Explain and operate the dtctl release process, which is automated by release-please. Use this skill whenever the user says "release", "ship it", "cut a release", "new version", "bump version", "publish", or asks how dtctl releases work, why a release PR exists, or how to trigger/finish a release.

dtctl Release Process (release please) dtctl releases use [release please](https://github.com/googleapis/release please) but are triggered manually — nothing releases on ordinary merges to main . There is no manual version bump, no CHANGELOG.md to edit, and no tag to push by hand. The release notes and version are computed from the [Conventional Commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/) since the last release. How it works The .github/workflows/release.yml workflow runs only when you trigger it ( workflow dispatch — the "Run workflow" button on the Actions tab, or gh workflow run ). A full release is two dispatches with a merge in between : 1. Dispatch 1 — the release please job inspects the conventional commits since the last release and opens/updates a release PR titled like chore(main): release 0.31.0 . That PR: bumps .release please manifest.json , bumps the fallback version in pkg/version/version.go (via the // x release please version annotation), and contains the pending release notes (in the PR body). 2. Merge the release PR once you're happy with the version + notes. 3. Dispatch 2 — release please detects the merged release PR, creates the git tag ( vX.Y.Z ) and the GitHub Release with generated notes, and release created == true gates the goreleaser job, which builds cross platform binaries, signs checksums with cosign, generates SBOMs with syft, attaches everything to the release (without overwriting the notes — release.mode: keep existing ), and pushes the updated Homebrew cask to dynatrace oss/homebrew tap . ⚠️ Don't forget Dispatch 2 : merging the release PR alone does not publish anything, because the workflow only runs on manual dispatch. There is no CHANGELOG.md file in the repo by design — the GitHub Release is the canonical changelog ( skip changelog: true in release please config.json ). Version bumps are determined by commit type Commit prefix Bump (pre 1.0) Example feat: MINOR 0.30.3 → 0.31.0 fix: / perf: PATCH 0.30.3 → 0.30.4 feat!: / fix!: or BREAKING CHANGE: footer MINOR (pre 1.0) 0.30.3 → 0.31.0 docs: / test: / chore: / ci: / refactor: no release on its own — So the way to "control the version" is to write good conventional commits (see CONTRIBUTING.md). PRs are squash merged, so the PR title becomes the release relevant commit. To cut a release The tag, GitHub Release, binaries, signatures, SBOMs, and Homebrew cask are produced by the second dispatch. Polishing release notes (optional) release please generates notes grouped by commit type with PR links. They're good by default. If you want richer prose, edit the GitHub Release after it's published — GoReleaser uses keep existing , so it won't clobber your edits: Troubleshooting No release PR appeared — did you dispatch the workflow? It does not run on merges; run gh workflow run release.yml . If it ran and still no PR, there are no releasable commits since the last release (only docs / chore / test /etc.), or a commit isn't a valid conventional commit. Check gh run list workflow=release.yml . Merged the release PR but nothing published — that's expected: dispatch the workflow a second time so release please creates the tag/Release and GoReleaser runs. Wrong version bump — caused by the commit types. To force a specific bump, use a Release As: x.y.z footer in a commit on main . Release created but no binaries — inspect the goreleaser job in the release workflow run; the release please job must have output release created: true for it to run. Homebrew didn't update — check the HOMEBREW TAP APP ID / HOMEBREW TAP APP PRIVATE KEY secrets and the GoReleaser step logs; skip upload: auto intentionally skips pre release tags. Checklist 1. [ ] All intended changes merged to main as conventional commits 2. [ ] Dispatch 1 : gh workflow run release.yml → release PR created/updated 3. [ ] Open release PR reflects the expected version and notes 4. [ ] Merge the release PR (squash) 5. [ ] Dispatch 2 : gh workflow run release.yml → tag + Release created 6. [ ] release.yml run is green for both release please and goreleaser jobs 7. [ ] GitHub Release shows binaries, checksums, signatures, and SBOMs 8. [ ] (Optional) Polished the release notes via gh release edit

dtctl-release