/silver:release

Overview

/silver:release is the Silver Bullet orchestrator for milestone-level publishing. It handles versioned releases, changelogs, documentation updates, GitHub Releases, and milestone archival.

It never publishes directly — it orchestrates only. This workflow operates at the milestone level — it closes out a complete milestone, not a single phase.

silver:release uses composable flows architecture — it maps to FLOW 17 (RELEASE) in the 18-flow catalog. A key insertion point: FLOW 15 (DESIGN HANDOFF) is inserted inside FLOW 17 between the milestone audit and gap closure steps when the milestone contains UI phases. This produces the design handoff package before the release is cut. See Composable Flows for the full catalog.

When to use

Entry trigger signals for /silver:release:

• "release" / "publish" / "version" / "go live"
• "cut a release" / "tag v" / "ship to users" / "deploy to prod"
• "changelog" / "release notes"

Ship disambiguation

Silver Bullet distinguishes between phase-level ship (gsd:ship) and milestone-level release (silver:release) based on context signals:

Workflow steps

Pre-flight

Silver Bullet reads silver-bullet.md §10 to load user workflow preferences before any step executes.

Step 0 — Pre-release quality gates (8 core dimensions + conditional gates)

Invoke /silver:quality-gates. 8 core dimensions plus conditional gates before any release audit begins — reliability, security, scalability, usability, testability, modularity, reusability, and extensibility, with AI/LLM safety only when applicable. Non-skippable gate.

Step 1 — Cross-phase UAT

Invoke gsd:audit-uat. Purpose: cross-phase UAT — surface all outstanding gaps before release. Gives a complete picture of milestone state before deciding whether to ship.

Step 2 — Milestone completion audit

Invoke gsd:audit-milestone. Purpose: compare milestone completion vs original intent — are all committed features shipped?

Step 2a — Release security status

Review the Security dimension from /silver:quality-gates and confirm completed phases have passed their secure-phase checks. Security is enforced through the quality-gate and GSD secure-phase artifacts.

Step 2b — Gap-closure loop (conditional, max 2 iterations)

Only if gaps found in Step 2. Track iteration count. After 2 iterations with remaining gaps, SB presents:

• A. Release anyway — document gaps as known issues, proceed
• B. Extend milestone — defer release, continue work
• C. Abort release — requires manual decision to resume

Each iteration: invoke gsd:plan-milestone-gaps → invoke /silver:feature for each gap phase → return to Step 0 (full quality gate sweep).

Step 3a — Verify existing documentation

Invoke gsd:docs-update. Purpose: verify all existing docs are accurate against current codebase before generating new docs.

Step 3b — Generate/update documentation

After gsd:docs-update completes: invoke /documentation. Generates or updates README, user docs, Help Center content, and project pages on a verified foundation.

Step 4 — Milestone summary

Invoke gsd:milestone-summary. Generates milestone narrative for release notes.

Step 5 — PR branch (optional)

SB asks: "Would you like a clean PR branch (strips .planning/ commits)?" A. Yes / B. No / C. Save as permanent preference. If A: invoke gsd:pr-branch.

Step 6 — Cross-artifact consistency review

If .planning/SPEC.md and .planning/REQUIREMENTS.md exist, run the cross-artifact reviewer against SPEC, REQUIREMENTS, ROADMAP, and DESIGN when present. Do not proceed to ship until blocking alignment findings are resolved.

Step 6b — Pre-ship deployment checklist

Invoke /deploy-checklist. It verifies deployment conditions, rollback plan, monitoring, and release readiness before gsd:ship executes.

Step 6c — Mandatory fresh test run

Invoke /verify-tests after pre-release quality gates and before any ship or release step. This writes the freshness marker consumed by SB hooks, so the release is based on current test evidence.

Step 7 — Ship: deploy and CI green

Invoke gsd:ship. Deploy, ensure CI is green, and push the release branch. This MUST succeed before milestone archival.

Step 8 — Complete milestone

Only after Step 7 confirms success: invoke gsd:complete-milestone. It archives the milestone and prepares the next version. These archival commits must land before the release tag is created.

Step 9 — Create release

Only after milestone archival: invoke /silver:create-release. It updates release notes/changelog surfaces, creates the final version tag, and publishes the GitHub Release. Tagging happens last so the release captures the completed milestone state.

Non-skippable gates

Example invocation

Silver Bullet routes to release workflow. Pre-release quality gates → UAT audit → milestone audit → docs and milestone summary → cross-artifact review → deploy checklist → fresh tests → gsd:ship → gsd:complete-milestone → /silver:create-release.