Version Bump & Release Workflow skill

Version Bump & Release Workflow

IMPORTANT: Plan and write detailed release notes before starting.

CRITICAL: Commit EVERYTHING (including build artifacts). At the end of this workflow, NOTHING should be left uncommitted or unpushed. Run git status at the end to verify.

Preparation

1. Analyze: Determine if the change is PATCH (bug fixes), MINOR (features), or MAJOR (breaking).

2. Environment: Identify repository owner/name from git remote -v.

3. Paths — every file that carries the version string:

   • package.json — the npm/npx-published version (npx [email protected] resolves from this)
   • plugin/package.json — bundled plugin runtime deps
   • .claude-plugin/marketplace.json — version inside plugins[0].version
   • .claude-plugin/plugin.json — top-level Claude-plugin manifest
   • plugin/.claude-plugin/plugin.json — bundled Claude-plugin manifest
   • .codex-plugin/plugin.json — Codex-plugin manifest
   • plugin/.codex-plugin/plugin.json — bundled Codex-plugin manifest
   • openclaw/openclaw.plugin.json — OpenClaw plugin manifest
   • .grok-plugin/plugin.json — Grok plugin manifest
   • claude-mem-cursor/.cursor-plugin/plugin.json — Cursor plugin manifest
   • claude-mem-grok-bot/.cursor-plugin/plugin.json — Grok Bot Cursor plugin manifest
   • README.md — the version badge (version-X.Y.Z-green), not a "version" key

   Verify coverage before editing: git grep -l "\"version\": \"<OLD>\"" should list the eleven JSON files above, and git grep -n "version-<OLD>-green" the README badge. If a new manifest has been added since this doc was last updated, update this list.

Workflow

1. Update: Increment the version string in every path above. Do NOT touch CHANGELOG.md — it's regenerated.

2. Verify: git grep -n "\"version\": \"<NEW>\"" — confirm all eleven JSON files match, and the README badge reads version-<NEW>-green. git grep -n "\"version\": \"<OLD>\"" — should return zero hits.

3. Build and sync: npm run build-and-sync to regenerate artifacts, sync the local marketplace copy, restart the worker, and clear the queue. Do not use plain npm run build for release validation because it can leave the local marketplace/worker out of sync.

4. Commit: git add -A && git commit -m "chore: bump version to X.Y.Z".

5. Tag: git tag -a vX.Y.Z -m "Version X.Y.Z".

6. Push: git push origin main && git push origin vX.Y.Z.

7. GitHub release: gh release create vX.Y.Z --title "vX.Y.Z" --notes "RELEASE_NOTES".

8. Changelog: Regenerate via the project's changelog script:

   npm run changelog:generate
   

   (Runs node scripts/generate-changelog.js, which pulls releases from the GitHub API and rewrites CHANGELOG.md.)

9. Sync changelog: Commit and push the updated CHANGELOG.md.

10. Pre-handoff audit: Verify the release commit, tag, GitHub release, and changelog are pushed; confirm the release worktree has no pending tracked changes; and ensure its build dependencies are present because prepublishOnly rebuilds the package. If npm view [email protected] version already resolves, skip the handoff and continue with post-publish checks.

11. Final human handoff — publish to npm. Do not stop in the middle of the workflow for npm. Finish every agent-owned preparation above first, then make this the final human-required action.

    The human maintainer's credentials/2FA are required. The agent MUST NOT run npm publish (or np / npm run release:*, which also publish). Give the exact release-worktree path and this command as the only requested action:

    npm publish   # run by the HUMAN — prepublishOnly rebuilds the package
    

    Wait for confirmation. Do not ask the human to perform any other release step afterward.

12. Post-publish verification and notification: After confirmation, verify both the exact version and the latest dist-tag:

    npm view [email protected] version
    npm view claude-mem version
    

    If the publish build touched tracked artifacts, run npm run build-and-sync, review the result, and commit/push any legitimate changes. Then run the Discord notification from ~/Scripts/claude-mem/, where the .env with webhook details lives:

    cd ~/Scripts/claude-mem/ && npm run discord:notify vX.Y.Z
    

    Do this only after npm verification, and even when the release worktree does not have a local .env.

13. Finalize: git status — working tree must be clean and everything must be pushed. Only automated verification, notification, and cleanup may occur after the final human handoff.

Checklist

• All twelve version files (eleven JSON manifests and the README badge) have matching versions
• git grep for old version returns zero hits
• npm run build-and-sync succeeded
• Git tag created and pushed
• GitHub release created with notes
• CHANGELOG.md updated and pushed
• Pre-handoff audit passed; no agent-owned release preparation remains
• NPM publishing handed off as the final human-required action (agent does NOT run it)
• Exact npm version and latest both verified after the human publishes
• Discord notification run from ~/Scripts/claude-mem/ only after npm verification
• git status shows clean tree