CA Release Workflow

When to Use

• Cutting a new patch, minor, or major release of containerization-assist
• Updating CHANGELOG.md with changes since the last tag
• Bumping versions across package.json, package-lock.json, and server.json
• Preparing a release branch

Procedure

Step 1 — Create a release branch

Create a branch named release-<next-version> from main:

git checkout main && git pull
git checkout -b release-<next-version>

Step 2 — Identify changes since the last release

Get all commits since the last version tag:

git log --oneline <last-tag>..HEAD

The tag format used in this repo is bare semver (e.g. 1.4.0, not v1.4.0).

Group the commits into categories for the changelog:

• Features — feat: prefixed or meaningful capability additions
• Fixes — fix: prefixed commits
• Dependency updates — build(deps): / build(deps-dev): bumps — list PR numbers together on one line
• Other — chore, docs, ci, refactor, etc. (include if user-visible)

Step 3 — Update CHANGELOG.md

Prepend a new ## [<next-version>] section at the top of CHANGELOG.md, following the established format:

## [1.4.1]

- feat: database detection + AKS workload identity support (#630)
- add AKS-loop pre-deployment checks (#664)
- fix: add static redirect pages for VS Code MCP install links (#668, #669)
- fix(scan): treat scanType "all" as vulnerability scan (#665)
- dependency updates (#657, #662, #663, #666)

Rules:

• One bullet per logical change; group dependency bumps into a single bullet with PR numbers
• Do not include internal/tooling-only commits that have no user impact
• Match the terse, imperative style used in existing entries

Step 4 — Bump the version

Run npm version with --no-git-tag-version (so no commit or tag is created — those are managed manually). The postversion lifecycle hook automatically syncs server.json:

npm version patch --no-git-tag-version   # x.y.Z
npm version minor --no-git-tag-version   # x.Y.0
npm version major --no-git-tag-version   # X.0.0

This updates three files:

Step 5 — Verify

Confirm all three files reflect the new version:

node -e "const p=require('./package.json'); const s=require('./server.json'); console.log('pkg:', p.version, 'server:', s.version, s.packages[0].version)"

All three values must match.

Step 6 — Commit and push

git add package.json package-lock.json server.json CHANGELOG.md
git commit -m "prepare for release <next-version>"
git push origin release-<next-version>

Then open a PR from the release branch into main.

Files Involved

Notes

• The repo uses bare semver tags (e.g. 1.4.0, not v1.4.0) — use this form in git commands
• Always pass --no-git-tag-version to npm version; git commits and tags are managed manually
• The postversion npm lifecycle hook runs automatically and updates server.json — no separate step needed