Homebrew Release Deployment

Use this skill when creating a new release that will be distributed via Homebrew.

Overview

This project uses an automated release pipeline that:

1. Builds a macOS ARM64 DMG with ad-hoc signing
2. Creates a GitHub Release
3. Automatically updates the Homebrew tap (bradhannah/homebrew-doggy-bag)

No manual Homebrew tap updates are required - everything is triggered by pushing a version tag.

Prerequisites

Before releasing, ensure:

• HOMEBREWTAPTOKEN secret is configured in the GitHub repo (PAT with repo + workflow scopes)
• The Homebrew tap repository exists: bradhannah/homebrew-doggy-bag

Key Files

Version Sync

When bumping versions, update all four version files to keep them in sync:

# Check current versions
grep '"version"' src-tauri/tauri.conf.json package.json api/package.json
grep '^version' src-tauri/Cargo.toml

# After updating, verify they match

The api/src/services/version-service.ts reads version dynamically from tauri.conf.json at runtime (no hardcoded fallback).

Release Process

Step 1: Check Current State

# View recent tags
git tag --sort=-v:refname | head -5

# View recent commits since last tag
git log --oneline $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD

# Check current version in tauri.conf.json
grep '"version"' src-tauri/tauri.conf.json

Step 2: Determine Version Bump

Choose the appropriate version increment:

Step 3: Bump Version

Update the version number in all configuration files to ensure consistency:

1. package.json
2. src-tauri/Cargo.toml
3. src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
4. src-tauri/tauri.conf.json (ensure version is updated)

You can use the edit tool to update these files.

# Example: updating version to 0.5.0
sed -i '' 's/"version": "0.4.1"/"version": "0.5.0"/' package.json src-tauri/tauri.conf.json
sed -i '' 's/^version = "0.4.1"/version = "0.5.0"/' src-tauri/Cargo.toml

Step 4: Commit, Tag, and Push (CRITICAL)

The release workflow is ONLY triggered by pushing a tag starting with v. Merging to main is NOT sufficient.

# Commit the version bump
git add package.json src-tauri/Cargo.toml src-tauri/tauri.conf.json src-tauri/Cargo.lock
git commit -m "chore: bump version to X.Y.Z"

# Create tag and push (This triggers the release!)
git tag vX.Y.Z
git push origin main
git push origin vX.Y.Z

CRITICAL CHECK: Run git tag --contains HEAD to verify the tag exists on the current commit before pushing.

Step 5: Verify Workflow Triggered

Check that the 'Release' workflow has started: https://github.com/bradhannah/doggy-bag/actions

What Happens Automatically

After pushing the tag, the GitHub Actions workflow (.github/workflows/release.yml) executes:

1. create-release - Creates a draft GitHub Release with auto-generated notes
2. build-macos - Builds the macOS ARM64 DMG:

- Installs dependencies (Bun, Node.js, Rust) - Builds the Tauri app with npm run tauri build -- --target aarch64-apple-darwin - Ad-hoc code signs the app bundle - Creates and uploads the DMG - Calculates SHA256 hash

1. publish-release - Publishes the draft release
2. update-homebrew - Dispatches update-cask event to bradhannah/homebrew-doggy-bag with:

- Version number (without v prefix) - SHA256 hash of the DMG

The Homebrew tap repository receives the dispatch and automatically:

• Updates Casks/doggy-bag.rb with new version and SHA256
• Commits and pushes the change

Monitoring the Release

Track progress at:

1. Main release workflow: https://github.com/bradhannah/doggy-bag/actions
2. Homebrew tap update: https://github.com/bradhannah/homebrew-doggy-bag/actions

Verification

After the release completes:

# Update Homebrew and check the new version
brew update
brew info bradhannah/doggy-bag/doggy-bag

# Upgrade to the new version
brew upgrade doggy-bag

Quick Reference

# Full release command sequence (replace X.Y.Z with actual version)
git tag --sort=-v:refname | head -3  # Check latest tags
# Edit src-tauri/tauri.conf.json to update version
git add src-tauri/tauri.conf.json && git commit -m "chore: bump version to X.Y.Z"
git tag vX.Y.Z && git push && git push origin vX.Y.Z

Workflow Diagram

Push vX.Y.Z tag
       |
       v
+------------------+
| release.yml      |
| (BudgetForFun)   |
+------------------+
       |
       +---> create-release (draft)
       |
       +---> build-macos
       |         |
       |         +---> Build DMG
       |         +---> Calculate SHA256
       |         +---> Upload to Release
       |
       +---> publish-release
       |
       +---> update-homebrew
                 |
                 v
        repository_dispatch
                 |
                 v
+------------------+
| update-cask.yml  |
| (homebrew-tap)   |
+------------------+
       |
       +---> Update Casks/doggy-bag.rb
       +---> Commit & Push
       |
       v
  Homebrew Updated!