Release Manager Skill

Manages the full release workflow for Django4Lyfe backend releases to production.

When to Use This Skill

•Creating release PRs against master branch
•Preparing hotfix releases
•Bumping versions in pyproject.toml
•Resolving merge conflicts between release and master
•Publishing GitHub releases after PRs are merged
•Checking what commits are on release but not on master

Core Workflow

1. Check What Needs Releasing

bash

git fetch origin master release
git log origin/master..origin/release --oneline

This shows commits on release that are not yet on master.

2. Create Release PR (Clean Cherry-Pick Method)

Always use the cherry-pick method to avoid merge conflicts:

bash

# 1. Create branch from master
git checkout origin/master
git checkout -b release-YYYY-MM-DD[-N]

# 2. Cherry-pick new commits (only the ones not already on master)
git cherry-pick <commit-hash>

# 3. Bump version in pyproject.toml
# Format: YYYY.MM.DD for first release, YYYY.MM.DD-N for subsequent releases

# 4. Update lock file
uv lock

# 5. Commit version bump
git add pyproject.toml uv.lock
git commit -m "Version bump to YYYY.MM.DD[-N]"

# 6. Push and create PR
git push -u origin release-YYYY-MM-DD[-N]
gh pr create --base master --title "Release: DDth Month YYYY" --body "- PR_URL_1
- PR_URL_2"

3. Version Numbering Convention

Scenario	Version Format	Example
First release of day	`YYYY.MM.DD`	`2026.01.21`
Second release	`YYYY.MM.DD-2`	`2026.01.21-2`
Third release	`YYYY.MM.DD-3`	`2026.01.21-3`
Hotfix release	`YYYY.MM.DD` or `YYYY.MM.DD-N`	`2026.01.21`

4. PR Title and Body Format

Title patterns:

•Regular release: Release: 21st January 2026
•Multiple same-day: Release 2: 21st January 2026
•Hotfix: Hotfix Release: 21st January 2026

Body format:

markdown

- https://github.com/DiversioTeam/Django4Lyfe/pull/XXXX
- https://github.com/DiversioTeam/Django4Lyfe/pull/YYYY

5. Resolve Conflicts (If Any)

If cherry-pick fails or conflicts exist:

bash

# Check for conflicts
git fetch origin master
git merge origin/master --no-commit

# If conflicts, resolve them:
# 1. Edit conflicted files to keep correct changes
# 2. For uv.lock conflicts, regenerate:
git checkout --theirs uv.lock
uv lock

# 3. Stage resolved files
git add <resolved-files>

# 4. Complete merge
git commit -m "Merge origin/master into release-branch"

6. Publish GitHub Release

After PR is merged to master, create a GitHub release:

Step 1: Verify PR is merged

bash

gh pr view <PR_NUMBER> --json state,mergeCommit,mergedAt
# Should show: "state": "MERGED"

Step 2: Check recent releases for format consistency

bash

gh release list --limit 5

Step 3: Get PR details for release notes

bash

# Get the PR body which contains the list of included PRs
gh pr view <PR_NUMBER> --json body,title

Step 4: Create the GitHub release

bash

gh release create YYYY.MM.DD[-N] \
  --title "Release Title" \
  --notes "$(cat <<'EOF'
- https://github.com/DiversioTeam/Django4Lyfe/pull/XXXX
- https://github.com/DiversioTeam/Django4Lyfe/pull/YYYY
EOF
)" \
  --target master

GitHub Release Title Patterns

Release Type	Tag	Title
First of day	`2026.01.21`	`January 21st 2026`
Second release	`2026.01.21-2`	`Release 2: January 21st 2026`
Third release	`2026.01.21-3`	`Release 3: January 21st 2026`
Hotfix	`2026.01.21`	`Hotfix Release: January 21st 2026`

Step 5: Verify release was created

bash

gh release list --limit 3
# Or view specific release:
gh release view YYYY.MM.DD[-N]

Complete Example

bash

# 1. Check PR is merged
gh pr view 2608 --json state,mergeCommit,mergedAt

# 2. Create release (using heredoc for multi-line notes)
gh release create 2026.01.21 \
  --title "January 21st 2026" \
  --notes "$(cat <<'EOF'
- https://github.com/DiversioTeam/Django4Lyfe/pull/2607
EOF
)" \
  --target master

# 3. Verify
gh release list --limit 3

Pre-Release Checks

Before creating a release PR, verify:

•
Ruff formatting passes:
bash
```
./.security/ruff_pr_diff.sh
```
If it fails, fix with:
bash
```
.bin/ruff format <file>
```

•

RLS policies for new models:

bash

# Check status
.bin/django optimo_bootstrap_support_shell_rls

# Apply if needed (safe for production)
.bin/django optimo_bootstrap_support_shell_rls --apply

Output Shape

When reporting release status:

code

Created: https://github.com/DiversioTeam/Django4Lyfe/pull/XXXX

**Summary:**
- Version: `YYYY.MM.DD[-N]`
- Title: "Release: DDth Month YYYY"
- Target: `master`
- Conflicts: None / Resolved

**Included PRs:**
- #XXXX - Description
- #YYYY - Description

When listing releases:

code

| Release | Tag | PRs Included |
|---------|-----|--------------|
| Release Name | `tag` | #PR1, #PR2 |

Important Rules

•Always cherry-pick from master - Avoids complex merge conflicts
•Never force push - Release branches should have clean history
•Check date before versioning - Use current date, not yesterday's
•Run uv lock after version bump - Lock file must match pyproject.toml
•List all PRs in release body - Use full GitHub URLs
•Verify PR is merged before publishing release - Check with gh pr view
•Always publish GitHub release after merge - Every merged release PR needs a corresponding GitHub release
•Tag must match version in pyproject.toml - e.g., version 2026.01.21-2 = tag 2026.01.21-2

Full End-to-End Example

Here's a complete example of releasing PR #2607:

bash

# 1. Check what needs releasing
git fetch origin master release
git log origin/master..origin/release --oneline
# Output: dd9112bebf #GH-4420: ... (#2607)

# 2. Check today's date
date  # Wed Jan 21 2026

# 3. Create clean branch from master
git checkout origin/master
git checkout -b release-2026-01-21

# 4. Cherry-pick the new commit
git cherry-pick dd9112bebf

# 5. Bump version
sed -i '' 's/version = ".*"/version = "2026.01.21"/' pyproject.toml

# 6. Update lock file
uv lock

# 7. Commit version bump
git add pyproject.toml uv.lock
git commit -m "Version bump to 2026.01.21"

# 8. Push and create PR
git push -u origin release-2026-01-21
gh pr create --base master \
  --title "Release: 21st January 2026" \
  --body "- https://github.com/DiversioTeam/Django4Lyfe/pull/2607"

# 9. After PR is merged, publish GitHub release
gh pr view 2608 --json state  # Verify merged
gh release create 2026.01.21 \
  --title "January 21st 2026" \
  --notes "- https://github.com/DiversioTeam/Django4Lyfe/pull/2607" \
  --target master

# 10. Verify release
gh release list --limit 3

Quick Reference Commands

bash

# Check what's pending release
git fetch origin master release && git log origin/master..origin/release --oneline

# Check current version
grep '^version' pyproject.toml

# List recent releases
gh release list --limit 10

# Check PR status
gh pr view <NUMBER> --json state,mergeable,mergeCommit

# View release details
gh release view <TAG> --json body,tagName,name

Error Recovery

Cherry-pick conflict

bash

git cherry-pick --abort  # Start over
# Or resolve and continue:
git add <resolved-files>
git cherry-pick --continue

Wrong version bumped

bash

# Edit pyproject.toml to correct version
uv lock
git add pyproject.toml uv.lock
git commit --amend -m "Version bump to correct-version"
git push --force-with-lease  # Only if not yet reviewed

PR created against wrong base

bash

gh pr close <NUMBER>
# Create new PR with correct base
gh pr create --base master ...