Trigger Prepare Release

Trigger Prepare Release

Trigger the prepare-release.yml workflow on GitHub Actions.

The workflow produces a release/v<version> branch + PR. By default it bases the release off main, but the base_branch input lets you base it off (and target the PR at) any branch — see Choosing base_branch.

Arguments

All arguments are optional.

Critical: how version interacts with channel

The workflow's Determine version step is:

if [ -n "$version" ]; then
  VERSION="$version"        # used verbatim, channel ignored
else
  VERSION=$(bump-version.js --type "$bump" --channel "$channel" --dry-run ...)
fi

So:

• ✅ version=0.9.0-alpha.1 → release v0.9.0-alpha.1 (correct way to ship an alpha at an exact version)
• ❌ version=0.9.0 + channel=alpha → release v0.9.0 (channel silently ignored, this is the trap)
• ✅ bump=minor + channel=alpha → script computes next alpha (e.g. v0.9.0-alpha.1)

Choosing base_branch

base_branch controls two things at once: the branch the release is checked out from, and the branch the resulting PR targets (--base).

• main (default) — the normal case: cut a release off the mainline.
• release/vX.Y.Z — iterating prereleases on a release branch whose commits are NOT yet merged back to main. The workflow checks out that branch (so the release includes its un-merged commits) and opens the PR back against it. Example: you committed fixes onto release/v0.14.1 and want the next alpha to include them without first merging to main.

Two things to verify before triggering with a non-default base_branch:

• The branch must be pushed. The workflow checks out the remote origin/<base_branch>, so anything still local-only won't be in the release. Confirm git status -sb shows the branch in sync (not ahead) before triggering.
• Version is computed from that branch. The Determine version dry-run runs against base_branch's package.json, so the resolved version reflects that branch, not main. The created branch is always named release/v<resolved-version> regardless of base_branch.

Workflow

1. Parse arguments

Accept either key=value form (channel=beta bump=minor) or positional tokens (/trigger-prepare-release 0.9.0-alpha.1). For each positional token, classify by shape:

base_branch is never inferred from a positional token (a branch name like release/v0.14.1 is too free-form to classify safely) — accept it only via the explicit base_branch=<branch> form.

Ambiguity rule: if the user supplies a semver-shaped token AND a bare channel word (e.g. 0.9.0 alpha.1 or 0.9.0 alpha), do NOT split them across version/channel — that triggers the trap above. Instead, ask the user whether they meant:

• version=0.9.0-alpha.1 (exact version with suffix), or
• bump=minor channel=alpha (let the script compute the next alpha)

2. Confirm with user

Display the resolved parameters and ask for confirmation before triggering:

Will trigger prepare-release with:
  version:     0.9.0-alpha.1
  bump:        (ignored — version is set)
  channel:     (ignored — version is set)
  base_branch: main
Proceed? (y/n)

If version is empty, show resolved bump and channel instead. Always show base_branch — and when it is not main, restate the resolved version so the user can confirm it was computed from the intended branch.

3. Trigger the workflow

gh workflow run prepare-release.yml \
  --repo UniClipboard/UniClipboard \
  --ref main \
  -f version=<version> \
  -f bump=<bump> \
  -f channel=<channel> \
  -f base_branch=<base_branch>

Omit -f version= when version is empty. Omit -f base_branch= to default to main.

--ref vs base_branch — don't confuse them:

• --ref main selects which copy of the workflow file to run. Keep it main: it's the default branch, so GitHub validates the dispatch inputs against main's workflow definition. (Both main and the release branches carry the base_branch input, so this is safe.)
• base_branch is what actually controls which branch the release is based on and where the PR is targeted. --ref does not affect that.

(Older versions of this skill claimed the workflow "always checks out main regardless" — that is no longer true; base_branch is honored.)

4. Confirm dispatch

After triggering, wait a few seconds and show the latest run:

gh run list --repo UniClipboard/UniClipboard --workflow=prepare-release.yml --limit 1

Report the run URL so the user can monitor progress.

To verify the version came out as intended, do not rely on the run name: it is prepare-release-v${version || bump}, so when version is empty it shows the bump type (e.g. prepare-release-vpatch), not the resolved version. Instead check the Determine version step's log, or the PR it opens — the PR title is release: v<resolved-version> and its body states the base branch.