This guide outlines the process for creating and publishing a release of the plugin. Follow these steps to ensure a smooth, consistent release process.

1. Prepare Your Codebase

• Merge and Finalize Changes:

  Ensure all changes intended for the release are merged into a dedicated release branch. Update the version number in both your main plugin PHP header and in the readme.txt file according to Semantic Versioning (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH). Document the changes, bug fixes, or new features in your release notes.

• Release Branch Process:

  • Create a release branch from the main branch (e.g., release/v1.0.0).
  • Merge all feature branches and fixes into this release branch.
  • Once everything is ready, perform a squash merge of the release branch into the main branch. This ensures that only one commit is added to main for the release, keeping your commit history clean.

2. Create a Release Tag

• Create an Annotated Tag: After the release branch is merged into main, create an annotated tag for your release:

  git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "Release v1.0.0: [brief summary of changes]"
  
  

• Push the Tag to GitHub:

  git push origin v1.0.0
  
  

3. CI/CD Pipeline

When you push a new tag, the GitHub Actions workflow automatically triggers:

• Build Process:

  The workflow checks out your repository, installs dependencies, and runs your build command (e.g., Webpack) to compile your assets. It then runs your existing yarn zip command to generate a ZIP file (e.g., altly.zip) that includes all production-ready files (PHP files, the build/ folder, readme.txt, etc.), excluding development-only files.

• Release Creation:

  The workflow uses actions such as actions/create-release and actions/upload-release-asset to create a new GitHub release based on your tag and uploads the ZIP file as an asset.

4. Edit Release Notes on GitHub

• Initial Release Creation:

  When the GitHub Actions workflow creates the release, it will use a general description based on your tag message.

• Detailed Release Notes:

  After the release is published, edit the release notes on GitHub to include detailed information about:

  • New features added.
  • Changes made.
  • Bug fixes and improvements.

  This ensures that users and developers have a clear understanding of what’s included in the release.

5. Verify the Release