alchemist/RELEASING.md

Releasing Alchemist

RC cut

Use the repo bump script for version changes:

just bump 0.3.0-rc.2

Then complete the release-candidate preflight:

1. Update CHANGELOG.md and docs/docs/changelog.md.
2. Run just release-check.
3. Verify the repo version surfaces all read 0.3.0-rc.2.
4. Complete the manual smoke checklist:
   • Docker fresh install over plain HTTP, including login and first dashboard load
   • One packaged binary install and first-run setup
   • Upgrade from an existing 0.2.x instance with data preserved
   • One successful encode, one skip, one intentional failure, and one notification test send
5. Complete the Windows contributor follow-up on a real Windows machine:
   • just install-w
   • just dev
   • just check
   • Note that broader utility and release recipes remain Unix-first for RC.2.
6. Commit the release-prep changes and merge them to main.
7. Create the annotated tag v0.3.0-rc.2 on the exact merged commit.

Stable promotion

Promote to stable only after the RC burn-in is complete and the same automated preflight is still green.

1. Run just bump 0.3.0.
2. Update CHANGELOG.md and docs/docs/changelog.md for the stable cut.
3. Run just release-check.
4. Re-run the manual smoke checklist against the final release artifacts:
   • Docker fresh install
   • Packaged binary first-run
   • Upgrade from the most recent 0.2.x or 0.3.0-rc.x
   • Encode, skip, failure, and notification verification
5. Re-run the Windows contributor verification checklist if Windows parity changed after RC.2.
6. Confirm release notes, docs, and hardware-support wording match the tested release state.
7. Merge the stable release commit to main.
8. Create the annotated tag v0.3.0 on the exact merged commit.