release

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Cut a new homeassistant-claude-kit version. Curates commits since the last tag into kit-changelog.yaml entries, derives the semver bump, renders CHANGELOG.md, bumps .kit-version + dashboard/package.json, then creates a signed tag and (confirmed) GitHub release. Producer-only — runs entirely inside the kit repo, reads only its own git history. Trigger phrases: "cut a release", "release the kit", "bump the kit version", "tag a new version", "run the release skill", "publish vX.Y.Z".

dcb By dcb schedule Updated 6/7/2026

name: release description: > Cut a new homeassistant-claude-kit version. Curates commits since the last tag into kit-changelog.yaml entries, derives the semver bump, renders CHANGELOG.md, bumps .kit-version + dashboard/package.json, then creates a signed tag and (confirmed) GitHub release. Producer-only — runs entirely inside the kit repo, reads only its own git history. Trigger phrases: "cut a release", "release the kit", "bump the kit version", "tag a new version", "run the release skill", "publish vX.Y.Z".

Release the Kit

This skill is the producer half of kit versioning. It reads ONLY the kit's own git history and writes the version artifacts — the git tag, .kit-version, kit-changelog.yaml, CHANGELOG.md, and dashboard/package.json — in one commit so version and content always travel together. It is idempotent per version: re-running it on a version that is already released, tagged, and pushed is a no-op at every step (append-only changelog, pre-existing-tag guard, idempotent GitHub release). The changelog's detect/apply prose is authored generically and is never executed.

See references/changelog-schema.md for the full record schema, the intent contract, the deterministic commit→type mapping, and the rendering rules.

Step 0: Prerequisites

Run each check; branch on the sentinel it prints.

# Clean working tree (untracked files are allowed; tracked modifications are not)
git diff --quiet && git diff --cached --quiet && echo "TREE_OK" || echo "TREE_DIRTY"

# On the default branch
def=$(git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's@^refs/remotes/origin/@@')
[ -z "$def" ] && def=main
[ "$(git branch --show-current)" = "$def" ] && echo "BRANCH_OK" || echo "BRANCH_WRONG"

# A baseline tag exists and is >= v0.1.0
git fetch --tags --quiet 2>/dev/null
last=$(git tag --list 'v*' --sort=-v:refname | head -1)
[ -n "$last" ] && echo "LAST_TAG=$last" || echo "TAGS_MISSING"

# Signing capability (decides -s vs -a in Step 7)
if [ -n "$(git config --get user.signingkey)" ] && git tag -s __sigprobe__ -m x >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  git tag -d __sigprobe__ >/dev/null 2>&1; echo "SIGN_OK"
else
  git tag -d __sigprobe__ >/dev/null 2>&1; echo "SIGN_NONE"
fi

# GitHub CLI auth (for the release in Step 8)
gh auth status >/dev/null 2>&1 && echo "GH_OK" || echo "GH_NONE"
  • TREE_DIRTY → stop. Tell the user to commit or stash; a release commits a curated set, never accidental WIP.
  • BRANCH_WRONG → stop. Releases are cut from the default branch only.
  • TAGS_MISSING → stop. The baseline v0.1.0 tag must exist first (it is created once, during the versioning foundation). Do not invent one.
  • SIGN_NONE → continue, but downgrade the Step-7 tag from git tag -s to git tag -a and log: "no usable signing key — creating an annotated (unsigned) tag." Never abort for this.
  • GH_NONE → continue; in Step 8 skip gh release create and print the exact command for the user to run later.

0a. Intent-contract gate

The changelog's detect/apply can only be synthesized well if commit messages carry intent.

git log "$last"..HEAD --no-merges --pretty='%h%x09%s'

For each releasable commit (one NOT in the skip-list of Step 3), require a Conventional-Commit subject (^(feat|fix|change|removed|security|perf|refactor|docs|chore|style|test|ci|build)(\(.+\))?!?: ) and a body that explains why / how you'd know you're affected.

  • Bot / *(deps) commits that are non-Conventional → warn and skip (do not block the release).
  • Any other releasable commit that is non-Conventional or body-less → STOP, list the offenders, and ask the maintainer to reword (interactive rebase) before releasing. Thin commits produce hollow detect/apply.

Step 1: Collect commits

git rev-list --count "$last"..HEAD            # 0 → nothing new
git log "$last"..HEAD --no-merges --reverse --pretty='%h%x09%s%n%b'
  • Empty range (count 0) → print "Nothing to release since $last" and exit 0 (no mutation). This is the idempotent re-run case.
  • Merge commits are excluded (--no-merges).
  • For each commit, also capture its touched paths (git show --stat --name-only <sha>) — needed for the file-aware skip decision (Step 3) and for conditions/detect_hint.

Step 2: Curate into logical changes

Group related commits into one logical change each (a feature's many commits → one entry with a commit range; a follow-up fix to an unreleased feature folds into that feature's entry). This grouping is the only step that uses judgment — everything downstream is deterministic.

One entry = exactly one type. Never merge a fix and a feat into one entry, even if they touch the same files — emit two entries, each with its own commits subset, so each renders in its correct section. Present the proposed grouping to the user for confirmation before synthesizing entries.

Step 3: Classify each group (deterministic)

Derive type and breaking from Conventional Commits — a lookup, not judgment:

  • feat:feature · fix:fix · security-tagged fix → security · a behavioral refactor!/change:change · a removal → removed.
  • breaking: true iff any grouped commit has ! after type/scope OR a BREAKING CHANGE: footer (orthogonal to type).
  • Skip-list (no entry, no bump contribution): docs, chore, style, test, ci, refactor, buildbut FILE-AWARE. A skip-typed commit that touches a transportable path (docs/templates/**, dashboard/src/**, config/**, .kit-version, kit-changelog.yaml, the skills) is not skipped → reclassify it as change. (A docs: commit that edits a shipped card template is a real, transportable change.)
  • revert: — if it reverts a commit in this same $last..HEAD range, drop BOTH the reverted commit and the revert (they cancel; no entry, no bump). If it reverts a prior-release commit, classify change (or fix).
  • Unclassifiable non-bot commit → was already caught by the Step-0a gate.

If, after classification, there are zero releasable entries (e.g. everything was skip-listed), print "N commits found but none are releasable" and exit 0 — no bump, no tag.

Step 4: Compute the bump (BEFORE synthesizing entries)

The version must be known before entries are stamped. From the Step-3 classifications:

  • Default: PATCH for any releasable entry.
  • Escalate to MINOR iff any entry is feature OR breaking (0.x rule).
  • Highest-wins → exactly one bump for the release → targetVersion.
  • (At >= 1.0.0, breaking → MAJOR instead. Do not auto-cross 1.0.0 — that is a maintainer decision; confirm.)

So fix/security/change/removed-only releases are PATCH (never "no bump"). Confirm targetVersion with the maintainer.

Step 5: Synthesize entries

For each curated group build a kit-changelog.yaml entry (schema in references/changelog-schema.md): id (new stable slug), version: <targetVersion>, type, breaking, title, commits, conditions, detect (+ optional generic detect_hint), apply, default_action.

  • Write detect/apply generically — describe the pattern/component, never a specific entity ID.
  • default_action: ask for behavioral fixes/changes; skip-if-absent when feature-gated; auto only for self-contained, path-safe additions. It is a ceiling, never authority to run transported files.

Step 6: Write artifacts + render

  1. Append the new entries to kit-changelog.yaml under changes:. NEVER rewrite or reorder existing entries. De-dup: if an entry with the same id, or a ## [targetVersion] section, already exists, skip the append (idempotency).
  2. Render CHANGELOG.md from kit-changelog.yaml (Keep a Changelog 1.1.0): ## [x.y.z] - YYYY-MM-DD (date from the release, latest-first); sections Added / Changed / Removed / Fixed / Security mapped from type; one-line bullets with inline commit links; [**BREAKING**] prefix on breaking entries; omit an Unreleased section; compare links at the bottom. Render is deterministic (stable order by id within a version; no today()). Every entry appears in exactly one section.
  3. Render-check (idempotent): render again to a temp file and diff the two — expect zero diff. (Do NOT use git diff --exit-code CHANGELOG.md, which always trips because you just wrote it.) Also assert bullet-count == entry-count for the version.
  4. Bump .kit-version version:targetVersion; bump dashboard/package.json versiontargetVersion.
  5. python tools/validate_changelog.py — abort before committing on any failure.

Step 7: Commit + tag

# Stage ONLY the artifacts, by explicit path — never `git add -A`.
git add kit-changelog.yaml CHANGELOG.md .kit-version dashboard/package.json
git commit -m "release: vX.Y.Z"

# Pre-existing-tag guard — never -f.
git rev-parse -q --verify "refs/tags/vX.Y.Z" >/dev/null && echo "TAG_EXISTS" || echo "TAG_FREE"
  • TAG_FREE → create the tag: git tag -s vX.Y.Z -m "Release vX.Y.Z" (or git tag -a if Step 0 said SIGN_NONE).
  • TAG_EXISTS → do NOT re-tag and NEVER use -f; if the tag points at a different commit than the one just built, report it and stop for manual intervention; otherwise fall through to Step 8's idempotent GitHub-release check.
  • Transactional rollback: if anything after the commit fails, roll back with git reset --hard <pre-release-HEAD> and git tag -d vX.Y.Z.

Local creation is complete. The commit and tag exist locally; nothing has been pushed. The push is a separate, explicitly confirmed step.

Step 8: Safe push + GitHub release

# Resolve the kit remote by URL match — never assume `origin`.
kit_remote=$(git remote -v | awk '/homeassistant-claude-kit(\.git)?[[:space:]].*\(push\)/{print $1; exit}')
[ -n "$kit_remote" ] && git remote get-url "$kit_remote" || echo "NO_KIT_REMOTE"
  • NO_KIT_REMOTE → stop and ask. Never fall back to origin (an install's origin may be the user's own private config repo).
  • Display the resolved URL and get confirmation. Then push the single tag + the release commit:
    git push "$kit_remote" "refs/tags/vX.Y.Z"
    git push "$kit_remote" HEAD:"$def"
    
    Never git push --tags; never a bare/inferred remote; never -f.
  • GitHub release (skip if Step 0 said GH_NONE — print the command instead):
    owner_repo=$(git remote get-url "$kit_remote" | sed -E 's#(git@github.com:|https://github.com/)##; s#\.git$##')
    gh release view "vX.Y.Z" --repo "$owner_repo" >/dev/null 2>&1 \
      && echo "REL_EXISTS (skip)" \
      || gh release create "vX.Y.Z" --repo "$owner_repo" --title "vX.Y.Z" --notes-from-tag
    
    Idempotent: skip if the release already exists.

Completion

Released vX.Y.Z. Added N changelog entr(y/ies), bumped .kit-version and dashboard/package.json, rendered CHANGELOG.md, and pushed a signed (or annotated) tag to <kit-remote-url>. GitHub release: created / already existed / command printed. Re-running release on this version is a no-op.

Troubleshooting

Symptom Likely cause Fix
TREE_DIRTY at Step 0 Uncommitted tracked changes Commit or stash; releases never sweep in WIP
Intent-gate lists commits Non-Conventional / body-less releasable commits Reword via interactive rebase before releasing
"Nothing to release" HEAD is at the last tag (empty range) Expected no-op; nothing to do
"none are releasable" All commits are skip-listed (docs/chore/…) and touch no transportable path No release needed
Render-check shows a diff CHANGELOG.md was hand-edited Re-render from kit-changelog.yaml; never edit the .md by hand
validate_changelog.py fails Malformed/missing schema field Fix the offending entry; re-run before committing
SIGN_NONE No usable signing key Annotated -a tag is created automatically; configure user.signingkey for signed tags
TAG_EXISTS Version already tagged Do not -f; if it diverges, resolve manually; else continue to the GitHub-release check
NO_KIT_REMOTE Only a non-kit remote configured Add/identify the kit remote explicitly; never push to origin blindly
GH_NONE gh not authenticated gh auth login, or create the release manually — the tag is already pushed
Install via CLI
npx skills add https://github.com/dcb/homeassistant-claude-kit --skill release
Repository Details
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