# Requirements Document

## Introduction

This feature implements a fully automated release process using GitHub Actions that eliminates manual intervention in the release workflow. The system will automatically handle version bumping, changelog generation, GitHub release creation, and package publishing, allowing developers to focus solely on code development while maintaining a professional release pipeline.

## Requirements

### Requirement 1

**User Story:** As a developer, I want to trigger releases automatically when I push code to the main branch, so that I don't have to manually manage the release process.

#### Acceptance Criteria

1. WHEN code is pushed to the main branch THEN the system SHALL automatically determine if a release is needed based on conventional commits
2. WHEN a release is triggered THEN the system SHALL automatically bump the version number according to semantic versioning rules
3. WHEN version bumping occurs THEN the system SHALL update all relevant version files (pyproject.toml, __init__.py, etc.)
4. IF no releasable changes are detected THEN the system SHALL skip the release process gracefully

### Requirement 2

**User Story:** As a developer, I want automatic changelog generation from my commit messages, so that release notes are always up-to-date and professional.

#### Acceptance Criteria

1. WHEN a release is created THEN the system SHALL generate a changelog from conventional commit messages
2. WHEN generating changelogs THEN the system SHALL categorize changes into features, fixes, breaking changes, and other improvements
3. WHEN a changelog is generated THEN the system SHALL include commit hashes and author information
4. WHEN multiple commits of the same type exist THEN the system SHALL group them logically in the changelog

### Requirement 3

**User Story:** As a developer, I want GitHub releases to be created automatically with proper tags and release notes, so that users can easily track and download specific versions.

#### Acceptance Criteria

1. WHEN a version is bumped THEN the system SHALL create a corresponding Git tag with the new version
2. WHEN a Git tag is created THEN the system SHALL create a GitHub release with the generated changelog as release notes
3. WHEN creating releases THEN the system SHALL attach relevant build artifacts (wheels, source distributions)
4. WHEN releases are created THEN the system SHALL mark them as pre-release if they contain pre-release version identifiers

### Requirement 4

**User Story:** As a developer, I want the release process to handle different types of releases (patch, minor, major) automatically based on my commit messages, so that semantic versioning is maintained without manual intervention.

#### Acceptance Criteria

1. WHEN commits contain "feat:" THEN the system SHALL trigger a minor version bump
2. WHEN commits contain "fix:" THEN the system SHALL trigger a patch version bump
3. WHEN commits contain "BREAKING CHANGE" or "!" THEN the system SHALL trigger a major version bump
4. WHEN multiple version bump types are present THEN the system SHALL use the highest precedence bump (major > minor > patch)

### Requirement 5

**User Story:** As a developer, I want the release process to be secure and only run on authorized changes, so that malicious actors cannot trigger unauthorized releases.

#### Acceptance Criteria

1. WHEN release workflows run THEN the system SHALL only execute on pushes to the main branch from authorized contributors
2. WHEN creating releases THEN the system SHALL use secure GitHub tokens with minimal required permissions
3. WHEN publishing packages THEN the system SHALL use secure authentication methods (API tokens, OIDC)
4. IF security checks fail THEN the system SHALL abort the release process and notify maintainers

### Requirement 6

**User Story:** As a developer, I want the release process to be fast and reliable, so that it doesn't become a bottleneck in the development workflow.

#### Acceptance Criteria

1. WHEN releases are triggered THEN the system SHALL complete the entire process in under 5 minutes for typical changes
2. WHEN the release process fails THEN the system SHALL provide clear error messages and rollback any partial changes
3. WHEN network issues occur THEN the system SHALL retry failed operations with exponential backoff
4. WHEN releases complete THEN the system SHALL notify relevant stakeholders through configured channels

### Requirement 7

**User Story:** As a developer, I want to be able to manually trigger releases when needed, so that I have control over the release timing for special circumstances.

#### Acceptance Criteria

1. WHEN I trigger a manual release THEN the system SHALL allow me to specify the version bump type (patch, minor, major)
2. WHEN manual releases are triggered THEN the system SHALL follow the same automated process but with manual version specification
3. WHEN manual releases are requested THEN the system SHALL validate that the requesting user has appropriate permissions
4. IF manual release parameters are invalid THEN the system SHALL reject the request with clear error messages