Release Process

December 22, 2025 ยท View on GitHub

This document describes the release process for the Kor project.

Overview

Kor has two separate release workflows:

  1. Application Release - Releases the Kor application binary, Docker images, and Krew plugin
  2. Helm Chart Release - Releases the Helm chart independently

Application Release

Application releases are triggered by pushing a tag with the format v* (e.g., v0.6.7, v1.0.0).

Steps to Release the Application

  1. Update the application code and ensure all tests pass

  2. Create and push a tag with the v* format:

    git tag v0.6.7
git push origin v0.6.7

  3. The following will be automatically released:

    • GitHub release with application binaries (via GoReleaser)
    • Docker images for multiple platforms
    • Krew plugin update
    • Helm chart (if Chart.yaml version was updated)

Workflow File

See .github/workflows/release.yml

Helm Chart Release

Helm chart releases can be done independently of application releases. This is useful when:

  • Fixing bugs in chart templates
  • Updating chart documentation
  • Modifying chart values or configurations
  • Any chart-only changes that don't require an application update

Steps to Release the Chart Only

  1. Update the chart version in charts/kor/Chart.yaml:

    version: 0.2.10  # Increment the version
appVersion: "0.6.6"  # Keep the same app version

  2. Commit the changes to the main branch:

    git add charts/kor/Chart.yaml
git commit -m "chore: bump chart version to 0.2.10"
git push origin main

  3. Create and push a tag with the format kor-* matching the new chart version:

    git tag kor-0.2.10
git push origin kor-0.2.10

  4. The Helm chart will be automatically released to the gh-pages branch and made available via:

    helm repo add kor https://yonahd.github.io/kor
helm repo update
helm install kor kor/kor --version 0.2.10

Workflow File

See .github/workflows/chart-release.yml

Chart Release Triggers

The chart release workflow is triggered by tags matching:

  • v* - Application release tags (maintains backward compatibility)
  • kor-* - Chart-only release tags

This ensures that:

  1. Every application release also releases a chart (if the chart version changed)
  2. Charts can be released independently without requiring an application release

Best Practices

  1. Semantic Versioning: Follow SemVer for both application and chart versions
  2. Chart Version Increments:
    • Patch version: Bug fixes, documentation updates
    • Minor version: New features, non-breaking changes
    • Major version: Breaking changes
  3. Application Version Alignment: Update appVersion in Chart.yaml when releasing both application and chart together
  4. Testing: Run chart tests locally before releasing: 
    helm lint charts/kor
helm template charts/kor

Troubleshooting

Chart Release Not Created

If a chart release is not created after pushing a kor-* tag:

  1. Verify the chart version in Chart.yaml matches the tag (e.g., kor-0.2.10 requires version: 0.2.10)
  2. Check the GitHub Actions workflow logs
  3. Ensure the chart version is higher than any existing released version

Application Release Also Releasing Chart

This is expected behavior. Application releases (v* tags) will also trigger the chart release workflow to maintain backward compatibility.