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PAMulligan merged 1 commit into from
May 22, 2026
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docs(contributing): document release process #89

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31 changes: 31 additions & 0 deletions CONTRIBUTING.md
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Expand Up @@ -104,6 +104,37 @@ Branch names should be lowercase, use hyphens as separators, and be descriptive

---

## Release Process

Releases are cut by the maintainer using [commit-and-tag-version](https://github.com/absolute-version/commit-and-tag-version), configured in [`.versionrc.json`](.versionrc.json). The `version` in `package.json` and the published git tag are kept in sync automatically — do not edit `package.json`'s `version` field by hand.

| Command | Use Case |
|---------|----------|
| `pnpm run release` | Auto-detect the bump (major/minor/patch) from conventional commits since the last tag |
| `pnpm run release:patch` | Force a patch bump |
| `pnpm run release:minor` | Force a minor bump |
| `pnpm run release:major` | Force a major bump |
| `pnpm run release:dry` | Preview the bump and CHANGELOG entry without writing anything |
| `pnpm run release:first` | First release on a fresh repo (no version bump) |

Each non-dry release command:

1. Bumps `package.json` to the next version.
2. Regenerates `CHANGELOG.md` from conventional commits since the previous tag.
3. Runs the `postchangelog` hook ([`scripts/extract-release-notes.js`](scripts/extract-release-notes.js)) to produce `RELEASE_NOTES.md` for the GitHub Release body.
4. Commits the bump as `chore(release): vX.Y.Z`.
5. Creates a git tag prefixed with `v` (e.g. `v1.2.0`).

After the command finishes, push the commit and tag together:

```bash
git push --follow-tags origin main
```

Because the bump is derived from commit history, **conventional commit messages on `main` are load-bearing**: `feat:` triggers a minor bump, `fix:` triggers a patch, and a `!` after the type (e.g. `feat!:`) or a `BREAKING CHANGE:` body footer triggers a major bump. See the [Pull Request Process](#pull-request-process) above for examples.

---

## Claude Code Agents

Aurelius includes 53 specialized Claude Code agents and 19 skills that automate significant portions of the development workflow — from design-to-code conversion to testing, accessibility, and deployment.
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