Restructure release skill into ordered phases with verification gates#5500
Merged
Conversation
- Group the 12 steps into 5 phases (Prep, GitHub PRs, ADO mirror, Signed pipelines, Publish) so the dependency chain is explicit - Verify the release commit landed (`git log -1 --format=%s`) before pushing to ADO, and wait for ADO PR `status=completed` before queuing pipelines -- phase 4 builds against `refs/heads/main` and would silently produce the wrong version if either gate were skipped - Split phase 4 into separate steps for PSES and vscode-powershell so the agent can notify me when each pipeline hits its manual approval stage - Drop the old "publishing the tag triggers marketplace" line: the vscode-powershell pipeline pushes to marketplace directly after approval, only the GitHub drafts need a manual publish - Use `gh release edit <tag> --repo <owner>/<repo> --generate-notes` to populate draft release bodies - Reference `release infrastructure` and `release maintainers` memory entries so private contacts stay out of the repo - Drop redundant rationale where the command itself already encodes the fix Drafted by Copilot (Claude Opus 4.7).
There was a problem hiding this comment.
Pull request overview
This PR refactors the release skill documentation (.github/skills/release/SKILL.md) into explicit, ordered phases with verification gates to help an automation agent follow the intended dependency chain and avoid skipping critical steps.
Changes:
- Reorganized the release workflow into 5 phases (Prep → GitHub PRs → ADO mirror → Signed pipelines → Publish).
- Added explicit gating/verification checks before mirroring to Azure DevOps and before queuing signed pipelines.
- Updated the publish flow guidance to reflect that the marketplace publish occurs via the signed pipeline, with GitHub Releases remaining manual to publish.
| 3. **Run `updateVersion.ps1`** in PSES first, then vscode-powershell: | ||
|
|
||
| ```sh | ||
| git checkout -B release |
Comment on lines
+40
to
+45
| 4. **Push and open PRs.** `git push origin release`, then open a PR to `main` via the | ||
| GitHub MCP `create_pull_request` tool. Title is the commit subject | ||
| (`v<version>: <summary>`). DM the GitHub PR reviewer on Teams with both PR links. | ||
| 5. **Enable auto-squash-merge** on both PRs: | ||
| `gh pr merge --repo <owner>/<repo> <number> --squash --auto`. | ||
| 6. **Wait for both PRs to merge** (`gh pr view ... --json state,statusCheckRollup`). |
Comment on lines
+50
to
+56
| 7. **Sync `main` and push to ADO `upstream`** in both repos (PSES first). The verify | ||
| step must print the release commit subject (`v<version>: <summary>`); if it doesn't, | ||
| the PR hasn't merged yet — stop and wait. | ||
|
|
||
| ```sh | ||
| git checkout main && git pull --ff-only origin main | ||
| git log -1 --format=%s |
Comment on lines
+86
to
+93
| 10. **Queue the PSES pipeline** on `refs/heads/main` with template parameters | ||
| `Release=True OfficialBuild=True`. Notify the user when it reaches the approval | ||
| stage, then wait for `result == succeeded`. On success the pipeline creates a | ||
| draft GitHub Release in PSES. | ||
| 11. **Queue the vscode-powershell pipeline** the same way. Notify the user at its | ||
| approval stage. On success the pipeline creates a draft GitHub Release in | ||
| vscode-powershell _and_ publishes the extension to the VS Code marketplace. | ||
|
|
SydneyhSmith
approved these changes
May 18, 2026
This file contains hidden or bidirectional Unicode text that may be interpreted or compiled differently than what appears below. To review, open the file in an editor that reveals hidden Unicode characters.
Learn more about bidirectional Unicode characters
Sign up for free
to join this conversation on GitHub.
Already have an account?
Sign in to comment
Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.This suggestion is invalid because no changes were made to the code.Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is closed.Suggestions cannot be applied while viewing a subset of changes.Only one suggestion per line can be applied in a batch.Add this suggestion to a batch that can be applied as a single commit.Applying suggestions on deleted lines is not supported.You must change the existing code in this line in order to create a valid suggestion.Outdated suggestions cannot be applied.This suggestion has been applied or marked resolved.Suggestions cannot be applied from pending reviews.Suggestions cannot be applied on multi-line comments.Suggestions cannot be applied while the pull request is queued to merge.Suggestion cannot be applied right now. Please check back later.
Reorganizes
.github/skills/release/SKILL.mdso the release automation has anexplicit dependency chain and the gates between phases can't be skipped.
Highlights
each step's prerequisites are obvious.
git log -1 --format=%safter pullingmainconfirms the release commitlanded before pushing to ADO.
status=completedbefore queuing the signed pipelines —phase 4 builds against
refs/heads/mainand would silently produce thewrong version if the upstream→main PRs hadn't merged.
agent surfaces each pipeline's manual approval stage.
Code marketplace directly after approval; only the GitHub drafts still need a
manual publish, populated via
gh release edit <tag> --repo <owner>/<repo> --generate-notes.release infrastructure,release maintainers) keeporg/project IDs and reviewer/approver identities out of the repo.
the fix.
Drafted by Copilot (Claude Opus 4.7).