Release Policy

This document defines the release workflow for Ananke.

The project follows a structured branching and release strategy based on conventional commits and automated versioning.

Overview

• main is the stable production branch
• development is the staging branch
• feature work happens in dedicated branches
• releases and pre-releases are automated via npm scripts

Versioning

• Version numbers are determined automatically using conventional commits
• Do not manually set version numbers
• Commit messages must follow the conventional commits specification

Examples:

• feat: add new layout option
• fix: correct mobile navigation
• docs: update configuration guide

Branching Model

flowchart LR
    %% Columns
    subgraph C1["Release"]
        MAIN["main"]
    end

    subgraph C2["Staging"]
        DEV["development"]
    end

    subgraph C3["Features, Fixes, Chores"]
        F1["fix/issue123"]
        F2["feat/foobar"]
        F3["chore/dependencies"]
        FMORE["..."]
    end

    %% Flow
    DEV -->|rebase| MAIN

    F1 -->|squash| DEV
    F2 -->|squash| DEV
    F3 -->|squash| DEV
    FMORE --> DEV

main

• Contains only stable, released code
• Updated only via rebase from development
• Tagged for official releases

development

• Acts as staging environment
• Receives all feature and fix changes
• Used for testing before release
• Hosts pre-releases

feature branches

• All work must happen in dedicated branches
• Branch from development
• Naming is flexible but should be descriptive

Examples:

• feature/header-redesign
• fix/mobile-menu
• docs/improve-installation

Pull Request Workflow

• All pull requests must target development
• No direct commits to main or development

Merging rules

• Feature branches → development: squash merge
• development → main: rebase

This ensures:

• clean history in main
• meaningful commit grouping in development

Release Types

Pre-releases

Used for testing and validation.

npm run release:pre

• Created from development
• Marked as pre-release
• Used for validation before stable release

Stable releases

npm run release

• Created from main
• Tagged as official release
• Represents stable production state

Release Flow

Typical flow:

1. Create feature branch from development
2. Open PR → merge (squash) into development
3. Test changes on development
4. Create pre-release if needed
5. Rebase development → main
6. Run stable release on main