Release Process

Osprey uses Semantic Versioning (SemVer) with a 1.x.y series. This is a lightweight, bootstrap release process so downstream users can depend on version tags instead of commit hashes. The process may evolve as project usage grows.

Patch releases (1.x.y)

Patch releases are backward-compatible fixes or small improvements already merged to main.

Cut a patch release when:

• Downstream users need a stable version tag, or
• Meaningful fixes have accumulated and CI is green

There is no fixed cadence; releases are event-driven.

Patch release checklist

Before cutting a release:

• Code quality CI passing on main (see Code Quality Checks)
• No breaking changes
• CHANGELOG.md updated (if applicable)

How to cut a release

1. Ensure the checklist above is satisfied.
2. In GitHub: Releases → Draft a new release.
3. Choose or create a tag X.Y.Z (e.g. 1.0.1) from main.
4. Publish the release.

Publishing the release triggers existing automation:

• osprey-rpc: build and attach sdist (and zip) to the release (release-osprey-rpc).
• Osprey Coordinator: build and push Docker image to GHCR with version tags (publish-coordinator-image).

Downstreams can depend on version tags (e.g. 1.0.1) instead of commit SHAs.