---

name: release-prep description: Use when preparing a production release or release candidate - provides a checklist-driven workflow for validation, versioning, build optimization, documentation updates, and deployment readiness. keywords:

• changelog
• deploy prep
• prepare release
• release candidate
• release checklist
• release prep
• version bump file_patterns:
• '**/.github/workflows/release.yml'
• '**/CHANGELOG*'
• '**/RELEASE*'
• '/announcement/'
• '/changelog/'
• '/community/'
• '/release/'
• '/releases/' confidence: 0.86

---

Release Prep

Overview

Standardize release preparation with a safety-first checklist: validate quality and security, update versions and docs, build production artifacts, and prepare rollout/rollback plans.

When to Use

• Preparing a release candidate or production deploy
• Coordinating pre-release validation and documentation
• Ensuring versioning, changelog, and build steps are consistent

Avoid when:

• You only need a quick version bump or doc update
• The release process is owned by a separate automation pipeline

Quick Reference

Task	Load reference
Release preparation	skills/release-prep/references/prepare-release.md

Workflow

1. Confirm release scope and version.
2. Load the release preparation reference.
3. Run pre-release validation (tests, security, performance).
4. Update versions, changelog, and docs.
5. Build production artifacts and validate.
6. Produce deployment checklist and rollback plan.

Output

• Release readiness checklist
• Validation results and blockers
• Deployment plan with rollback steps

Common Mistakes

• Skipping security or performance checks
• Shipping without updating changelog or docs
• Building artifacts without validating environment parity