Release Engineering Skill

This skill provides a comprehensive guide for managing the release lifecycle of the Upnext Android application. It encapsulates logic for GitHub Actions, Fastlane, Semantic Versioning, and troubleshooting.

🚀 Triggering a Release

The release pipeline is fully automated via GitHub Actions, prioritizing stability and reducing noise.

1. Nightly Scheduled Builds (CD)

Automated deployments run daily at 2:00 AM UTC via .github/workflows/deploy.yml. This batches all dependency updates and merges from the day into a single release.

Triggers:

• •Schedule: cron: '0 2 * * *'
• •Manual: workflow_dispatch (Run via GitHub Actions UI)

Process:

1. •Versioning: Bumps VERSION_CODE and VERSION_NAME in version.properties.
2. •Build: Generates signed Release Bundle (.aab).
3. •Distribution: Fastlane uploads to Google Play Internal Track.
4. •Tagging: Pushes a git tag (e.g., v2025.1.4-215).

Critical Implementation Detail (GitHub Releases): For scheduled builds, the workflow runs on the main branch ref (refs/heads/main), not the tag ref. To ensure a GitHub Release is attached to the newly created tag:

1. •Fastlane updates version.properties.
2. •The workflow explicitly reads VERSION_NAME and VERSION_CODE from the updated file.
3. •It constructs the tag name (v{NAME}-{CODE}) and passes it to the softprops/action-gh-release action. Do not rely on github.ref for scheduled release tagging.

2. Pull Request Verification (CI)

Every Pull Request to main undergoes strict quality checks via .github/workflows/pull_request.yml.

Checks Run:

• •KtLint: ktlintCheck (Code Style)
• •Detekt: detekt (Static Analysis)
• •Android Lint: lintDebug (Android best practices, permissions, security)
• •Unit Tests: testDebugUnitTest
• •Release Integrity: assembleRelease (Verifies R8/ProGuard shrinking without crashing)

Note on Signing in Pull Requests: PR builds do not have access to production signing keys. app/build.gradle is configured to fallback to debug signing automatically when the release keystore is missing. This allows assembleRelease to verify compilation and shrinking logic in CI without needing secrets.

🛠 Manual Release & Debugging

You can run the release logic locally using Fastlane to verify builds before pushing.

Prerequisites

• •fastlane installed.
• •key.properties present (or environment variables set).
• •service-account.json for Google Play API access.

Commands

Run Internal Track Deployment locally:

fastlane deploy_internal

Note: This will perform the build, signing, and upload to Google Play, and will commit/tag version bumps.

Run Specific CI Checks Locally:

# Verify Code Style
./gradlew ktlintCheck

# Verify Static Analysis
./gradlew detekt

# Verify Android Lint
./gradlew lintDebug

# Verify Release Build (Compilation + R8)
./gradlew assembleRelease

📦 Versioning Strategy

Upnext uses Calendar Versioning (CalVer): YYYY.M.Patch

• •Major: Year (e.g., 2025)
• •Minor: Month (e.g., 1 for January)
• •Patch: Incremental number for releases within that month.

File: version.properties

VERSION_CODE=214
VERSION_NAME=2025.1.4

Automated Bumping: The Fastfile (deploy_internal lane) automatically:

1. •Increments VERSION_CODE for every build.
2. •Sets VERSION_NAME to YYYY.M.1 (if new month) or YYYY.M.Patch+1 (if same month).

🔧 Troubleshooting Guide

1. HTTP 403 / "Title Unknown" (Trakt API)

• •Symptom: App runs, but data fails to load or showing titles are missing.
• •Cause: Missing Trakt API Client ID/Secret in local.properties or Secrets.
• •Fix: Ensure TRAKT_CLIENT_ID and TRAKT_CLIENT_SECRET are set in GitHub Actions Secrets.

2. Release Build "Missing Keystore"

• •Symptom: assembleRelease fails with SigningConfig "release" is missing required property "storeFile".
• •Context: This should NOT happen in CI anymore due to our fallback logic.
• •Fix: Check app/build.gradle. Ensure the buildTypes.release block contains the fallback logic:
  groovy

  if (signingConfigs.release.storeFile != null) { ... } else { signingConfig signingConfigs.debug }
  

3. Missing Resources / Permissions (Lint Failures)

• •Symptom: lintDebug fails with "Missing permission" (e.g., WAKE_LOCK) or "Resource not found".
• •Cause: Multi-module projects (core:common, core:data) often need their own AndroidManifest.xml and resource definitions to satisfy lint, even if the app module provides them.
• •Fix: Add AndroidManifest.xml with <uses-permission> to the specific module (e.g., core/common/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml) or define the missing resource in that module.

4. Git Identity Issues

• •Symptom: "Please tell me who you are" during CI/CD.
• •Fix: The deploy.yml configures git user/email before tagging using github-actions[bot].

📂 Key Files

• •.github/workflows/deploy.yml: Nightly CD workflow.
• •.github/workflows/pull_request.yml: PR CI workflow.
• •fastlane/Fastfile: Build automation script.
• •version.properties: App version definition.
• •app/build.gradle: Build & signing configuration.