Releasing Software

Overview

Never tag until CI passes. Every retag erodes trust and wastes time.

This skill prevents the "tag, watch CI fail, retag, repeat" anti-pattern by establishing a pre-flight checklist that catches issues BEFORE creating the tag.

The Iron Law

NO TAG WITHOUT GREEN CI

Run the full verification locally. Fix everything. THEN tag. Not before.

Pre-Release Checklist

MANDATORY: Use TodoWrite to create todos for EACH item.

1. Verify Build Paths

Check ALL places that reference your main package:

• goreleaser.yml - main: field (common: ./cmd/app vs .)
• .github/workflows/*.yml - any go build commands
• Makefile - build targets
• Dockerfile - build commands

# Find all references to cmd/ or main package paths
grep -r "cmd/" . --include="*.yml" --include="*.yaml" --include="Makefile" --include="Dockerfile"
grep -r "go build" . --include="*.yml" --include="*.yaml" --include="Makefile"

2. Verify Tests Exist

Go 1.23+ coverage tool fails on packages without tests:

# Check for test files in each package
find . -name "*_test.go" | wc -l

# If zero, add placeholder tests to EVERY package

Every package needs at least one test file or CI coverage step fails with no such tool "covdata".

3. Verify Local CI Passes

# Run what CI runs
make test          # or go test ./...
make lint          # or golangci-lint run
make build         # verify it compiles

# If using coverage
make test-coverage

4. Verify Documentation

• README.md exists and is current
• CHANGELOG.md updated (if maintained)
• Version references updated

5. Verify Release Config

• goreleaser description is correct (not template leftovers)
• goreleaser homepage URL is correct
• .gitignore includes build artifacts, coverage files

6. Verify Clean Git State

git status                    # Nothing unexpected staged
git diff --stat              # Review all changes
git log --oneline -5         # Verify recent history

Release Procedure

Only after ALL checks pass:

# 1. Commit all changes
git add -A && git commit -m "release: prepare v0.0.X"

# 2. Wait for pre-commit hooks to pass
# If hooks fail, fix and re-commit

# 3. Push and wait for CI
git push origin main

# 4. WAIT FOR CI TO PASS - check status
gh run list --limit 2
# OR watch in browser

# 5. Only after CI is green, create tag
git tag -a v0.0.X -m "v0.0.X"
git push origin v0.0.X

# 6. Verify release workflow completes
gh run list --limit 2

Red Flags - STOP

If you catch yourself doing any of these, STOP:

• Tagging before CI completes
• "CI will probably pass"
• "I'll fix it if it fails"
• Deleting and recreating tags
• Force-pushing tags
• "It's just a minor release"

All of these mean: Wait for CI. Fix issues. Then tag.

Common Failures

Symptom	Cause	Fix
couldn't find main file	Wrong path in goreleaser	Set main: . if main.go at root
no such tool "covdata"	Package without tests	Add placeholder test to each package
Release succeeds but brew fails	Wrong description/homepage	Update goreleaser brews section
Had to retag	Tagged before CI passed	WAIT FOR GREEN CI
504 errors in CI	GitHub infra issue	Retry workflow, not a code problem

Version Bumping

When incrementing version:

1. Patch (0.0.X): Bug fixes, no new features
2. Minor (0.X.0): New features, backwards compatible
3. Major (X.0.0): Breaking changes

Search codebase for version references:

grep -r "version" . --include="*.go" --include="*.yml" --include="*.json" | grep -v test | grep -v vendor

Post-Release Verification

After tag is pushed:

# Watch release workflow
gh run watch

# Verify release assets
gh release view v0.0.X

# Test installation (if applicable)
go install github.com/user/repo@v0.0.X

The Bottom Line

Retagging is a symptom of rushing.

The 5 minutes spent on pre-flight checks saves 30 minutes of retag cycles and preserves your release history integrity.

Every tag should be final. If you're deleting tags, you skipped the checklist.