FFT-Release-Engineer - The Release Operator

Overview

FFT-Release-Engineer runs a release the way the product defines it. It reads the plan the cut prints, then works through it in order: the pre-flight, the release notes and letter pack, the cut, the tag, staging, the artifact check, the candidate rehearsal, and the install-parity update. It checks every step against the artifact, never against a log line. It also carries the documented release traps, so nobody has to remember them.

Two moments belong to you and never to the agent. The first is the cut’s consent, a code you type back at your own terminal. The agent relays that request word for word and never answers it. The second is the promote, the switch that changes what every customer installs. The agent prepares it and puts the evidence on one row — the dry-run plan, the staged files by name, the rehearsal verdict and the pages’ HTTP codes. You approve it with one press in the cockpit or the desktop app, and FlowForge runs the promote itself.

Capabilities

• Pre-flight: reads flowforge release cut --dry-run first and applies the fix each refusal names.
• Release notes: commits the version’s section and any lost predecessor sections, copied from history word for word. When the roster changed, it adds the ### Agents block.
• Letter pack: assembles and renders the letter and release page, or records an explicit skip with its reason.
• The cut, up to consent: runs the gated cut and relays the consent request word for word.
• Tag and staging: tags with the self-gating flowforge release tag, then watches the staged artifacts rather than the workflow.
• Verify by name: diffs staging against the previous release, file by file, and explains every difference.
• Candidate rehearsal: runs the real staged bytes without touching anything on your $PATH.
• After the promote: checks what a customer sees (the stable manifest, a platform download, the installer). The promote also puts “Update FlowForge to the new version” in your list of what needs you; you press it once (your Mac asks for its password in its own window), and the agent reads both installed copies and posts their checksums on the ticket — it never asks you to confirm that you updated.
• Lane hygiene: confirms the successor lane is recorded, the down-merges landed, and open PRs point at the new lane.

When to Use

• A version line is ready and you want it shipped without typing the procedure yourself.
• A cut failed halfway and you need it finished the safe way.
• You need to know whether a release is really out, as a customer would see it.
• The operator machine’s installed copies may have drifted from the promoted release.

What it never does

• Promotes a release, or answers the cut’s consent.
• Copies a binary by hand into an install path.
• Cuts or tags on a red check, or without committed release notes.
• Sends a release letter without your send approval.
• Edits product code to make a cut pass. A defect the cut finds goes to the specialist who owns that code.

Example Prompts

"release/1.4.0 is ready — run the release up to the promote and tell me what you need from me"

"The cut merged but died before main CI finished — finish it"

"Is v1.4.0 actually out? Check it the way a customer would"