voyage/docs/release-runbook.md

# Release and rollback runbook

How a Voyage release goes out, and how it is rolled back. The rollback part is
not theory: every command in § 3 was run in a drill — a release 6.2.0 → 6.2.1
and both rollback paths, in a sandbox with local bare repositories as the
remotes — and `tests/lib/release-prose-pins.test.mjs` holds § 3 to the commands
recorded there (`tests/fixtures/release-drill/rollback-commands.txt`).

A release is a two-repo act. The plugin repo (this one) gets a tag `vX.Y.Z`;
the catalog repo pins each plugin by that tag (`source.ref` in
`.claude-plugin/marketplace.json`), so users get the release only when the
catalog ref moves. The catalog's `scripts/release-plugin.mjs` finds the plugin
as a sibling directory (`../voyage`), and both repos are run from their root.

Placeholders: `<previous-version>` is the release before (6.2.0 in the drill),
`<withdrawn-version>` the one rolled back (6.2.1), `<next-patch>` the next
unused patch number (6.2.2). `<release-commit>` is the release commit,
`<merge-commit>` a delivery merged since the previous tag, `<revert-commit>`
the last commit of the revert, and `<review.md>` the review of what is
released.

## Door types

Every delivery in a release says whether it is a **one-way door** or a
**two-way door**:

- **one-way** — cannot be walked back without a cost to users. A break in a
  public contract (the brief format of Handover 1, a `plan_version` or
  `review_version` that rejects files that used to validate), a removed command
  or flag, anything users must migrate. A published tag is one-way too: it is
  never deleted or moved.
- **two-way** — a revert restores the old behaviour and nobody has to do
  anything: a new optional field, a new check, a fix, documentation.

At the release, the CHANGELOG section for the version carries one line per
delivery under `### Doors`:

```markdown
## v6.3.0 — 2026-10-15 — <title>

### Doors

- two-way: release check and runbook — a revert removes them, nothing reads them.
- one-way: <delivery> — <what a user must do, and from which version>.
```

The release is one-way if any line is. A one-way line says what users must
do. `scripts/release-check.mjs` refuses a release whose section has no
`### Doors` list, an empty one, or a line that is neither `- one-way:` nor
`- two-way:`.

## 1. Before the release

1. **Every delivery is merged into `main`** (`git merge --no-ff <branch>`), in
   the agreed order. Each delivery's report states its door type.
2. **The suite is green on the merged tree.** `npm test` on `main` with every
   delivery in it: 0 failed. A run that goes red only under heavy machine load
   is still red — run it again on a quiet machine, never release over it.
   Worktrees and branches stay until the release is out (§ 2.6): if the merged
   tree is red, the branches are where the fix starts.
3. **A review of what is released, and its verdict is not BLOCK.** `/trekreview`
   over the commits since the previous tag writes `<review.md>`; the verdict
   gate (K7) decides on it:

   ```sh
   node lib/review/verdict-gate.mjs <review.md>
   ```

   0 = ALLOW or WARN, 1 = BLOCK, 2 = could not decide. Only 0 goes on.
4. **The release commit.** It changes only the version and the release notes:
   `.claude-plugin/plugin.json`, `package.json`, `package-lock.json` (both
   `version` fields), the README version badge, and a new CHANGELOG section
   `## vX.Y.Z — <date> — <title>` with its `### Doors` list. Commit it as
   `chore(release): X.Y.Z — <title>`.
5. **The release check.**

   ```sh
   node scripts/release-check.mjs --review <review.md>
   ```

   It checks, in order: the working tree is clean (otherwise the suite would
   not measure HEAD), `npm test` exits 0 at HEAD, the review verdict is not
   BLOCK, the review covers HEAD (its `scope_sha_end` is HEAD or an ancestor,
   and the commits after it touch only the release bookkeeping above), and the
   door type is set. 0 = ready, 1 = not ready (each failure listed), 2 = could
   not run — never green.
6. **The operator's yes, logged.** The operator reads the release section and
   says yes (an answer like "sounds good" is not a yes). The check prints the
   command that logs it (K2):

   ```sh
   node lib/util/approval-log.mjs append --kind release --subject CHANGELOG.md --sha256-of CHANGELOG.md
   ```

   The record is bound to the CHANGELOG as approved: if the release notes
   change afterwards, `verify` reports `mismatch`. In this repo `.claude/` is
   ignored by git (the remote is a public mirror), so the log stays local and
   `verify` reports the record as not committed. That is the trace this repo
   keeps; a target repo that tracks `.claude/voyage/` commits it.

## 2. The release

1. **Push the plugin last of all its steps:**

   ```sh
   git push origin main
   ```

   Voyage's push guard asks first; a yes to a push to `main` is logged as a
   `merge` approval.
2. **In the catalog, the operator's one-shot push token.** `release-plugin.mjs`
   pushes from inside node, where the command-text push guard cannot see it, so
   it requires the same token the guard checks:

   ```sh
   mkdir -p "$HOME/.claude/runtime/push-approvals" && touch "$HOME/.claude/runtime/push-approvals/$(pwd | sed 's|/|_|g')"
   ```

   One token covers every push of ONE run. A second run needs a new token.
3. **Dry run.** It must stop on the missing tag and nothing else:

   ```sh
   node scripts/release-plugin.mjs voyage
   ```

4. **The release, in one run.** `FORGEJO_TOKEN` must be exported (the script
   says how when it is missing):

   ```sh
   node scripts/release-plugin.mjs voyage --create-tag --write --commit --push
   ```

   It refuses unless `plugin.json`, the README badge and the version agree.
   It mints and pushes the tag, runs the catalog's version gate before
   writing, bumps the ref and the catalog README label, runs the gate again,
   commits and pushes the catalog, and files the Forgejo release object with
   the CHANGELOG section as its text.
5. **The catalog's own check is green:**

   ```sh
   node scripts/check-versions.mjs
   ```

6. **Cleanup comes last.** Merged worktrees and branches are removed only now,
   after the suite was green on the merged tree (§ 1.2) and the release is out.

## 3. Rollback

The operator decides whether a release is rolled back. There are two paths,
and both were drilled. **A** takes the catalog back to the previous tag at
once. **B** ships the revert as a new patch version, so the version moves
forward again. The recommended order is A, then B.

### Path A — revert, and the catalog ref back

`release-plugin.mjs` accepts a ref backwards only when the plugin agrees with
it. Measured in the drill: with `plugin.json` at `<withdrawn-version>`,
`--version <previous-version>` is refused ("plugin.json version is 6.2.1,
asked to release 6.2.0 — bump plugin.json first"). So the plugin is reverted
first, and the release commit's revert puts `plugin.json` and the badge back.

In the plugin repo, revert the release commit, then each delivery merged since
the previous tag, newest first (`-m 1` keeps `main` as the mainline), and push:

```sh
git revert --no-edit <release-commit>
git revert --no-edit -m 1 <merge-commit>
git push -q origin main
```

In the catalog — between these steps the version gate reports a WARN (the ref
is ahead of `plugin.json`), not an ERROR:

```sh
node scripts/check-versions.mjs
node scripts/release-plugin.mjs voyage --version <previous-version>
mkdir -p "$HOME/.claude/runtime/push-approvals" && touch "$HOME/.claude/runtime/push-approvals/$(pwd | sed 's|/|_|g')"
node scripts/release-plugin.mjs voyage --version <previous-version> --write --commit --push
node scripts/check-versions.mjs
```

The dry run must say `v<withdrawn-version> -> v<previous-version>  [READY]`.

What path A does not do:
- The tag `v<withdrawn-version>` stays, and so does its Forgejo release object;
  the version number is used up. Edit the release object's text to say the
  version is withdrawn (not drilled: it is the one step that needs the real
  Forgejo instance).
- Whether a user who already updated to `<withdrawn-version>` is moved back to
  `<previous-version>` by a plugin update is **not verified**. Path B does not
  depend on it.

### Path B — a forward patch that carries the revert

On top of the revert, make a release commit for `<next-patch>` as in § 1.4,
with a CHANGELOG section that says `<withdrawn-version>` is withdrawn and a
`### Doors` line (`- two-way: withdraws <withdrawn-version> — …`). Its review
covers the revert, so `scope_sha_end` is `<revert-commit>`. Then the release as
usual:

```sh
git commit -q -am "chore(release): <next-patch> - withdraws <withdrawn-version>"
node scripts/release-check.mjs --review <review.md>
node lib/util/approval-log.mjs append --kind release --subject CHANGELOG.md --sha256-of CHANGELOG.md
git push -q origin main
mkdir -p "$HOME/.claude/runtime/push-approvals" && touch "$HOME/.claude/runtime/push-approvals/$(pwd | sed 's|/|_|g')"
node scripts/release-plugin.mjs voyage --create-tag --write --commit --push
node scripts/check-versions.mjs
```

The first four lines run in the plugin repo, the last three in the catalog.

### Bringing a reverted delivery back

Do not merge its branch again. git's own documentation for `revert -m`:
"Reverting a merge commit declares that you will never want the tree changes
brought in by the merge. As a result, later merges will only bring in tree
changes introduced by commits that are not ancestors of the previously
reverted merge." Revert the revert commit instead, and release it as a new
version.

## Not built yet: the eval gate (P10)

The local gate before a release that reads the date and score of the last run
of the fixed test set and compares it with the last change in the
configuration paths (commands, agents, skills, hooks, and a changed model alias
counts as a change). It waits for the test set to run again; a gate that can
never fire is not built. When it comes, it is one more check in
`scripts/release-check.mjs`, before the door check, and one more step in § 1.

## Credits

- The runbook form: [bashebr/ai-native-sdlc](https://github.com/bashebr/ai-native-sdlc) (MIT).
- Green on the merged tree before cleanup: [obra/superpowers](https://github.com/obra/superpowers) (MIT), at `8ca22db`.
- One-way and two-way doors: [mattpocock/skills](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills), at `c55ee46`.

Ideas only; no text is copied.