# Roadmap: release individual Go modules

Status: planned feature; scope and ownership decisions resolved.

## Purpose

Implement [ADR 0005](../adr/0005-module-release-scope.md) so a consumer can check,
publish, build, and deliver one selected Go module in a shared repository through
ReleaseKit's API and CLI. CommandKit's core and optional integrations provide the initial
consumer case. Each invocation should require only module selection, product
settings, and a semantic version, with ReleaseKit owning the common mechanics.

This roadmap defines the target state and its scope and ownership decisions.
The [implementation plan](implementation.md) owns the ordered work from the
current baseline. This roadmap does not select a ReleaseKit release version.

## Current baseline

The baseline is ReleaseKit v0.3.0 plus accepted ADR 0005; module selection is
not implemented.

- `ReleaseRequest` selects a repository, product, and version. `Candidate` and
  `PublicationResult` expose the version without a distinct module or tag name.
- Candidate capture reads `docs/releases/<version>.md` from the captured commit.
  Local and remote uniqueness checks, tag creation, push, and reconciliation use
  the version as the Git tag.
- The shared validation path runs tests, selected vet, and package compilation
  from the repository directory. Optional content checks inspect the committed
  repository tree, including nested-module contents.
- Profiles support shared validation and additional commands. CLI product
  checks run from the repository directory with candidate/version context.
- Artifact builds and delivery also use repository/version assumptions. The
  consumer Woodpecker template selects `refs/tags/v*` and bootstraps ReleaseKit
  from repository-root module files.

The existing candidate capture, declarative validation, exact-object publication,
and outcome reporting provide the foundation. Scope and identity need to be
carried through those paths together.

## Targeted end state

An invocation selects one module and one semantic version. Omitted selection
means the repository-root module. For example:

| Selected directory | Semantic version | Complete tag | Committed release note |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Root | `v0.1.0` | `v0.1.0` | `docs/releases/v0.1.0.md` |
| `integrations/ckconfig` | `v0.2.0` | `integrations/ckconfig/v0.2.0` | `integrations/ckconfig/docs/releases/v0.2.0.md` |
| `integrations/ckprompt` | `v0.1.0` | `integrations/ckprompt/v0.1.0` | `integrations/ckprompt/docs/releases/v0.1.0.md` |

All mandatory and selected optional release checks use the selected module's
scope. Independently released nested modules are excluded from their parent's
automatic validation inputs. Shared file selections follow the
[resolved shared-file rules](#shared-file-validation-inputs). Checks may read
referenced material elsewhere in the captured repository without adding that
material's surrounding files to the input set. The checkout remains the boundary for outside-checkout link checks.

Repository cleanliness, branch, candidate commit, remote endpoint, and publication
guards remain repository-wide. The complete selected tag governs uniqueness,
publication, and recovery. A successful source-tag push remains completion.
Consumers prepare dependencies before offline candidate validation and choose
sibling release ordering. Dependency preparation for delivery targets the
selected module through the existing preparation operation when needed.

The feature covers individual releases. Batch publication, automatic release
selection, dependency-driven versioning, and arbitrary tag templates remain
outside this roadmap. Artifact builds, hosted delivery, and CI use the same
selected module and release identity. Delivery remains asynchronous and supports
both page-only and binary profiles. This work adds no consumer-installation,
proxy-availability, CI, or hosted-delivery publication completion gate.

## Capability requirements

### Module and release identity

Repository directory, physical module directory, declared module path, semantic
version, and complete Git tag are distinct and available throughout operations
and public evidence. Shared derivation follows standard Go conventions, including
major-version layouts with and without a physical major directory. A `/v2`
module at either `integrations/ckconfig` or `integrations/ckconfig/v2` uses
`integrations/ckconfig/v2.0.0` for `v2.0.0`. Failure evidence retains resolved
identity alongside existing commit, endpoint, phase, state, and tag-object fields
as available. Facade conversions preserve underlying causes.

### Coherent validation scope

Tests, vet, and package compilation execute in the selected module with offline
and workspace-disabled settings. Formatting, distribution checks, file size,
and Markdown share ordered committed module and selected shared-file inputs.
Product checks receive the selected module's context. File checks retain complete
repository lookup for targeted reference reads. Existing optional check rules,
error identities, cancellation, and causes apply within that scope.

### Notes, publication, and recovery

Each module's committed note identifies its product and semantic version at
its module-local note path. Local and remote uniqueness, annotated tag creation,
exact-object push, and bounded reconciliation address the complete tag.
Repository-wide guards and publication outcomes remain in place. Different
modules can use equal semantic versions with distinct notes and tags.

### Builds, receipts, and hosted delivery

Standalone builds, candidate build checks, managed delivery builds, and prebuilt
delivery use the selected module. Module-owned execution and output paths use
that module's directory. Binaries report semantic versions; hosted pages and
source links use full tags and module-local notes. Builds and receipts carry
module and source evidence. Delivery validates that evidence and actual artifact
content before hosted requests, retaining page/asset conflicts, additive retries,
and partial outcomes. Page-only profiles require no application binary or
Go environment discovery.

### CLI and module-selected CI

Profiles express the API's module and shared-file selections through existing
profile lookup. Product commands receive both module and repository context.
A small shared launcher selects profiles and semantic versions. Mapped CI
selects the physical module and profile from the verified tagged checkout before
bootstrapping its selected tool. Local launchers and CI share one consumer
selection declaration. ReleaseKit verifies selection against derived identity.
Root-only consumers retain default bootstrap and profile behavior without a map.
Retries use the original tagged source's selection and tool configuration.

### Complete adoption guidance and behavioral evidence

Canonical API, CLI, configuration, consumer, integration, and recovery documents
and maintained examples describe the complete interface. The next release's
migration guidance covers API and profile updates, receipt regeneration, CI
selection, and root-module scope changes, including nested fixture modules.
Focused owner tests and representative assembled workflows establish the target
behavior with local repositories, HTTP fixtures, and isolated synthetic dependency
caches. The [implementation plan](implementation.md#acceptance-coverage-audit)
owns the concrete acceptance coverage and execution steps.

## Resolved decisions

### Resolve identity once

Each ReleaseKit operation resolves repository directory, selected module
directory and declaration, semantic version, and complete tag once through
shared resolution logic. Pass that identity through candidate handling,
validation, callbacks, publication, builds, receipts, delivery, and evidence.
Subsystems consume the resolved module and tag. Repository-state, tagged-source,
and artifact verification continue against that identity through their existing
guards.

### Operation prerequisites and identity

Shared resolution supplies module and tag identity to each operation.
Candidate checking and publication retain clean source on the primary branch,
committed release notes, and their existing unused-tag checks. Delivery
retains clean tagged-source verification and supports historical releases and
detached checkouts. Ordinary builds retain their support for modified source
and operate independently of release-note and publication prerequisites.

Composite operations pass resolved identity to their internal collaborators.
Standalone operations use the same resolver at entry, with declaration source
selected by the operation as described below.

### Declaration source by operation

Candidate checks, publication, and tagged delivery resolve identity from
committed module declarations. Standalone builds read the selected module's
working-tree `go.mod`, so their identity corresponds to the declaration Go
uses for compilation. This supports local development of changed module paths
and new module directories before commit.

The operation selects the declaration source and uses shared identity derivation
logic. Composite candidate and delivery builds receive their already resolved
committed identity. Existing source-verification observations remain in place;
delivery requires a build verified against its committed tagged source.

### One validation input set and full repository lookup

Construct file inputs when enabled checks or explicit shared-file validation
need them. Compute module boundaries and the ordered, deduplicated input set
once using committed metadata. File checks consume that set. Keep the full
repository lookup available for targeted reads and reference resolution, with scoped reader
ownership and cancellation preserved.

Deduplicate inputs by path. Reuse parsed results by blob identity while retaining
each source path's findings and relative destinations. This preserves the
existing selective caches and avoids retaining all inspected raw content.

### Version and tag boundaries

Keep semantic version and complete tag distinct in internal requests and evidence.
Version injection, artifact filenames, smoke checks, and note titles use the
semantic version. Git publication, recovery, and hosted release identity use
the complete tag. URL construction belongs to each protocol owner, which encodes
the literal tag for its route. Verify slash-containing tags in API and source
links.

### Failure evidence

Populate available module, version, tag, and commit evidence as resolution
progresses. Later failures retain that evidence alongside the operation's
existing phase, endpoint, tag-object, and outcome fields as available. Shared
facade conversions preserve these fields and the underlying error causes.

### Go environment ownership

Lazily discover effective Go settings for the selected module and reuse them
within the operation's validation and build phases when environment inputs are
unchanged. Ownership and reuse are operation-local. Dependency preparation keeps
its separate network-capable environment. Page-only delivery retains its path
without Go-tool discovery or application dependency preparation.

### Build settings, receipts, and asset verification

Normalize build settings once and reuse that representation for execution,
receipt binding, and comparisons. The new receipt format binds module identity
alongside existing source and artifact evidence. Loading validates structure,
identity, and file declarations. Delivery owns the content-verification pass
before hosted requests, for both API and CLI callers.

Build-time hashing records the produced bytes; delivery-time verification
establishes that the selected files still match them. Candidate and managed
delivery output stays outside the whole repository. Ordinary output paths use
the selected module's path base.

### CI bootstrap and checkout ownership

For module-mapped workflows, use one small committed consumer selection
declaration shared by the launcher and CI. Bootstrap verifies the triggering
tag and commit, selects the physical module and profile, and builds the tool
from that module's configuration. ReleaseKit verifies selection against the
derived identity.

The workflow prepares the checkout before tool bootstrap. Subsequent delivery
reuses that checkout with fresh read-only source checks. Standalone CI delivery
performs preparation when needed. Share verification behavior across these
entry paths, keeping root defaults and tagged-source selection on retries.

### Simple single-module experience

Ordinary root-module consumers use the new interface's defaults: omitted module
selection means the repository root, the complete tag equals the semantic
version, notes use `docs/releases/<version>.md`, and validation and builds run
from the root module. Shared-file defaults apply with input deduplication.
Root-tag CI uses the ordinary profile and repository-root tool bootstrap.

Routine use requires no additional configuration fields, module mapping
declarations, or recurring consumer decisions. A representative root-module
profile, launcher, and CI workflow remain equally small after migration.
Consumers supply their existing product facts through the new interface.
One-time API updates and receipt regeneration belong in the next release's
migration guidance under the clean-cutover decision below.

### Module boundaries

Use committed nested `go.mod` locations as module boundaries for ordinary source
directories. This follows Go's module structure and avoids a second registry of
independently versioned products. Vendored material remains part of the selected
module's file-check inputs. Nested fixture modules are excluded from automatic
parent file checks and can be exercised through the parent's tests or product
checks. Document this distinction and verify representative cases.

A repository-level workspace file outside the selected nested module's scope
does not fail that module's workspace-file check merely because it exists.
Shared release materials and referenced destinations receive the targeted
inspection described above.

### Shared file-validation inputs

Provide an optional shared-file list in the public request and profile. Its
selection applies only to shared file-validation inputs. Existing validation
selections control which checks are enabled. Enabled checks retain their rules,
and Go tests, vet, and package compilation retain the selected module's scope.

| Selection | Shared files added automatically |
| --- | --- |
| Omitted list | Repository-root `COPYRIGHT`, `LICENSE`, and `docs/oss/attribution.md`, when present. |
| Explicit list | The listed files replace the defaults. |
| Explicit empty list | No shared files. |

In Go, a nil slice selects the defaults; a non-nil empty slice selects none.
In JSON, omission or `null` selects the defaults; `[]` selects none. Preserve
this distinction through profile mapping and facade conversions, including
slice copying and profile serialization. Resolve the defaults once. Exact field
names belong in API design.

Paths are repository-relative literal file paths. This initial selection
supports individual files. Resolve presence and file identity from the captured
committed tree. Missing explicitly selected files produce a configuration or
validation error identifying the selected path, including when optional file
checks are disabled. Defaults are optional when absent.

Deduplicate the combined module and shared-file inputs by committed path, so a
file already in module scope or repeated in the list is checked once. Explicit
selection may name a file in another module; include that file alone. Reference
resolution continues to inspect destinations using existing rules and leaves
those destinations outside the input set unless independently selected.

### Relative paths and product commands

Anchor module selection and profile lookup at the repository. Anchor
module-owned validation and build paths, including file-size exclusions, and
configured product-command execution at the selected module. Keep diagnostic
file paths repository-relative and expose both directories to product commands.
Markdown destinations remain relative to their source documents.
Normalize selections and resolve path bases at a shared boundary. Translate
file selections and exclusions to canonical repository-relative paths before
checks consume them. Use module-based filesystem paths for execution and output,
and retain repository-relative diagnostic paths through conversions.

Root profiles use the repository-root module by default. Nested-module launchers
use the provided repository context for shared scripts. These conventions keep
per-module profiles self-contained without adding per-check path-base switches.

### Complete operation support

Implement module selection across checking, publication, artifact builds,
hosted delivery, and CI in this feature. The target is a coherent release API
for root and nested modules. CommandKit's current source-only use supplies an
adoption case while the feature supports the full existing release workflow.

Feature completion includes all of these operations. Omitted module selection
uses the root module, and source publication and asynchronous delivery retain
their separate outcomes.

### Clean API and receipt cutover

Implement one current API and module-bound receipt format as the complete
supported interface after cutover. Consumers update their calls, profiles, and
CI declarations to that interface and regenerate prior receipts through the
updated build operation. Compatibility shims and legacy receipt readers are
outside the implementation scope.

Migration means guidance supplied in the next release's documentation. That
guidance explains the required consumer changes and the root-module validation
scope change; implementation completion covers the new interface directly.