Release Process

Dealbot uses release-please to drive semver releases from Conventional Commits, and ArgoCD Image Updater to promote those releases into Kubernetes. For release-please mechanics (commit parsing, version bumps, troubleshooting) see release-please-flow.md. For container images, manifests, and runtime topology see deployment.md. For ingress, egress, persistence, secrets, and observability expectations see infra.md. For the subgraph release checklist see release-subgraph.md.

Flow

PR merged to main, matching docker-build path filters (apps/backend/**, apps/web/**, pnpm-lock.yaml, pnpm-workspace.yaml)
  → Docker build tags image as sha-<sha> and sha-<run>-<sha>
  → Image Updater promotes sha-<run>-<sha> to the staging environment
  → release-please opens or updates a Release PR with bumped versions and changelogs
  → Release PR merged                       (← human release gate)
  → Release workflow retags sha-<sha> → vX.Y.Z
  → Image Updater promotes vX.Y.Z to the production environment

Both staging and production sync automatically. Image Updater writes the new tag back to the operating environment's manifests, and ArgoCD reconciles within a few minutes. Merging the Release PR is the release-cut gate for production semver images; retag and promotion run without further approval. An operator can still pause or sync manually per environment (see Operating the release).

Image-build scope and release scope differ. Changes under apps/backend/**, apps/web/**, pnpm-lock.yaml, or pnpm-workspace.yaml can build app images. Only commits that touch an app's path (apps/backend or apps/web) affect that app's release-please version.

The subgraph has a separate release-please workflow and release checklist. Changes under apps/subgraph/** can produce a subgraph-only Release PR and deploy immutable Goldsky versions, but Goldsky staging / prod tag promotion remains manual after indexing. See release-subgraph.md.

Tags

Git tags and container tags use different shapes:

Tag	Producer	Consumed by
backend-vX.Y.Z / web-vX.Y.Z (git)	release-please	GitHub Releases, changelogs
subgraph-vX.Y.Z (git)	subgraph release-please	GitHub Release, Goldsky immutable deploy
sha-<sha> (image)	docker-build on main	retag step
sha-<run>-<sha> (image)	docker-build on main	staging Image Updater
pre-release-<sha> (image)	docker-build on pre-release	opt-in canary environments
vX.Y.Z (image)	release-please workflow	production Image Updater

Apps are versioned independently. A commit that touches only one app produces a Release PR entry, git tag, and retagged image for only that app.

Workflows: .github/workflows/docker-build.yml, .github/workflows/release-please.yml, .github/workflows/release-subgraph.yml.

Operating the release

1. Merge feature PRs to main using a Conventional Commit title (validated by pr-title.yml).
2. Staging picks up the new build automatically.
3. When ready to ship, merge the open Release PR.
4. Production picks up the new semver tag automatically.

If a release needs to be skipped, leave the Release PR open. Subsequent merges accumulate into it. To hold a release after the Release PR merges (e.g. a canary failed, on-call paged), pause auto-sync for that environment in ArgoCD. While paused, promote by syncing that environment manually via UI or CLI.