Task: Consolidate `release` and `release-drafter` workflows

[nlebovits]

Describe the task

We currently have two separate GitHub Actions workflows: release and release-drafter. The goal is to consolidate them into a single workflow that automates the release process. This workflow should handle the following:

• Publish release notes.
• Manage semantic versioning.
• Trigger whenever we merge the staging branch into main.
• Provide an option to manually trigger the workflow.

Note: The existing release workflow is not functioning properly at the moment and should not be used as a model.

Acceptance Criteria

• [ ] Create a single consolidated workflow that includes functionality from both release and release-drafter.
• [ ] The workflow should publish release notes with a clear changelog based on PRs merged into main.
• [ ] Implement semantic versioning that automatically increments the version based on PR labels (e.g., fix, feat, breaking).
• [ ] Ensure the workflow triggers automatically when merging staging into main.
• [ ] Add the ability to manually trigger the workflow via the GitHub Actions interface.
• [ ] Validate the new workflow operates correctly and replace the old workflows.

Additional context

• Review the current release and release-drafter workflows to identify overlapping and unique functionality, but note that release is not working properly and may require significant adjustments.
• Consider using tools like semantic-release or actions/github-script for managing versioning and release notes.
• Ensure backward compatibility with our current release process.
• Refer to GitHub's release documentation for guidance on best practices.
• The PR should clean up and deprecate the old workflows once the new one is verified to work.

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue has been marked as stale because it has been open for 30 days with no activity.

[eparirishit]

Hello! I would like to work on this.

[CodeWritingCow]

@eparirishit assigned!

[eparirishit]

@CodeWritingCow, could you please clarify the following questions?

• Where is the release version tracked in the code?
• Are we using the labels such as feat and breaking?
• I was exploring the semantic-release tool to use that all the commit messages should be in a particular format. Do we have any such standards currently?

I have a draft version in my fork with actions/github-script tool which I am currently testing for release notes but I would like to understand the first question to manage version as well.

[CodeWritingCow]

Hi @eparirishit:

• The release version is tracked on GitHub itself. We're not tracking it within our code
• The project isn't using feat or breaking labels
• We don't have a standard for commit messages

[eparirishit]

@CodeWritingCow, any update on the PR review?