Author's Note: Filed by Claude Opus 4.7 (Claude Code) during session b5a17132-7324-46e1-b73e-038825bb4d55 at @tobiu's request after the Anthropic-vs-Neo skill-creator comparison surfaced during PR #10317 review. Filed deliberately vague + low-priority per @tobiu's framing: "release: CI complex topic. we can create a ticket to create a new agent skill. keep it vague, low prio before we finish the roadmap release scope."
Context
Releases (npm publish, version bumps, changelog generation, release-notes drafting, CI workflow orchestration, post-release sync work) currently lack a dedicated agent skill. Agents picking up release-adjacent work re-derive the protocol from package.json scripts, prior commit messages, and ad-hoc learn/ references each time. This is the canonical shape of a skill-needed-but-absent — same pattern that motivated pull-request, pr-review, ticket-intake, etc.
The Problem
Release-CI work spans multiple substrates simultaneously:
- Build (
npm run build-all, dist generation, sourcemap correctness)
- Versioning (semver decisions,
package.json + package-lock.json + monorepo-equivalent updates)
- Publish (npm registry, scope visibility, dry-runs, token safety)
- Documentation (changelog regeneration, release notes drafting from PR titles, learn/blog updates)
- CI (workflow triggers, environment-specific gates, post-release sync workflows)
- Communication (release-announcement Discussions / blog posts / social)
Without a skill, the agent's mental model is reconstructed from scratch each release cycle — re-derivation as a failure mode (per feedback_memory_before_forensics memory). The skill substrate exists to compress recurring multi-substrate workflows into directive-redirect form.
Acceptance Criteria
Scope deliberately under-specified at filing time. Concrete ACs to be drafted at pickup, post-v12.2-roadmap-completion. Skeleton:
Out of Scope (this ticket)
- Pre-designing the skill's body content. Scope is to file the work item, not prescribe the solution. Designer-at-pickup chooses approach.
- The v12.2 release itself. This ticket is gated behind the release shipping. Doing the release is the prerequisite, not the deliverable.
- Empirical eval infrastructure for the skill. That's Discussion #10320's territory (orthogonal substrate question). The release skill ships under current Neo conventions; if #10320 graduates to substrate adoption later, the release skill can be retrofitted.
Deferral Gate (Hard Prerequisite)
This ticket MUST NOT be picked up until v12.2 release ships. Rationale:
- The skill's content is informed by what release work actually looks like — without recent empirical anchor (the v12.2 cycle itself), authoring is speculation.
- Roadmap focus discipline — opening release-skill work concurrent with release-cycle work fragments attention on the priority deliverable.
- v12.2 cycle becomes the natural reference implementation for the skill's
Anchor & Echo framing.
Pickup signal: v12.2 published to npm + release notes filed + post-release sync complete.
Related
- #10320 — Discussion on empirical eval infrastructure for skills (orthogonal substrate question; this ticket ships under current conventions, can be retrofitted later if #10320 graduates)
- #10314 / #10315 —
.claude/skills/ symlink mandate (this skill must follow)
- #10317 — Workspace-relative path convention (this skill must follow)
- #10283 — Pre-Authoring Adjacency Sweep for Meta-Skills (this skill must consult
create-skill before authoring per the §10283 mandate)
- #10276 — Pre-authoring adjacency sweep (general)
pull-request skill — closest neighbor; release skill picks up where pull-request leaves off (after-merge work)
Origin Session ID: b5a17132-7324-46e1-b73e-038825bb4d55
Retrieval Hint: "release skill agent CI npm publish version bump changelog release-notes deferred-until-v12.2 directive-redirect"
Context
Releases (
npm publish, version bumps, changelog generation, release-notes drafting, CI workflow orchestration, post-release sync work) currently lack a dedicated agent skill. Agents picking up release-adjacent work re-derive the protocol frompackage.jsonscripts, prior commit messages, and ad-hoclearn/references each time. This is the canonical shape of a skill-needed-but-absent — same pattern that motivatedpull-request,pr-review,ticket-intake, etc.The Problem
Release-CI work spans multiple substrates simultaneously:
npm run build-all, dist generation, sourcemap correctness)package.json+package-lock.json+ monorepo-equivalent updates)Without a skill, the agent's mental model is reconstructed from scratch each release cycle — re-derivation as a failure mode (per
feedback_memory_before_forensicsmemory). The skill substrate exists to compress recurring multi-substrate workflows into directive-redirect form.Acceptance Criteria
Scope deliberately under-specified at filing time. Concrete ACs to be drafted at pickup, post-v12.2-roadmap-completion. Skeleton:
.agent/skills/<name>/(name TBD —release,release-workflow,release-cycle, etc.)create-skillconventionsreferences/<name>.md) covers the major substrate areas listed abovepull-requestskill should mention the release skill where relevant;AGENTS_STARTUP.md §9 Workflow skills listupdated.claude/skills/per #10314 / #10315 conventionOut of Scope (this ticket)
Deferral Gate (Hard Prerequisite)
This ticket MUST NOT be picked up until v12.2 release ships. Rationale:
Anchor & Echoframing.Pickup signal: v12.2 published to npm + release notes filed + post-release sync complete.
Related
.claude/skills/symlink mandate (this skill must follow)create-skillbefore authoring per the §10283 mandate)pull-requestskill — closest neighbor; release skill picks up where pull-request leaves off (after-merge work)Origin Session ID:
b5a17132-7324-46e1-b73e-038825bb4d55Retrieval Hint:"release skill agent CI npm publish version bump changelog release-notes deferred-until-v12.2 directive-redirect"