ID" --version "NEW_VERSION" --build-number "BUILD_NUMBER" --platform PLATFORM --output table --paginate

2. Select the build for release
   • Attach the resolved build to each target version
   • Run asc review doctor before submitting to check for blockers
   • Prefer asc review submit when it covers the flow:

asc review --help
asc review submit --help
asc review doctor --app "APP_ID" --output table
asc review submit --app "APP_ID" --version-id "VERSION_ID" --build "BUILD_ID" --platform PLATFORM --dry-run --output table
asc review submit --app "APP_ID" --version-id "VERSION_ID" --build "BUILD_ID" --platform PLATFORM --confirm --output table

• Use --version-id "VERSION_ID" instead of --version when that is more deterministic

3. Submit for App Review
   • Submit every included platform version after the dry run is clean
   • Capture submission IDs internally and review status
   • Report submitted platforms, selected builds, and review status without showing submission IDs in the overview
   • Verify the final state with:

asc versions list --app "APP_ID" --version "NEW_VERSION" --platform PLATFORM --output table
asc versions view --version-id "VERSION_ID" --include-build --include-submission --output table
asc review submissions-get --id "SUBMISSION_ID" --output table
asc review status --app "APP_ID" --output table

Fallbacks

• If the public API does not support a required release step, identify whether an asc web ... command exists and say that it is an experimental web-session fallback before using it
• If no CLI path exists for a required App Store Connect action, stop and give the exact manual step needed
• If validation reports blockers, fix API-addressable metadata issues, then re-run validation before continuing