Docs: tag-based release (#479)

Author: angela-tran

docs/releases.md

@@ -21,3 +21,53 @@ All versions of the package may be viewed on the [package all versions page](htt
   e.g. `1` for the first release of the month, `2` for the second, and so on.
 
 Version numbers for release candidates append `-rcR`, where `R` is the 1-based release counter for the anticipated release. For example, the first release candidate for the `2024.01.1` release would be `2024.01.1-rc1`.
+
+## Making a release
+
+This list outlines the manual steps needed to make a new release of `eligibility-server`.
+
+A release is made by pushing an annotated tag. The name of the tag must use the version number format mentioned above. This kicks off a deployment to the production environment and creates a GitHub release. The version number for the app and the release will be the tag's name.
+
+More details about the deployment steps and release creation can be found in the [`docker-publish`](https://github.com/cal-itp/eligibility-server/tree/main/.github/workflows/docker-publish.yml) workflow. [`release`](https://github.com/cal-itp/eligibility-server/tree/main/.github/workflows/release.yml) workflow.
+
+The list of releases can be found on the [repository Releases page](https://github.com/cal-itp/eligibility-server/tags) on GitHub.
+
+[Start a new Release on Github](https://github.com/cal-itp/eligibility-server/issues/new?labels=release&template=release.yml&title=Make+a+Release){ .md-button }
+
+### 1. Create a release candidate tag on `main` and push it
+
+```bash
+git fetch
+git checkout main
+git reset --hard origin/main
+git tag -a YYYY.0M.R-rcR
+```
+
+Git will open your default text editor and prompt you for the tag annotation. For the tag annotation, use the release candidate version. Finally, after closing the text editor:
+
+```bash
+git push origin YYYY.0M.R-rcR
+```
+
+This builds a new package and deploys to the Azure test environments. No GitHub release is created for release candidates.
+
+### 2. Create a release tag on `main` and push it
+
+```bash
+git fetch
+git checkout main
+git reset --hard origin/main
+git tag -a YYYY.0M.R
+```
+
+Git will open your default text editor and prompt you for the tag annotation. For the tag annotation, use the title of the release-tagged Issue that kicked off the release. Finally, after closing the text editor:
+
+```bash
+git push origin YYYY.0M.R
+```
+
+This builds the package and deploys to the Azure production environments. A GitHub release is created.
+
+### 3. [Generate release notes](https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/releasing-projects-on-github/automatically-generated-release-notes)
+
+Edit release notes with additional context, images, animations, etc. as-needed and link to the release issue.

mkdocs.yml

@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ extra_css:
 
 markdown_extensions:
   - admonition
+  - attr_list
   - codehilite:
       linenums: true
   - pymdownx.inlinehilite