release, as an agent plugin

Runs the steps a release takes, in order, stopping at the first refusal. What each step needs comes from .releasetools.yaml, so the same command releases a Python package, a Rust crate and a monorepo's one plugin.

Installing

claude plugin marketplace add releasetools/agent-plugins --scope project
claude plugin install release@release-tools --scope project

codex plugin add release@release-tools

--scope project declares it in the repository rather than in whoever ran it, so the next person to cut a release is offered the same plugin.

What it needs

releasetools/cli for the checks (brew install releasetools/tap/releasetools-cli), gh authenticated for the pull request and the workflows, and the release-notes plugin for the changelog entry.

What it reads

projects:
  - path: ./
    manifest: pyproject.toml
    changelog: CHANGELOG.md
    bump: uv version {version}

release:
  branch: main
  checks: tests.yml
  publish: publish.yml
  registry: https://pypi.org/pypi/worktrees/{version}/json

key	what it is	default
`branch`	what a release is cut from	`main`
`tag`	the tag's shape	`v{version}`
`checks`	the workflow that must be green on the merged commit	none, and the wait is skipped
`publish`	the workflow the tag starts, watched to the end	none, and it stops at the push
`registry`	a URL that must 404 before releasing	none

bump is the command the project declares for setting its version, which every ecosystem ships: uv version {version}, npm version {version} --no-git-tag-version, cargo set-version {version}. Nothing here parses or rewrites a manifest.

The steps


1	`rt release::prechecks` — version shape, clean tree, tag free, after the newest release, on the branch, not on the registry
2	branch from `origin/<branch>`, `/release-notes:prepare`, `rt version::bump`, commit, push
3	the pull request, with the changelog entry as its body, and its checks watched
4	merge, pull, and wait for the merged commit to go green
5	tag, push, and watch the publish workflow

Step 4 is the one worth knowing about. A rebase onto a branch that moved is a tree neither side has tested, so the tag only lands after that commit has passed on its own.

What it will not do

Move a tag, force anything, stash your work, delete an unmerged branch, retry a failed check in the hope that it passes, or release a version nobody named.

Where a publish workflow fails after it has already uploaded, the answer is to re-run that workflow, not to re-tag.

License

Apache-2.0. See LICENSE.