ReleaseKit/docs/cli.md

Command line

ReleaseKit currently provides four commands.

Print the executable version:

go run ./cmd/releasekit version

This prints releasekit <version> followed by a newline and exits with status 0. The version comes from buildinfo.Version.

Check a local candidate:

go run ./cmd/releasekit check [--repo DIR] [--config FILE] VERSION

VERSION must use stable vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH syntax. Options must precede the version. The repository defaults to the current directory, and the profile defaults to <repository>/releasekit.json. A successful command prints the captured local commit and version. It checks the committed release note, local Git state, and configured validation, but does not inspect remote availability or publish a tag.

check writes errors and diagnostics to standard error. It returns status 0 after local validation, 1 after a candidate validation failure, and 2 for usage, profile, or invalid-version errors. Unsupported argument sequences print usage to standard error.

Publish a source tag:

go run ./cmd/releasekit publish [--repo DIR] [--config FILE] VERSION

publish reads the same product, remote, and validation settings as check. It validates the candidate once, checks the authoritative remote, creates an annotated local tag, and pushes only its exact tag object. It prints the confirmed version, candidate commit, and tag object on success. Validation progress and failed publication state are written to standard error. A signal cancels the active operation; if it arrives during a push, the library's bounded reconciliation determines whether the exact tag was accepted.

The command returns status 0 for confirmed publication, 1 for a known publication failure or conflict, 2 for usage, profile, or invalid-version errors, and 3 when the push outcome remains unknown. Unknown status must be resolved against the authoritative remote before retrying. The maintainer procedure selects the repository profile and gives the source-release workflow.

Build selected application targets:

go run ./cmd/releasekit build [--repo DIR] [--config FILE] [--output DIR] VERSION

build requires a build object in the profile. It compiles the selected targets with the requested version injected, checks the native version invocation, and writes binaries plus the private .releasekit-build.json receipt into dist by default. --output selects a different directory; relative paths are resolved from the repository. Existing files with a selected artifact name are preserved and cause an error. A complete nonempty build writes a receipt only after compilation and smoke checking succeed. On partial failure, standard error lists completed outputs and no receipt is written. An empty target list returns the source commit without building or writing a receipt.

The command returns status 0 on completion, 1 for build or output failure, and 2 for usage, profile, or invalid-version errors. It builds the current source tree and does not perform candidate validation or remote publication. check and publish run the same configured build after their one candidate validation, using temporary output outside the worktree.