codewhale/docs/RELEASE_CHECKLIST.md

Release Checklist

A pre-tag checklist that the v0.8.21/v0.8.22 CHANGELOG gap proved we needed. Step through this in order from a clean worktree on the release branch (work/vX.Y.Z-...). Treat any unchecked box as a release blocker.

For deeper context on the underlying tools (preflight scripts, npm smoke, publish-crates), see RELEASE_RUNBOOK.md.

1. CHANGELOG entry exists for the version

• CHANGELOG.md has a ## [X.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD heading at the top
• The entry credits every external contributor, harvested PR author, linked issue reporter, reproduction/log provider, reviewer, and verification helper whose work materially shaped this version. Get the commit list with: git log vPREV..HEAD --no-merges --format="%h %an <%ae> %s" \ | grep -v '<your-email@…>' For each contributor, link both their display name and (when known) @github-handle. Then inspect linked issues and harvested PRs so reporters/helpers are not lost just because they did not author commits.
• The entry uses the Keep a Changelog headers — Added, Changed, Fixed, Security, Removed, Deprecated. Add Known issues only if there is something material the user must work around.
• The entry mentions all referenced issue/PR numbers as #NNNN so the auto-linker on GitHub picks them up.

2. Version pins are in sync

• Cargo.toml workspace version is bumped.
• All per-crate crates/*/Cargo.toml path-dependency version = "..." pins match the new workspace version.
• npm/codewhale/package.json version AND codewhaleBinaryVersion are both bumped.
• npm/deepseek-tui/package.json remains private/compatibility-only and is not bumped or published.
• Cargo.lock is refreshed (cargo update --workspace --offline).
• ./scripts/release/check-versions.sh reports Version state OK: workspace=X.Y.Z, npm=X.Y.Z, lockfile in sync.

3. Preflight gates

Run, in order, from the repo root:

• cargo fmt --all -- --check
• cargo check --workspace --all-targets --locked
• cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets --all-features --locked -- -D warnings
• cargo test --workspace --all-features --locked (Re-run any single failure in isolation with cargo test -p PKG --bin BIN -- TEST_NAME before declaring it a flake. Tests that mutate process-wide state — HOME, cwd, RUST_LOG — can race in parallel. Document confirmed flakes in Known issues.)
• ./scripts/release/publish-crates.sh dry-run

4. npm wrapper smoke

• cargo build --release --locked -p codewhale-cli -p codewhale-tui
• node scripts/release/npm-wrapper-smoke.js (Set DEEPSEEK_TUI_KEEP_SMOKE_DIR=1 if you need to inspect the temp install afterwards.)

5. Branch and PR

• Branch is pushed: git push -u origin work/vX.Y.Z-...
• PR opened with gh pr create --base main --title "chore(release): prepare vX.Y.Z"
• PR body includes:
  • one-paragraph summary of the release theme
  • a punch list of the new commits since the last release
  • explicit call-out of any Security items so reviewers see them
  • the contributor thank-you list
  • the Known issues block from the CHANGELOG, if any
• PR title is neutral — do not put CVE-style language or specific attack details in the title. Save those for the GitHub release notes after the tag is pushed.

6. CI green and review

• All required CI jobs are green. The versions job should mirror the preflight check-versions.sh and is your last line of defense.
• PR has been reviewed.

7. Tag and release (after review)

• git tag -s vX.Y.Z -m "vX.Y.Z"
• git push origin vX.Y.Z
• The release.yml workflow has built and uploaded artifacts to the GitHub release for this tag.
• The live GitHub Release body has its own ## Contributors or ## Credits section; do not rely on "see CHANGELOG" alone. Verify with: gh release view vX.Y.Z --repo Hmbown/CodeWhale --json body \ --jq '.body | test("## (Contributors|Credits)")'
• npm view codewhale@X.Y.Z version codewhaleBinaryVersion --json reports the new version on the npm registry.
• npm view deepseek-tui deprecated is non-empty. The legacy npm package is deprecated and must not receive an X.Y.Z publish.
• crates.io has the new version (or the publish-crates.sh job has pushed it).
• ghcr.io/hmbown/codewhale:vX.Y.Z and :latest are updated.

8. Post-tag

• Edit the GitHub release notes to expand any CVE-style or attack details that were intentionally omitted from the PR title/body.
• Re-run the GitHub Release body check after any release-workflow rerun; workflows can overwrite notes and accidentally remove contributor credit.
• Note any deferred items in the next release's tracking issue.
• Close any issues that this release fixed.

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If a step fails, fix the underlying cause rather than skipping it. Pre-commit hooks, signing, and CI are all here to catch real problems. --no-verify, --no-gpg-sign, and force-pushing a release branch over reviewers should remain hard-disabled by convention.