Release Management

Learn how to prepare and publish releases using the changelog-driven release system where updating CHANGELOG.md files automatically triggers release workflows.

In This Section

Foundational Guides

Core Workflow Guides

Tag Creation

Release Artifacts

Maintenance

Changelog-Driven System Overview

This system uses changelog-driven releases where updating module changelogs automatically triggers releases through CI/CD automation.

Release artifacts live in the centralized release/<module>/ folders for published and bundle modules. Internal modules have changelogs in their module roots. See:

• Understanding Release Types - Learn the release type system
• Understanding the Release Folder - Details on folder structure and changelog locations

How It Works

Legend:

• Blue boxes (1-4) = 🧑 Manual actions you perform
• Yellow boxes (5-8) = 🤖 Automated CI/CD actions

Key principle: The CHANGELOG.md file is the source of truth. When you merge an updated changelog to main, CI automatically creates a git tag and triggers the release workflow. You don't create tags manually.

Note: This diagram shows the CDe (Continuous Deployment) pattern. For regulated environments requiring formal approval, see Release Workflow Variants for the RA (Release Approval) pattern that uses release branches.

Choosing Your Release Pattern

The repository supports two release patterns based on the CD Model variants:

Both patterns use the same changelog preparation process but diverge at the approval stage:

• CDe: Merge to main → Auto-tag → Auto-deploy
• RA: Commit to main → Create release branch → Manual approval → Deploy

See Release Workflow Variants for complete workflows and selection guidance.

Release Workflow (CDe Pattern)

Manual Phase (You Perform)

Steps you take to prepare a release:

1. Check pending changes - Determine if module has unreleased commits

eac release pending <module>

1. Generate changelog - Create changelog entries from conventional commits

eac release this <module>

1. Review and validate - Ensure changelog accuracy and format

cat release/<module>/CHANGELOG.md
eac validate release <module>

1. Verify CI status - Confirm all tests pass

eac release check-ci --workflow ci-<module>.yml --commit $(git rev-parse HEAD)

1. Commit and create PR - Submit changelog changes for review

git add release/<module>/CHANGELOG.md
git commit -m "release(<module>): prepare <version> release"
gh pr create

1. Get approval and merge - PR review, then merge to main

After merge: Automation takes over.

Automated Phase (CI Performs)

Steps CI performs automatically after PR merge:

1. Detect changelog changes - Workflow detects updated changelogs

2. Create git tag - Tag created in format {module}/{version}

3. Build and publish release - Module-specific workflow runs

4. Builds artifacts
5. Generates attestations
6. Creates GitHub release
7. Uploads artifacts

See: Prepare Module Release for complete step-by-step instructions.

Versioning Schemes

Semantic Versioning (SemVer)

Format: MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH (e.g., 1.2.3)

Bump rules:

• PATCH: Bug fixes (fix: commits)
• MINOR: New features (feat: commits)
• MAJOR: Breaking changes (feat!:, BREAKING CHANGE:)

Calendar Versioning (CalVer)

Format: YYYY.MMDD (e.g., 2026.0109)

Bump rules: Version is the date when release is created

Common Release Scenarios

Releasing After Bug Fixes (SemVer)

# 1. Check what needs releasing
eac release pending my-module
# Output: next_version: 1.2.4 (patch)

# 2. Generate changelog
eac release this my-module

# 3. Review, validate, commit, PR
cat release/my-module/CHANGELOG.md
eac validate release my-module
git add release/my-module/CHANGELOG.md
git commit -m "release(my-module): prepare 1.2.4 release"
gh pr create

# 4. Merge after approval
# Then CI automatically creates tag and publishes release

Releasing Documentation (CalVer)

# 1. Check what needs releasing
eac release pending my-docs
# Output: next_version: 2026.0109 (CalVer)

# 2. Generate changelog
eac release this my-docs

# 3. Review, validate, commit, PR, merge
# Then CI automatically deploys

Key Concepts

Changelog-Driven: Releases are triggered by merging changelog updates, not by manual tagging

Manual vs Automated: You update changelogs and create PRs; CI creates tags and publishes releases

Tag Format: {module}/{version} (e.g., my-module/1.2.3, my-calver-module/2026.0109)

Quality Gates: CI enforces quality requirements before release (test pass rate, coverage, security, etc.)

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