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Release Process

Overview

OpenTransition releases are published to the Google Play Store. Production builds are triggered automatically by pushing to the production branch via the ci.yml GitHub Actions workflow.

Prerequisites

Before releasing, ensure:

  • [ ] All changes are merged to main
  • [ ] main is passing CI (green on pr-debug.yml)
  • [ ] Version numbers are updated in mobile/build.gradle
  • [ ] Release notes / changelog prepared
  • [ ] Release keystore available (CI injects it via KEYSTORE_64 secret)

Step 1: Update Version Numbers

In mobile/build.gradle:

def major = 1   // Increment for major feature releases
def minor = 4   // Increment for minor updates and bug fixes

The versionCode is calculated automatically: 

versionCode = baseBuildNumber(25) + (major × 100) + minor + BUILD_NUMBER(CI)

Step 2: Create a Release Branch / PR

# From main
git checkout -b release/1.4.0
# Make version bump commit
git commit -m "chore: bump version to 1.4.0"
git push origin release/1.4.0

Open a PR into main, get it reviewed and merged.

Step 3: Trigger Production Build

Push to the production branch to trigger the full CI/CD pipeline:

git checkout production
git merge main
git push origin production

The ci.yml workflow will: 1. Build the release AAB (./gradlew :mobile:bundleRelease) 2. Sign it with the release keystore (from KEYSTORE_64 secret) 3. Upload to Google Play Internal track automatically 4. Create a GitHub Release with the AAB attached

Step 4: Promote on Play Console

After the CI upload:

  1. Open Google Play Console
  2. Navigate to OpenTransition → Release
  3. Promote from Internal testing → Production (or your rollout track)
  4. Write release notes for each supported language
  5. Set rollout percentage (start at 10–20% for stability)
  6. Review and publish

Step 5: Create GitHub Release Tag

Tag the commit that was released:

git tag v1.4.0
git push origin v1.4.0

Alternatively, the CI workflow creates this automatically when run from production.

Build Secrets Required for Release

Secret Description
KEYSTORE_64 Base64-encoded release keystore file
STORE_PASS Keystore store password
KEY_ALIAS Key alias in the keystore
KEY_PASS Key password
FIREBASE_TOKEN (Optional) Firebase service account for Play publishing

These are configured in the repository's Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions.

Hotfix Process

For urgent fixes:

  1. Branch from the production tag: git checkout -b hotfix/1.4.1 v1.4.0
  2. Apply fix, increment minor version
  3. Open PR into main and production
  4. After merge to production, CI builds and publishes automatically