release

SkillDev tools

Create a release PR with version bump and changelog update

Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.

Connect ahel once, and every AI you use reads what you have installed.

Then ask your AI: use the release skill

What this skill tells your AI

The instructions your AI receives, as published by iopsystems/rezolus in .claude/skills/release/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.

Create a release PR that bumps the version and updates the changelog. After the PR is merged, a GitHub workflow will automatically tag the release, create a GitHub release, and bump to the next development version.

Arguments

The skill accepts a version level argument:

  • patch - 5.5.0 -> 5.5.1
  • minor - 5.5.0 -> 5.6.0
  • major - 5.5.0 -> 6.0.0
  • Or an explicit version like 5.6.0

Example: /release minor

Steps

  1. Verify prerequisites:

    • Must be on main branch
    • Working directory must be clean
    • Must be up to date with origin/main
    git fetch origin
    if [ "$(git branch --show-current)" != "main" ]; then
      echo "Error: Must be on main branch"
      exit 1
    fi
    if [ -n "$(git status --porcelain)" ]; then
      echo "Error: Working directory not clean"
      exit 1
    fi
    if [ "$(git rev-parse HEAD)" != "$(git rev-parse origin/main)" ]; then
      echo "Error: Not up to date with origin/main"
      exit 1
    fi
    
  2. Run local checks:

    cargo clippy --all-targets -- -D warnings
    cargo test
    

    If checks fail, stop and report the errors.

  3. Determine the new version:

    # Get current version from Cargo.toml (strip -alpha.N suffix if present)
    CURRENT=$(grep '^version = ' Cargo.toml | head -1 | sed 's/version = "\(.*\)"/\1/')
    echo "Current version: $CURRENT"
    
    # Use cargo-release to calculate new version (handles alpha suffix removal)
    cargo release version <LEVEL> --dry-run 2>&1 | grep -o '[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+\.[0-9]\+' | head -1
    

    Note: cargo-release will strip the -alpha.N suffix when bumping to a release version.

  4. Create release branch:

    NEW_VERSION="X.Y.Z"  # from step 3
    git checkout -b release/v${NEW_VERSION}
    
  5. Bump version using cargo-release:

    cargo release version <LEVEL> --execute --no-confirm
    
  6. Update CHANGELOG.md:

    • Rename "Unreleased" section to new version with today's date
    • Create new empty "Unreleased" section at the top
    • Update the comparison links at the bottom of the file:
      • Add a new [unreleased] link pointing to compare/vX.Y.Z...HEAD
      • Add a new [X.Y.Z] link comparing to the previous version

    The changelog follows Keep a Changelog format. Ask the user if they want to review/edit the changelog before proceeding.

  7. Commit changes:

    git add -A
    git commit -m "release: prepare v${NEW_VERSION}"
    
  8. Push and create PR:

    IMPORTANT: The PR title must start with release: prepare v so the tag-release.yml workflow fires after merge. When the PR is squash-merged (the repo default), the squash commit takes the PR title as its message, and the workflow guard checks startsWith(head_commit.message, 'release: prepare v'). A title like release: v${NEW_VERSION} would NOT match and the tag/release would be silently skipped.

    git push -u origin release/v${NEW_VERSION}
    
    gh pr create \
      --repo iopsystems/rezolus \
      --title "release: prepare v${NEW_VERSION}" \
      --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
    ## Release v${NEW_VERSION}
    
    This PR prepares the release of v${NEW_VERSION}.
    
    ### Changes
    - Version bump in Cargo.toml
    - Changelog update
    
    ### After Merge
    The release workflows will automatically:
    1. Create git tag `v${NEW_VERSION}` and bump to next dev version
    2. Build and publish packages (deb, rpm, Homebrew)
    3. Create GitHub release with all artifacts
    4. Publish to crates.io
    
    ---
    See CHANGELOG.md for details.
    EOF
    )"
    
  9. Report the PR URL to the user.

After PR Merge

When the PR is merged to main, the following workflow chain runs automatically:

  1. tag-release.yml (triggered by push to main with release commit message):

    • Detects the version from Cargo.toml
    • Creates and pushes the git tag vX.Y.Z
    • Bumps to next dev version (e.g., 5.5.1-alpha.0) and pushes to main
  2. release.yml (triggered by the tag push):

    • Builds .deb packages for all supported distros and architectures
    • Builds .rpm packages for Rocky Linux and Amazon Linux
    • Uploads packages to GCP Artifact Registry
    • Creates GitHub release with all package artifacts
    • Publishes to crates.io (stable releases only)
    • Updates Homebrew formula (stable releases only)

Troubleshooting

  • cargo-release not installed: cargo install cargo-release
  • gh CLI not installed: brew install gh or see https://cli.github.com/
  • Not authenticated with gh: gh auth login

Signals

GitHub stars
273
Forks
23
Last commit
Sep 2026
Hacker News mentions
20
Advanced
Catalog kind
skill
Gateway key
release-iopsystems
Source
github.com/iopsystems/rezolus