fission-ai__openspec/openspec/changes/update-release-automation/proposal.md

Why

Today's flow requires maintainers to merge the changeset PR, cut a tag, and draft the GitHub release by hand. Once the release is published on GitHub our existing automation pushes the package to npm, so the manual work centers on shepherding the release PR, updating version metadata, and keeping GitHub releases in sync with the changelog. Those repeated human steps slow the cycle time and increase the risk that the release/tag documentation falls out of sync with what was actually published to npm.

What Changes

• Adopt the changesets/action workflow so pushes to main either open/update a release PR or, when the release PR merge lands, run our publish script automatically with the provided NPM_TOKEN and GITHUB_TOKEN.【5e2b47†L1-L43】【b9dad5†L13-L37】
• Add a release npm script that builds the project and calls changeset publish, allowing the action to handle version bumps, changelog commits, and npm publishing in one command.【b9dad5†L13-L21】
• Enable createGithubReleases in the action configuration so the workflow drafts GitHub releases from the published packages immediately after publishing.【5e2b47†L21-L38】
• Document the automated release flow, required repository secrets, and how maintainers should handle failed publishes or hotfixes.

How the Maintainer Flow Changes

Step	Current process	Future process
Prepare release	Merge changeset PR, wait for GitHub release automation, then manually draft release notes and tags	Merge changeset PR, the action updates/merges the release PR and handles version bumps automatically
Publish npm package	Happens automatically after the GitHub release is published	Continues to happen automatically via changeset publish; no manual npm work
GitHub release	Maintainers draft releases manually and ensure notes match the changelog	Action creates GitHub releases immediately after publishing, based on changeset information
Clean up docs/process	Maintainers follow separate docs describing manual tagging and release steps	Update docs to remove manual tag/release steps and document the automated workflow

Impact

• Affected automation: .github/workflows/release.yml
• Affected package metadata: package.json scripts
• Documentation: README.md or /docs release instructions