---
name: release-openclaw-ci
description: "Run, watch, debug, and summarize OpenClaw full release CI, release checks, live provider gates, install/update proofs, and release-secret preflights."
---

# OpenClaw Release CI

Use this with `$release-openclaw-maintainer` and `$openclaw-testing` when a release candidate needs full validation, install/update proof, live provider checks, or CI recovery.

## Guardrails

- No version bump, tag, npm publish, GitHub release, or release promotion without explicit operator approval.
- Validate provider secrets before dispatching expensive full release matrices.
- Do not set GitHub secrets from unvalidated 1Password candidates. If a candidate returns 401/403, leave the existing secret alone and report the exact missing provider.
- Use `$one-password` for secret reads/writes: one persistent tmux session, targeted items only, no secret output.
- Watch one parent run plus compact child summaries. Avoid broad `gh run view` polling loops; REST quota is easy to burn.
- Fetch logs only for failed or currently-blocking jobs. If quota is low, stop polling and wait for reset.
- Treat live-provider flakes separately from code failures: prove key validity, provider HTTP status, retry evidence, and exact failing lane before editing code.
- A model-list response proves authentication, not billing or inference
  entitlement. Mandatory live providers must pass a real completion probe
  before release dispatch. Fix the credential first; do not add an alternate
  auth path merely to bypass a failed release credential.
- Full Release Validation parent monitors fail fast: once a required child job
  fails, the parent cancels the remaining child matrix and prints the failed
  job summary. Inspect that first red job instead of waiting for unrelated
  matrix tails.
- In a sparse worktree or Testbox source sync, first confirm `package.json`,
  `pnpm-lock.yaml`, and every source path the selected check reads. If any are
  absent, that checkout cannot validate a release dependency or Docker lane:
  stop and use the repo remote changed gate or a full task worktree. When the
  inputs are present and a release fix changes `package.json` or
  `pnpm-lock.yaml`, rebuild only the task-owned disposable box with
  `CI=true pnpm install --frozen-lockfile`, then run an explicit
  `require.resolve()` probe before Docker or focused tests. The CI flag permits
  pnpm to recreate a prewarmed modules directory without an interactive
  confirmation. Do not weaken the lockfile or label sparse-checkout failures
  as product/Docker failures.
- If the candidate is rebased or its base SHA changes after warmup, stop the
  task-owned box and warm a fresh one before testing. Testbox source sync is
  relative to the warmed source tree; continuing can mix an old base file with
  a new candidate diff and produce false lockfile or Docker failures.
- Reused Testboxes are provenance-gated after their first successful run.
  Source-only edits may reuse the lease; base, dependency, wrapper, or Testbox
  workflow drift requires a fresh lease. Do not set
  `OPENCLAW_TESTBOX_ALLOW_STALE=1` for release evidence.
- For a committed release candidate, warm the box with
  `blacksmith testbox warmup ... --ref <candidate-branch-or-sha>`. Do not rely
  on source sync to overlay committed branch changes onto the workflow's
  default ref.

## Preflight

Before full release validation:

```bash
node .agents/skills/release-openclaw-ci/scripts/verify-provider-secrets.mjs --required openai,anthropic,fireworks
gh api rate_limit --jq '.resources.core'
git status --short --branch
git rev-parse HEAD
```

1Password service-account values are the first source for release provider
preflight. Inject those exact targeted keys first, then run the verifier; use
ambient env only when it was already intentionally injected for this release.
The script prints only provider status and HTTP class, never tokens.
The Anthropic check performs a tiny message completion so exhausted or
non-billable credentials fail before the expensive release matrix.

## Dispatch

Start product performance evidence as early as the release SHA exists, in
parallel with other release work:

```bash
gh workflow run openclaw-performance.yml \
  --repo openclaw/openclaw \
  --ref main \
  -f target_ref=<release-sha> \
  -f profile=release \
  -f repeat=3 \
  -f deep_profile=false \
  -f live_openai_candidate=false \
  -f fail_on_regression=true
```

- Do not wait for full release validation to start this early perf signal.
- Compare available Kova, gateway startup, and CLI startup metrics with earlier
  release evidence or clawgrit reports before publish/closeout.
- Call out any regression in the release proof. Treat a major regression as a
  release blocker until it is fixed, waived by the operator, or proven to be
  infrastructure noise.
- Full Release Validation records blocking product-performance evidence. The
  early standalone run is for overlap and faster regression discovery, but a
  regression or missing child run blocks the parent validation.

Prefer the trusted workflow on `main`, target the exact release SHA:

- Keep trusted-workflow checks compatible with frozen release targets. If
  `main` adds a target-owned guard script or package command after the release
  branch cut, make the trusted workflow skip only when that target surface is
  absent. Heal the trusted workflow before rerunning validation; do not port an
  unrelated runtime refactor or mutate the release candidate just to satisfy a
  newer `main`-only check.

```bash
gh workflow run full-release-validation.yml \
  --repo openclaw/openclaw \
  --ref main \
  -f ref=<release-sha> \
  -f provider=openai \
  -f mode=both \
  -f release_profile=full \
  -f rerun_group=all
```

For immutable workflow proof on a moving `main`, use
`pnpm ci:full-release --sha <release-sha>`. Its canonical `release-ci/*` ref
keeps exact-target evidence reuse enabled after proving the workflow commit is
still on trusted `main` lineage. Pass `-f reuse_evidence=false` only when the
operator intentionally needs a fresh full run.

Use `release_profile=stable` unless the operator explicitly asks for the broad advisory provider/media matrix. Stable and full profiles force the release soak; the beta profile may opt in with `run_release_soak=true`. Use narrow `rerun_group` after focused fixes.
Publish with `openclaw-release-publish.yml` using `release_profile=from-validation`
unless a maintainer intentionally wants to cross-check a specific profile; the
publish workflow reads the effective profile from the full-validation manifest.

## Watch

Use the transition-only summary watcher instead of repeated raw polling:

```bash
node scripts/release-ci-summary.mjs <full-release-run-id> --watch
```

For a one-shot snapshot:

```bash
node scripts/release-ci-summary.mjs <full-release-run-id>
```

Stop watchers before ending the turn or switching strategy.

## Failure Triage

1. Confirm parent SHA and child run IDs.
2. List failed jobs only:
   ```bash
   gh run view <child-run-id> --repo openclaw/openclaw --json jobs \
     --jq '.jobs[] | select(.conclusion=="failure" or .conclusion=="timed_out" or .conclusion=="cancelled") | [.databaseId,.name,.conclusion,.url] | @tsv'
   ```
3. Fetch one failed job log. If rate-limited, note reset time and avoid more REST calls.
4. For secret-looking failures, validate a real completion from the same secret source before editing code. A successful model-list request is insufficient.
   Claude CLI subscription credentials are a separate native auth path; prove
   them in a clean-home CLI probe, never as a substitute for a required
   Anthropic API-key lane.
5. For live-cache failures, inspect whether it is missing/invalid key, empty text, provider refusal, timeout, or baseline miss. Do not weaken release gates without clear provider evidence.
6. Fix narrowly, run local/changed proof, commit, push, rerun the smallest matching group.
7. If a required PR CI run is capacity-stalled with queued jobs and no active
   jobs, do not cancel unrelated work or accept a generic manual dispatch.
   From the PR head branch, dispatch the explicit exact-SHA fallback:
   `gh workflow run ci.yml --repo openclaw/openclaw --ref <pr-head-branch> -f
target_ref=<full-pr-sha> -f include_android=true -f release_gate=true`.
   It runs on GitHub-hosted runners and is accepted only when its run title is
   `CI release gate <full-pr-sha>`. Record the stalled Blacksmith run and the
   fallback run in release evidence.
   If `Blacksmith Build Artifacts Testbox` is the only remaining required gate
   and remains queued without a runner, that completed exact fallback may cover
   it because CI's `build-artifacts` job already builds, packages, and smoke
   tests the artifacts. Do not use this coverage after the artifact workflow
   starts or completes non-successfully.

## Evidence

Record:

- release SHA
- full parent run URL
- child run IDs and conclusions: CI, Release Checks, Plugin Prerelease, NPM Telegram, Product Performance
- performance comparison result versus earlier releases when available
- targeted local proof commands
- provider-secret preflight result
- known gaps or unrelated failures

For lessons and recovery patterns, read `references/release-ci-notes.md`.
