---

name: release-maintenance description: "Guides Instill Core service version bumps, chart image tag updates, and release automation workflows." disable-model-invocation: true metadata: disco-role: operating license: NOASSERTION

Release Maintenance

Use this route when the user needs to bump service versions, update chart image tags, or reason about the repository's release automation.

Use this when the request mentions

• release-please, release-please/config.json, or release-please/manifest.json.
• .github/workflows/update-service-version.yml, .github/workflows/releases.yml, .github/workflows/releases-helm-charts.yml, or .github/workflows/sync-version-with-api-docs.yml.
• Service version changes in .env or image tags in charts/core/values.yaml.
• Chart package release or API-doc version synchronization.

What belongs here

• Mapping service names to .env version variables and Helm chart image tags.
• Local, reviewable helpers that mirror the GitHub Actions version-update logic.
• Chart release and release-please workflow interpretation.
• CI-only release metadata and maintainer guidance.

What does not belong here

• Running the platform stack; use local-compose.
• Helm install or port-forward debugging; use helm-deployment.
• Compose or Helm integration suites; use integration-tests.

Core workflow

1. Run ../../scripts/check-toolchain.sh --mode release --repo-root <checkout>.
2. Read the versioning reference before changing tags or release metadata.
3. Use ../../scripts/update-service-version.py --repo-root <checkout> --service <service> --version <tag> to preview the edit.
4. Re-run the helper with --apply only when you are ready to write the change.
5. Treat chart and release automation as maintainer workflows; they usually end in a PR, not in a direct runtime change.

Quick decision cues

• Choose ../../scripts/update-service-version.py when the user wants a reviewable local edit for a single service image tag.
• Choose the release-please and chart-release references when the request is about maintainer automation rather than an immediate file edit.
• Treat ray as a special case: the current chart tree does not expose a Helm image tag for it, so a helper should report that caveat instead of claiming a chart edit happened.
• Use --apply only after you have reviewed the dry-run output and confirmed the target service name.
• If the request is about runtime behavior instead of version metadata, route to the Compose or Helm sub-skill instead.

Common mistakes

• Editing a service version without checking whether the chart tree actually contains the matching image repository block.
• Assuming the release workflows are safe to run locally when they rely on CI secrets and signing keys.
• Forgetting that ray currently has no matching Helm tag path in charts/core/values.yaml.
• Trying to solve deployment problems from the version-maintenance route instead of the runtime route.

If the request is mixed or unclear

• Choose this route when the user wants a reviewable file edit for a service version or release tag.
• If the user wants to run the stack or verify runtime health, send them to the Compose or Helm route instead.
• If the user wants dummy model execution or registry prep, send them to the integration-tests route instead.
• Use the versioning reference before you touch .env or chart values.

Confidence check

• If the service-to-tag mapping still looks unclear, read the versioning reference first so you do not edit the wrong block.

Read these references

• workflows for the release and CI workflow map.
• versioning for the service-to-tag mapping.
• troubleshooting for release-token, chart, and version-mismatch failures.
• check-toolchain.sh before the first edit.

Useful commands

• python ../../scripts/update-service-version.py --repo-root <checkout> --service model --version be9e861 previews the model-backend version bump.
• python ../../scripts/update-service-version.py --repo-root <checkout> --service model --version be9e861 --apply writes the change.
• python ../../scripts/update-service-version.py --repo-root <checkout> --service ray --version 0.6.6 updates the local Compose version variable; the current chart tree does not expose a Ray Helm image tag.

Exit criteria

A future agent should be able to explain which version variable or chart tag is being changed and whether the current repo state still matches the release automation in the tree.