Post Release Cleanup

Post-Release Cleanup

You are the orchestrator for post-release cleanup in the Umbraco.Automate repository.

Task

After a release has been deployed and tagged by the release pipeline, merge the release/hotfix branch back into main and dev, bump version.json on dev so nightly builds produce versions higher than the released version, and optionally clean up the branch.

Why This Matters

Without the version bump on dev, NBGV + Umbraco.GitVersioning.Extensions produces packages like 1.5.0--preview.4.gabcdef0 which sorts lower than the stable 1.5.0 in SemVer — making nightlies useless for testing.

Workflow

Phase 1: Detect Release Context

1. Check current branch — verify it is vN/release/* or vN/hotfix/*:

   git branch --show-current
   

   If not on a release/hotfix branch, ask the user to specify which branch to process.

   Extract the version prefix from the branch — every long-term branch is version-prefixed:

   # e.g. v18/release/2026.06.5 → prefix=v18, major=18
   #      v17/hotfix/2026.06.1  → prefix=v17, major=17
   release_branch=$(git branch --show-current)
   prefix=$(echo "$release_branch" | grep -oE '^v[0-9]+')
   major=$(echo "$prefix" | grep -oE '[0-9]+')
   

   If the branch does not start with vN/, ask the user which version line to target.

2. Fetch latest tags and remote state:

   git fetch origin --tags
   

3. Find product version tags on this branch that are not yet on main:

   # Get the merge-base between the release branch and this line's main
   merge_base=$(git merge-base origin/$prefix/main HEAD)
   
   # Get all commits on the release branch since the merge-base
   commits=$(git rev-list $merge_base..HEAD)
   
   # For each product tag matching *@*, check if it points at one of these commits
   for tag in $(git tag --list '*@*'); do
       tag_commit=$(git rev-parse "$tag^{commit}" 2>/dev/null)
       if echo "$commits" | grep -q "$tag_commit"; then
           echo "$tag"
       fi
   done
   

4. Parse product names and versions from tags (e.g., Umbraco.Automate@0.2.0 → product=Umbraco.Automate, version=0.2.0).

5. Present findings to user for confirmation:

   Found released products on this branch:
   - Umbraco.Automate @ 0.2.0
   - Umbraco.Automate.OpenIddict @ 0.2.0
   
   Proceed with merge and version bump? [Yes/Cancel]
   

   If NO tags are found, warn the user:

   ⚠ No product version tags found on this branch.
   This usually means the release pipeline hasn't run yet, or tags haven't been pushed.
   
   Options:
   - Wait for the release pipeline to complete and try again
   - Proceed anyway (merge only, skip version bump)
   - Cancel
   

Phase 2: Merge to Main

1. Confirm with user before merging.

2. The release branch name and $prefix were captured in Phase 1.

3. Checkout and merge into this line's main:

   git checkout $prefix/main
   git pull origin $prefix/main
   git merge origin/$release_branch --no-ff -m "Merge $release_branch into $prefix/main"
   

4. Push main:

   git push origin $prefix/main
   

   The post-merge hook will auto-delete release-manifest.json if present and commit the cleanup.

Phase 3: Merge Main to Dev

1. git checkout $prefix/dev
   git pull origin $prefix/dev
   git merge $prefix/main --no-ff -m "Merge $prefix/main into $prefix/dev"
   

2. Handle merge conflicts — if conflicts occur (likely in version.json or CHANGELOG.md):

   • For version.json: keep the higher version (this will be overwritten in Phase 4 anyway)
   • For CHANGELOG.md: keep both sets of entries (combine)
   • For release-manifest.json: delete the file (it should not exist on dev)
   • Ask the user for help with any other conflicts

3. Push dev:

   git push origin $prefix/dev
   

   The post-merge hook will auto-delete release-manifest.json if present and commit the cleanup.

Phase 4: Bump Versions on Dev

For each released product detected in Phase 1:

1. Read the current <Product>/version.json

2. Compute the patch bump:

   • Stable version: 0.2.0 → 0.2.1
   • Pre-release with numeric suffix: 1.0.0-beta2 → 1.0.0-beta3
   • Pre-release without numeric suffix: 1.0.0-alpha → 1.0.0-alpha.1

3. Update the "version" field in version.json using the Edit tool

4. After all products are bumped, commit and push:

   git add */version.json
   git commit -m "chore(release): Bump dev versions after release
   
   Products bumped:
   - Umbraco.Automate: 0.2.0 → 0.2.1
   - Umbraco.Automate.OpenIddict: 0.2.0 → 0.2.1
   
   Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>"
   
   git push origin $prefix/dev
   

Phase 5: Major Version Cutover (only on a new major)

Run this only when the released major is greater than the major of the current GitHub default branch — i.e. this release ships a brand-new CMS major and the v(N+1)/dev line does not yet exist.

1. Get the current default branch major:

   gh api repos/umbraco/Umbraco.Automate --jq '.default_branch'   # e.g. "v18/dev" → 18
   

2. Compare with the released major from Phase 1. If major ≤ default major, skip this phase.

3. Check whether the new line already exists:

   new_prefix="v$major"
   git ls-remote origin "refs/heads/$new_prefix/dev" "refs/heads/$new_prefix/main"
   

4. Create the missing branches from the just-released line:

   git push origin $prefix/main:refs/heads/$new_prefix/main
   git push origin $prefix/dev:refs/heads/$new_prefix/dev
   

5. Update the GitHub default branch:

   gh api repos/umbraco/Umbraco.Automate -X PATCH -f default_branch=$new_prefix/dev --jq '.default_branch'
   

6. Tell the developer to switch lines:

   git fetch origin && git checkout $new_prefix/dev
   

Phase 6: Cleanup (Optional)

1. Ask the user if they want to delete the release/hotfix branch (local + remote):

   Delete the release branch '$release_branch'?
   - Local and remote
   - Local only
   - Skip (keep branch)
   

2. If deleting:

   git branch -d $release_branch
   git push origin --delete $release_branch
   

3. Return to dev branch:

   git checkout $prefix/dev
   

Phase 7: Summary

Present a summary of everything that was done:

✅ Post-release cleanup complete!

Merged:
- $release_branch → $prefix/main
- $prefix/main → $prefix/dev

Version bumps on dev:
- Umbraco.Automate: 0.2.0 → 0.2.1
- Umbraco.Automate.OpenIddict: 0.2.0 → 0.2.1

Branch cleanup: [deleted/kept]

Nightly builds on dev will now produce versions higher than the released versions.

Version Bump Logic

Stable Versions

Simply increment the patch version:

• 0.2.0 → 0.2.1
• 1.0.0 → 1.0.1
• 1.0.3 → 1.0.4

Pre-release Versions

Increment the numeric portion of the pre-release identifier:

• 1.0.0-beta2 → 1.0.0-beta3
• 1.0.0-rc.1 → 1.0.0-rc.2
• 1.0.0-alpha → 1.0.0-alpha.1 (append .1 if no numeric suffix)

Important Notes

• Always fetch tags first — the release pipeline creates tags asynchronously after deploy
• Use --no-ff merges — preserves the merge commit for clear history
• Post-merge hooks handle release-manifest.json cleanup — don't manually delete it
• version.json only has a "version" field — update only that field, preserve all other properties
• Both vN/release/* and vN/hotfix/* branches are supported — the workflow is identical; everything targets the same vN line the release branch belongs to
• If no tags are found, the user can still proceed with merge-only (skip Phase 4)

Error Recovery

• If the merge to main fails (conflicts), help the user resolve conflicts before continuing
• If the push fails, check if the branch is protected and advise accordingly
• If version.json has unexpected format, show the user and ask how to proceed
• Never force-push — if push is rejected, pull and retry the merge