govoplan/docs/RELEASE_CONSOLE.md

GovOPlaN Release Console

The release console is a local operator tool for planning and executing GovOPlaN releases. It belongs to the govoplan meta repository because it works across all local checkouts, release scripts, module manifests, migration audits, catalog files, Git state, and signing keys.

The current implementation has a read-only dashboard plus guarded local candidate/publish actions:

• inspect repositories from repositories.json
• show dirty, ahead, behind, missing, no-HEAD, and tag state
• show local package catalog and keyring state
• optionally run release/dev migration audits
• propose next actions without executing them
• compare local catalog/keyring JSON with the published channel and public keyring when online checks are enabled
• configure target versions per release unit in the web UI
• select the repositories that should advance through checkboxes
• generate dry-run selective release plans for independently versioned packages
• freeze a selective plan as a durable, resumable local release run
• create annotated source release tags for selected clean, version-aligned repositories and publish each branch/tag pair atomically
• generate signed catalog candidates for the selected release units
• preview/apply/push reviewed catalog candidates behind explicit confirmations

Start it from the meta repository:

./.venv/bin/python tools/release/release-console.py

The server binds to 127.0.0.1 by default and prints a URL containing a local API token. Open that URL in a browser on the same machine.

The web UI starts with a repository table. Each repository can be checked independently and assigned its own target version. Repositories without version metadata remain visible so they can be planned as initial releases. Build Plan shows the dry-run commands for the selected rows, and Generate Candidate creates a signed catalog candidate that advances only selected repositories that already have a catalog entry.

Build Plan also returns structured release-gate findings for each selected repository. The plan names the recommended next action and gives an explicit remediation for source-version, lockfile, Core WebUI composition, Git state, and worktree findings. A target version that has not yet been applied consistently to the selected source tree is therefore explained before the source-tag preflight rather than appearing only as an error after the operator tries to tag. source_preflight_ready means that the plan-visible source gates pass; the non-mutating Preview Tag + Publish remains mandatory for remote, manifest, and immutable-tag checks.

Durable release runs

The Durable Run State card turns the current repository/version selection into a versioned local run record. The server rebuilds the selective plan and requires the plan to resolve exactly the requested repositories and target versions; the browser cannot submit or replace the plan snapshot. The input and plan are then immutable and covered by a canonical SHA-256 integrity digest. The complete record also has a checksum so a valid-looking manual edit to its mutable state fails closed. File permissions remain the authority boundary; these digests detect accidental or manual corruption, not an attacker who can replace the private record and recompute its checksums. Changing a target, channel, or gate input requires a new run.

Run records survive console restarts, but remain local operator state rather than a signed release artifact or the system audit log. The default location is $XDG_STATE_HOME/govoplan/release-console/workspace-<sha256>/release-runs/, or ~/.local/state/... when XDG_STATE_HOME is unset or relative. It is outside the source checkout so filesystems without enforceable POSIX modes cannot silently weaken the journal. Newly created state directories use mode 0700 and records use 0600. Writes use a cross-process lock, a same-directory temporary file, fsync, atomic replacement, and directory/parent fsync. Symbolic-link paths, untrusted owners or writable ancestry, overly broad record modes, malformed schemas, unknown fields, invalid state combinations, oversized files, and digest mismatches fail closed. A bad record is neither rewritten nor automatically quarantined.

The full resolved-workspace SHA-256 is part of both the private storage namespace and immutable input snapshot. Every list, read, and state transition checks it. An alternate workspace therefore cannot list or resume another workspace's runs even when an embedding/test run_state_root override is shared accidentally.

Each frozen plan step has an explicit pending, running, succeeded, failed, or interrupted state. Plan order remains a prerequisite: a later step is unavailable until earlier steps have succeeded. Exact attempt and resume/retry/reconciliation request identifiers are fingerprinted so delayed repetitions remain idempotent for the run's lifetime. These fingerprints are never evicted: the store fails closed before accepting more than 2,048 commands or 2,048 attempts and asks the operator to create a fresh run. The display record keeps at most 256 server-generated state events. Events contain only an enum event type, timestamp, step identifier, and bounded result code—never commands, process output, confirmation text, credentials, bearer tokens, or signing material.

An explicit resume after a process restart converts every persisted running step to interrupted; it never guesses whether an external effect happened. An interrupted read-only step can be prepared for retry. An interrupted mutating step remains unavailable until the operator independently reconciles local and remote state, selects effect_absent, effect_succeeded, or unresolved, and types RECONCILE. effect_absent prepares a safe new attempt, effect_succeeded advances the run without repeating the external effect, and unresolved keeps the run blocked. Each outcome emits a bounded, code-only state event. A known failed attempt can likewise be prepared for retry. The UI keeps unavailable controls visible and disabled.

The run API is covered by the same local console token middleware as every other /api/ route:

• POST /api/release-runs rebuilds and freezes a selective plan.
• GET /api/release-runs lists bounded summaries; unreadable entries are reported as unavailable instead of being silently omitted.
• GET /api/release-runs/{run_id} reads and verifies one exact record.
• POST /api/release-runs/{run_id}/resume records explicit recovery.
• POST /api/release-runs/{run_id}/steps/{step_id}/retry prepares a failed or read-only interrupted step for another attempt.
• POST /api/release-runs/{run_id}/steps/{step_id}/reconcile records a confirmed observed outcome for an interrupted mutating step.

Run-storage errors are confined to the Durable Run State card; dashboard and release-preview collection continue and show the bounded storage remediation.

This foundation tracks state only. It deliberately does not run a plan step or infer success from a button click. Existing preview and executor controls stay separate and continue to require COMMIT, TAG, PUBLISH, APPLY, or PUSH at their existing narrow boundaries. Wiring confirmed executors to claim and finish run steps, plus package/install verification, remains follow-up work; until then the console must not present a run as execution evidence.

Dashboard collection is also fail closed. Unreadable Core version metadata or a malformed module contract is returned as a bounded collection_errors entry with a remediation, marks the dashboard blocked, and becomes a structured blocker in both full and selective release plans. The console does not silently omit a contract or turn these source errors into an HTTP 500.

The release-control area above the repository table is read-only and is meant to become the central release cockpit. It shows:

• local and published channel health
• catalog/keyring drift
• signature and trusted-key status
• published module versions and refs
• local checkout version drift against the catalog
• catalog-declared interface compatibility

The target-version control can generate the next major, minor, or subversion from the current base version. Manual target input accepts explicit versions such as 0.2.0 or 0.2.0-alpha1, but requires the first three version numbers to move forward.

Plain repository pushes are separate from catalog publication. Preview Push shows the selected repository push commands. Push Selected requires PUSH in the repository push confirmation field.

The source release panel closes the former gap between a release plan and a catalog candidate. Preview Tag + Publish is non-mutating. Create Tags requires TAG; Publish Tags requires PUBLISH and atomically pushes the selected branch and annotated tag. The gate requires an aligned target version, a clean named branch with a HEAD, and a checkout that is not behind. Existing local or remote tags must resolve to the selected HEAD and are never moved. The local and remote annotated tag objects must also be identical, not merely point at the same commit. Before any source tag is created, the console loads the cross-repository module registry. This release gate also rejects every user-facing workflow documentation topic that has no scope condition, or has an alternative condition without required_scopes or any_scopes.

The catalog workflow panel can also operate on the same selected rows:

• Generate creates a signed candidate below runtime/release-candidates/.
• Preview validates a candidate and shows what would be copied into the website repository.
• Apply + Website Tag requires APPLY in the confirmation field.
• Push Website Release requires PUSH in the confirmation field.

Source release tags belong to Core or module repositories. Website catalog publication creates a separate catalog tag in the website repository; the UI names these independently to avoid confusing the two immutable references.

Candidate signing is fail-closed: every Core and module source ref in the complete post-update catalog must already have the requested annotated tag both locally and on the configured source remote. Both tags must be the same annotation object with version-aligned tagged package metadata. Selected tags must additionally resolve to the selected clean, version-aligned HEAD, and the signed selected_units record captures the peeled commit and tag-object identifiers. Create and publish the source tags before using Generate.

Catalog publication repeats that check for selected units and also verifies every Core and module source ref in the complete candidate, including entries preserved from the previous catalog. Historical refs need not be at the current worktree HEAD, but their local and remote annotated tags must match and their tagged installable package and module-manifest metadata must declare the catalog version. New selected releases additionally pass the stricter current-source alignment gate, including public runtime version declarations. A candidate cannot be applied or published while any referenced source tag is absent or inconsistent; the preview and API response list each repository and missing or invalid ref so the operator can repair the exact source releases first.

Read-only provenance checks derive a same-host HTTPS Git URL from conventional SSH remotes when possible, with a non-interactive check of the configured remote as fallback. Source tag creation and atomic publication always use the explicit configured Git remote.

The default signing key is $HOME/.config/govoplan/release-keys/release-key-1.pem when no signing key is entered in the UI.

Generate a selective release plan from the terminal:

./.venv/bin/python tools/release/release-plan.py \
  --repo govoplan-files \
  --target-version 0.1.9 \
  --channel stable \
  --online

--online compares the local catalog/keyring with the published channel and published keyring. Use --remote-tags only when the plan also needs to check Git remotes for tag existence; that can be slower across the full repository set.

Build a signed selective catalog candidate:

KEY_DIR="$HOME/.config/govoplan/release-keys"

./.venv/bin/python tools/release/release-catalog.py selective \
  --repo-version govoplan-files=0.1.9 \
  --channel stable \
  --catalog-signing-key "release-key-1=$KEY_DIR/release-key-1.pem"

This writes candidate catalog/keyring files below runtime/release-candidates/, generates the browsable module directory below modules/, validates the signed candidate with the module installer validator, and reports whether the candidate catalog/keyring match the currently published channel. It does not publish to the website repository.

Regenerate the browsable module directory from an existing catalog/keyring:

./.venv/bin/python tools/release/release-catalog.py module-directory \
  --catalog ../addideas-govoplan-website/public/catalogs/v1/channels/stable.json \
  --keyring ../addideas-govoplan-website/public/catalogs/v1/keyring.json \
  --output-dir runtime/module-directory-preview \
  --channel stable

Preview publication of a reviewed candidate:

./.venv/bin/python tools/release/release-catalog.py publish-candidate \
  --candidate-dir runtime/release-candidates/stable-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS \
  --channel stable

Apply the reviewed candidate into the website repository without pushing:

./.venv/bin/python tools/release/release-catalog.py publish-candidate \
  --candidate-dir runtime/release-candidates/stable-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS \
  --channel stable \
  --apply \
  --commit \
  --tag

Push is a separate explicit flag:

./.venv/bin/python tools/release/release-catalog.py publish-candidate \
  --candidate-dir runtime/release-candidates/stable-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS \
  --channel stable \
  --apply \
  --commit \
  --tag \
  --push

Published channels are expected below the public catalog base URL:

• https://govoplan.add-ideas.de/catalogs/v1/channels/stable.json
• https://govoplan.add-ideas.de/catalogs/v1/keyring.json

The console treats channels as release artifacts. A package can advance without forcing every repository to the same tag, but channel publication must preserve the unchanged package versions, validate interface compatibility, sign the updated catalog, and keep the published keyring healthy.

When a selected module exposes a WebUI package, its requested version must also match Core's webui/package.release.json input and the resolved package-lock.release.json entry. The source-tag preflight, selective plan, and catalog-candidate writer all enforce this composition boundary. Pins for modules that are not part of the selective release remain unchanged.

Release integration also enforces repository and composition version alignment and generates a CycloneDX SBOM from the resolved Python environment and the release WebUI lockfile. Catalog publication should attach that immutable SBOM and its digest to the corresponding Core/composition release.

Addresses and Notifications have current WebUI source contributions but are not part of the pinned v0.1.8 WebUI release composition because their v0.1.8 tags predate those packages. They re-enter the release composition only through new, immutable module tags whose backend, manifest, frontend, and lock metadata pass the alignment gate.

Candidate publication verifies signatures against the already published keyring, not against keys supplied only by the candidate. A changed keyring must have its canonical SHA-256 embedded in the signed catalog. The public module-directory files are regenerated from that verified catalog and keyring at publication time; candidate-supplied directory files are never copied as authoritative provenance.

Published Module Directory

The target release repository is an online, browsable module directory. The catalog remains the machine-readable channel entry point, but the published space should also expose a tree that operators and installations can inspect:

• /catalogs/v1/channels/<channel>.json describes the active channel state.
• /catalogs/v1/keyring.json publishes trusted release signing keys.
• /catalogs/v1/modules/<module>/<version>/manifest.json describes one published module version, including repository refs, package refs, contracts, compatibility windows, signatures, and available artifacts.
• /catalogs/v1/modules/<module>/index.json lists available versions for one module.
• /catalogs/v1/modules/index.json lists all published modules.

Gitea tags/releases remain the source release anchors. The public GovOPlaN catalog directory becomes the installation-facing release repository that points to those anchors and carries structured compatibility information.

Selective catalog candidates now include this directory tree. Publishing a candidate copies the channel catalog, keyring, and modules/ tree into the website repository together.

Selective catalog generation can add a module that is not yet represented in the source channel. Initial entries are synthesized from the selected repository's [project] metadata, govoplan.modules entry point, and runtime ModuleManifest; there is no separate hand-maintained initial-entry list. The release gate requires the entry point to resolve inside the selected checkout, exact package/manifest/frontend version agreement, verified source-tag provenance, a non-conflicting module id, and complete required dependency and interface closure in the resulting candidate. Classification beyond the manifest-derived official tag remains an explicit later catalog curation step rather than an inferred business/service label.

Direction

The console should grow in slices:

1. Read-only dashboard and next-action suggestions.
2. Release plan builder that writes explicit JSON plans.
3. Dry-run executor that shows exact commands and expected file changes.
4. Apply executor for commit, tag, push, artifact build, signing, and catalog publication.
5. Compatibility planner for manifest contracts and version ranges.
6. Install/test workflow that validates a release from tags or catalog entries.

All mutation must stay explicit: plan first, dry run second, apply only after a clear confirmation.