Release Artifact Ownership

Context

Wardian v0.3.1 was published by Release Please without executable release assets. The Tauri artifact workflow did not run because Release Please created the tag and GitHub release with the default GITHUB_TOKEN; GitHub does not trigger normal downstream workflows from most GITHUB_TOKEN-initiated events.

Decision

Release Please owns version calculation, changelog updates, release PRs, and tag creation. The Release workflow owns Tauri artifact upload and final publication.

To enforce that split without requiring a personal access token, release-please-config.json creates GitHub releases as drafts. When Release Please reports a created release, .github/workflows/release-please.yml dispatches .github/workflows/release.yml through workflow_dispatch, passing the tag as both the build ref and the existing release tag. The release workflow resolves that draft release, uploads platform bundles through tauri-apps/tauri-action, and publishes the release only after the build matrix succeeds.

Manual workflow_dispatch runs may also backfill assets onto an existing release. In that mode, the workflow checks out the requested tag, resolves the existing GitHub release from release_tag, and uploads artifacts to that release ID. Because Release Please leaves releases as drafts until artifacts are ready, the resolver must list releases and match by tag_name; GitHub's get-release-by-tag endpoint does not return draft releases. Dry runs still build and retain Actions artifacts without mutating a GitHub release.

Verification

src/config/releaseWorkflow.test.ts guards the contract:

• Release Please-created releases must remain draft until assets are uploaded.
• Release Please must dispatch the artifact workflow when it creates a release.
• The release workflow must remain tag-triggered for manually pushed tags.
• The release workflow must still upload Tauri artifacts to a release ID before publishing.
• Manual backfills must resolve an existing release and upload to that release ID.

This prevents a future release from silently returning to the broken flow that produced an assetless public release.