ci: split release-please into independent release and PR creation steps

[keelerm84]

Requirements

• I have added test coverage for new or changed functionality
• I have followed the repository's pull request submission guidelines
• I have validated my changes against all supported platform versions

Related issues

Follows the pattern established in ld-relay PR #622 to support GitHub's immutable releases.

Describe the solution you've provided

Splits the single release-please-action invocation into two sequential passes:

1. First pass (skip-github-pull-request: true): Creates GitHub releases only.
2. Inline tag creation: If any package was released, checks out the repo and pushes tags for each released package (with idempotent guard via gh api).
3. Second pass (skip-github-release: true): Runs only when no releases were created; handles PR creation/updates.

This separation is required because release-please checks for an existing tag when deciding whether to open a new release PR. Without the split, release-please could open a duplicate PR immediately after publishing a release because the tag wasn't yet visible.

Since this is a monorepo (4 packages), the tag creation step iterates over all packages, creating tags only for those that were actually released.

Describe alternatives you've considered

A single release-please call with post-processing — rejected because the tag must exist before release-please evaluates PR state, requiring the two-pass approach.

Additional context

Key items for reviewer attention:

• The second-pass condition uses && (all four != 'true'), meaning PR creation is skipped if any package released. Verify this is correct for a monorepo where only a subset of packages may release in a given run.
• Tag names are passed through env variables (not inline ${{ }} expansion) to prevent script injection.
• The outputs block still reads from steps.release.outputs[...] (the first pass). Confirm that skip-github-pull-request: true does not suppress these output fields.
• Version comment updated from # v4 to # v4.4.0 — the pinned SHA is unchanged.
• No changes to downstream release jobs (release-server-ai, release-server-ai-langchain, etc.) or the manual-publish job.

Link to Devin session: https://app.devin.ai/sessions/7d5bda4d9dbe4ae0b950b30a50485e60
Requested by: @keelerm84

---

Note

Medium Risk
Changes the release automation flow to create/push git tags and gate PR creation, which can affect publishing behavior across all packages if the conditions or tag creation logic are wrong.

Overview
Restructures the release-please GitHub Actions workflow to run in two passes: first creating GitHub releases only (skip-github-pull-request: true), then (when any package release is created) checking out the repo and creating/pushing the corresponding git tags with an idempotent existence check via gh api.

Adds a second release-please invocation that runs only when no releases were created to handle release PR creation/updates (skip-github-release: true), preventing PRs from being opened immediately after a release before tags are visible.

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[devin-ai-integration]

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Cursor Bugbot has reviewed your changes and found 1 potential issue.

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[cursor]

Monorepo PR creation skipped on partial release

Medium Severity

The second-pass condition uses && across all four release_created != 'true' checks, so if even one package releases, the entire PR-creation step is skipped. In this monorepo, the first pass has skip-github-pull-request: true, meaning it never creates or updates release PRs at all. When a subset of packages release (e.g. only server-ai), the remaining packages (langchain, openai, optimization) that have pending changes will not get their release PRs created or updated in that run — they must wait until the next push to main where no package releases, potentially stalling their release cycle.

 

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[devin-ai-integration]

Closing: The split release-please pattern is only needed for repos with artifact uploads. This attestation-only repo doesn't need it. The attestation changes are in PR #118.