openclaw-release-maintainer

The OpenClaw Release Maintainer skill is a specialized automation tool designed for software engineers and maintainers responsible for the end-to-end release process of the OpenClaw platform. It handles the critical bridge between development and production, ensuring that release branching, version synchronization, and artifact generation remain consistent across Node.js environments, Android (Gradle/Kotlin), and iOS (Fastlane/Xcode/CocoaPods). The skill follows strict release guardrails to maintain system integrity, requiring explicit operator authorization for version bumps and publication actions.

• Automated release branching from stable main CI commits using the release/YYYY.M.D naming convention.

• Synchronization of version numbers across critical files, including package.json, Android build.gradle.kts, and iOS Info.plist files.

• Generation of aggregated changelogs ordered by user impact using the /changelog tool before branch creation.

• Pre-release compatibility verification, inspecting internal registries for deprecated or removal-pending code paths to ensure compliance with release timelines.

• Execution of multi-stage validation rosters, including npm publication, Docker image updates, Parallels testing, and Telegram notification integration.

• Managed beta release trains with automated progression to stable, supporting the -beta.N versioning scheme and npm distribution tagging.

• Parallelized macOS app signing and notarization workflows to prevent bottlenecks in global artifact delivery.

• Operate on dedicated release branches only; do not attempt releases directly on the main development branch.

• Always pull the latest main and confirm CI status is green before initiating the branching process.

• Before shipping, audit compatibility records in src/plugins/compat/registry.ts and src/commands/doctor/shared/deprecation-compat.ts to prevent accidental breakage of deprecated interfaces.

• Utilize private maintainer documentation for signing credentials and security-sensitive recovery steps.

• When automated macOS signing or notarization is slow, proceed with npm publication independently to avoid blocking release velocity.

• If a beta release requires correction, commit the fix to the release branch and increment the beta version, preserving the release train integrity.