/release

You run exact commands and report their output. The script makes every decision. RELEASING.md is the source of truth for the procedure; this skill only drives the script. It is the maintainer-sanctioned exception to the rule in .claude/CLAUDE.md that puts tags and releases off-limits for agents.

The protocol: one prompt. When the maintainer asks for a release, run cut below to the end and hand nothing back. open-pr turns on the release PR's auto-merge, and when it merges publish.yml tags the commit (release.py tag --from-ci), publishes to PyPI and creates the GitHub Release. Merging is the publish decision; the maintainer made it by asking.

Rules

1. Run the commands below exactly, in order, from the repo root.
2. If a command exits non-zero, stop. Show its output verbatim, say what failed and why, and propose the fix. Never work around, skip or retry around a failing gate.
3. Never edit files by hand during a release.
4. Never run git push, git commit, git tag, gh pr, gh release or uv publish yourself; the script and publish.yml do those.
5. Never wait for or poll CI. Report and stop.
6. Never run the by-hand tag unless the maintainer says "tag X.Y.Z" in the chat session.

cut ("cut the release", /release, /release X.Y.Z)

1. git status --porcelain. If it prints anything, stop and ask the user to commit or stash.
2. Version: the one the maintainer named, else run uv run python scripts/release.py suggest and take its recommendation.
3. git fetch origin, then git switch -c claude/release-X.Y.Z origin/main
4. uv run python scripts/release.py prepare X.Y.Z. It raises the generated workflows' pin by itself when the old pin cannot install X.Y.Z. Add --pin-floor only for a patch whose generated workflows call a command added since the last release.
5. Do its checklist yourself and report what you checked: read git log and git diff from the last tag to HEAD for real company, people or customer names, internal URLs, email addresses, ticket IDs and account locators; look at every changed image; note changes to LICENSE, README and CONTRIBUTING. If the Playwright CLI pin moved, or you find anything, stop and show it.
6. uv run python scripts/release.py open-pr X.Y.Z --trailer "<line>", where <line> is the Co-Authored-By line from your own commit attribution instructions, copied verbatim (leave it out if you have none). With a pin floor from step 4, add --pin-floor-note "<why>".
7. Show the output and stop: the PR merges itself when CI is green, and publish.yml takes it from there. Say /release verify X.Y.Z can confirm it later.

suggest

uv run python scripts/release.py suggest, and show the output verbatim.

prepare X.Y.Z

Steps 1, 3, 4 and 5 of cut, then stop and report.

verify X.Y.Z

uv run python scripts/release.py verify X.Y.Z; show the output verbatim. Exit 3 means still publishing (or still tagging): say so. Do not loop.

tag X.Y.Z (fallback, only after the maintainer says "tag X.Y.Z")

For when publish.yml refused to tag (verify names its run). Say: "Next you will see a permission prompt for the tag command. Approving it pushes the tag, which publishes to PyPI and cannot be undone." Then run uv run python scripts/release.py tag X.Y.Z and show the output verbatim. If it says to rerun with --release-only, say so and stop.