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Release Process

This document describes how to create a new release of MCPShell.

Automated Release with GitHub Actions

MCPShell uses GoReleaser and GitHub Actions to automatically build and publish releases when a new tag is pushed.

Prerequisites

  • Clean git working directory (no uncommitted changes)
  • Push access to the repository
  • All tests passing on main branch

Creating a Release

  1. Prepare the release (automated via Makefile):

    make release

    This will:

    • Check that your repository is clean
    • Show existing tags
    • Prompt you for a new version tag (e.g., v1.2.3)
    • Update version references in documentation
    • Commit the documentation changes
    • Create the git tag locally

  2. Push the tag to trigger the release:

    git push origin main v1.2.3

    Replace v1.2.3 with your actual tag. The Makefile output will show you the exact command to run.

  3. GitHub Actions will automatically:

    • Run all tests
    • Build binaries for multiple platforms:
      • Linux (amd64, arm64)
      • macOS (amd64, arm64)
      • Windows (amd64)
    • Create archives (tar.gz for Linux/macOS, zip for Windows)
    • Generate checksums
    • Create a GitHub release with all artifacts
    • Generate a changelog from commit messages

Supported Platforms

The release process builds binaries for the following platforms:

OS Architecture Format
Linux amd64 tar.gz
Linux arm64 tar.gz
macOS amd64 (Intel) tar.gz
macOS arm64 (Apple Silicon) tar.gz
Windows amd64 zip

Testing Releases Locally

Before creating an official release, you can test the GoReleaser configuration:

# Validate the GoReleaser configuration
make release-test

# Build a snapshot release locally (without publishing)
make release-snapshot

The snapshot release will create all binaries in the ./dist/ directory without creating a GitHub release.

Version Numbering

MCPShell follows Semantic Versioning:

  • MAJOR version (v2.0.0): Incompatible API changes
  • MINOR version (v1.1.0): New functionality in a backward-compatible manner
  • PATCH version (v1.0.1): Backward-compatible bug fixes

Pre-release Versions

You can also create pre-release versions:

  • Alpha: v1.2.0-alpha.1
  • Beta: v1.2.0-beta.1
  • Release Candidate: v1.2.0-rc.1

GoReleaser will automatically mark these as pre-releases on GitHub.

Changelog Generation

The changelog is automatically generated from commit messages. To ensure good changelogs, follow these commit message conventions:

  • feat: ... - New features
  • fix: ... - Bug fixes
  • perf: ... - Performance improvements
  • docs: ... - Documentation changes (excluded from changelog)
  • test: ... - Test changes (excluded from changelog)
  • chore: ... - Maintenance tasks (excluded from changelog)

Example:

feat: add support for custom templates
fix: resolve timeout issue in agent runtime
perf: optimize command execution pipeline

Release Assets

Each release includes:

  1. Binaries - Compiled executables for each platform
  2. Archives - Compressed archives containing:
    • The binary
    • LICENSE file
    • README.md
    • All documentation (docs/)
    • All examples (examples/)
  3. Checksums - SHA256 checksums for all files
  4. Source code - Automatic GitHub source archives (zip and tar.gz)

Troubleshooting

Release failed

If the GitHub Action fails:

  1. Check the Actions tab on GitHub
  2. Review the error logs
  3. Fix the issue
  4. Delete the tag locally and remotely: 
    git tag -d v1.2.3
git push origin :refs/tags/v1.2.3
  5. Start the release process again

GoReleaser configuration errors

Test your configuration locally before pushing:

make release-test

Binary doesn't work on target platform

Test locally with:

make release-snapshot

Then test the binaries in ./dist/ on your target platforms.

CI/CD Pipeline

The repository also includes a CI workflow that runs on every push and pull request:

  • Tests: Runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows
  • Linting: Runs golangci-lint
  • Build: Builds the binary
  • Validation: Validates example configurations

This ensures that the main branch is always in a releasable state.

Manual Release (Advanced)

If you need to create a release without using GitHub Actions:

  1. Install GoReleaser:

    brew install goreleaser  # macOS
# or
go install github.com/goreleaser/goreleaser/v2@latest

  2. Create and push the tag:

    git tag -a v1.2.3 -m "Version 1.2.3"
git push origin v1.2.3

  3. Run GoReleaser manually:

    export GITHUB_TOKEN="your-github-token"
goreleaser release --clean

This is not recommended for regular releases but can be useful for testing or emergency situations.