Release Version

Guide for creating new Orient releases with proper versioning, changelogs, and Docker image tags.

Triggers

• "create a release"
• "release version X.Y.Z"
• "tag a new version"
• "prepare release"

Release Process

1. Update CHANGELOG.md

Before creating a release, ensure the changelog is up to date:

## [X.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD

### Added

- New features

### Changed

- Modifications to existing features

### Fixed

- Bug fixes

### Migrations

- Database migrations (if any)

Move items from [Unreleased] to the new version section.

Add the version link at the bottom:

[X.Y.Z]: https://github.com/orient-bot/orient/releases/tag/vX.Y.Z

Update the [Unreleased] link:

[Unreleased]: https://github.com/orient-bot/orient/compare/vX.Y.Z...HEAD

2. Create the Release Tag

# Create annotated tag
git tag -a vX.Y.Z -m "Release vX.Y.Z"

# Push tag to trigger release workflow
git push origin vX.Y.Z

3. Automated Actions

The .github/workflows/release.yml workflow automatically:

1. Creates GitHub Release - With auto-generated release notes from PRs
2. Tags Docker Images - Adds version tag to existing :latest images:
   • ghcr.io/orient-bot/orient/opencode:vX.Y.Z
   • ghcr.io/orient-bot/orient/whatsapp-bot:vX.Y.Z
   • ghcr.io/orient-bot/orient/dashboard:vX.Y.Z

Pre-Release Checklist

Before tagging a release:

• All CI checks pass on main branch
• CHANGELOG.md updated with all changes
• Database migrations documented
• Breaking changes documented
• Docker images build successfully (:latest exists)

Version Numbering

Follow Semantic Versioning:

• MAJOR (X): Breaking changes
• MINOR (Y): New features, backwards compatible
• PATCH (Z): Bug fixes, backwards compatible

Pre-release Tags

For testing releases before official publication:

# Alpha/beta releases
git tag -a v0.2.0-alpha.1 -m "Alpha release for testing"
git tag -a v0.2.0-beta.1 -m "Beta release for testing"

# Release candidates
git tag -a v0.2.0-rc.1 -m "Release candidate 1"

Pre-releases are marked automatically in GitHub based on the - in the tag.

Docker Image Versioning

Troubleshooting

Docker tag job fails

If the Docker tagging job fails:

1. Ensure :latest images exist on GHCR
2. Check GITHUB_TOKEN has packages: write permission
3. Verify the repository name matches the image prefix

Manual recovery:

# Pull, tag, and push manually
docker pull ghcr.io/orient-bot/orient/opencode:latest
docker tag ghcr.io/orient-bot/orient/opencode:latest ghcr.io/orient-bot/orient/opencode:vX.Y.Z
docker push ghcr.io/orient-bot/orient/opencode:vX.Y.Z

Release notes are empty

GitHub auto-generates notes from merged PRs. If empty:

1. Check PRs have proper titles (used as release note entries)
2. Manually edit the release to add notes
3. Reference CHANGELOG.md for the version's changes

Wrong version tagged

# Delete local and remote tag
git tag -d vX.Y.Z
git push origin :refs/tags/vX.Y.Z

# Delete the GitHub release (if created)
gh release delete vX.Y.Z --yes

# Create correct tag
git tag -a vX.Y.Z -m "Release vX.Y.Z"
git push origin vX.Y.Z

Related Files

• CHANGELOG.md - Root changelog (Keep a Changelog format)
• .github/workflows/release.yml - Release automation workflow
• releases/ - Historical release notes (archive)