# Version v0.17.13

This release brings major improvements to release note generation, version handling, and CI/CD automation. Users now have explicit control over version strings, improved workflow reliability, and enhanced flexibility in versioning conventions. Several bug fixes and workflow enhancements ensure smoother releases and better developer experience.

## New Features

- Added a `--version` flag to the `llamabot git write-release-notes` CLI command, allowing users to explicitly specify the version number for release notes generation. This enables cleaner CI/CD workflows and prevents LLMs from inferring incorrect version numbers from commit messages. (9ba26e, Eric Ma)
- Introduced automatic patch release on PR merge to the main branch, enabling seamless patch version bumps and releases when PRs are merged. Manual workflows for major/minor releases are preserved. (815290, Eric Ma)

## Bug Fixes

- Improved version name handling and event type checks in workflows, ensuring correct behavior across different GitHub Actions event types and preventing issues with missing or incorrect version names. (21f86a, Eric Ma)
- Fixed trailing whitespace in workflow files to comply with pre-commit hooks. (018306, Eric Ma)
- Enhanced workflow reliability by ensuring tests pass before automatic release, switching to a `workflow_run` trigger that depends on successful test completion. (feaf71, Eric Ma)
- Improved handling of concurrent PR merges in the release workflow by adding a git fetch and rebase step before pushing, preventing non-fast-forward push errors. (84422f, Eric Ma)
- Normalized version strings and handled edge cases, including stripping the 'v' prefix for consistency, validating empty/whitespace-only version strings, and improving test coverage for these scenarios. (2486dd, Eric Ma)

## Deprecations

- Removed all logic that enforced a specific version string format (such as stripping the 'v' prefix), allowing users to control their own versioning conventions. The version string is now used exactly as provided by the user or from git tags. (62543d, Eric Ma)
- Replaced `bump2version` with `uv version` for version management, consolidating version information in `pyproject.toml` and simplifying the version bumping process. (620eff, Eric Ma)

## Internal Improvements

- Refactored commit range and version determination logic in release note generation to eliminate code duplication and improve maintainability. (98837c, Eric Ma)
- Added `.lance` files and ACE implementation files to `.gitignore` to prevent accidental commits of experimental or database files. (f7914c, c21e66, Eric Ma)

## Dependency Updates

- Bumped `rossjrw/pr-preview-action` from 1.6.3 to 1.8.0 in two steps, keeping CI/CD preview actions up to date. (288128, 2d0af2, dependabot[bot])
