release-workflow_skill

Overview

This skill codifies the release conventions and changelog workflow for the lunar-claude repo. It guides version decisions, changelog generation, and which files to update for a release. Use it to prepare a release, bump versions, or create tags consistently.

How this skill works

It inspects git history and conventional commit types to determine whether a major, minor, or patch bump is required. It uses git-cliff to map commits into changelog groups and generate CHANGELOG.md, and it updates the marketplace and plugin manifest versions when appropriate. The workflow culminates in committing the changelog and metadata, tagging the release (vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH), and pushing commits and tags so CI creates the GitHub release.

When to use it

• When you need to prepare a new release or generate release notes
• When asked "what version should this be" based on recent commits
• When you need to bump the marketplace or plugin version(s)
• Before tagging a release so CHANGELOG.md and manifests are up to date
• When creating a GitHub release via CI or manually tagging

Best practices

• Follow conventional commit messages so the bump decision is accurate (feat, fix, BREAKING CHANGE).
• Run git-cliff to generate CHANGELOG.md with the appropriate tag: git-cliff --tag vX.Y.Z -o CHANGELOG.md.
• Only bump plugin manifest versions for plugins that actually changed; marketplace version is independent but must be updated.
• Always git add/commit the changelog and marketplace manifest, then tag with git tag -a vX.Y.Z -m "Release vX.Y.Z" and run git push && git push --tags.
• Remember git push does not push tags by default — push tags explicitly to trigger the release action.

Example use cases

• Prepare a patch release after several fix: commits and a few docs: updates.
• Decide between minor or patch bump when new feat: commits are mixed with fixes.
• Generate CHANGELOG.md for an upcoming release using git-cliff and include only relevant commit groups.
• Update .claude-plugin/marketplace.json metadata.version and tag the release to trigger GitHub Actions.
• Bump a single plugin's plugins/<cat>/<name>/.claude-plugin/plugin.json version when that plugin changed.