feat(release): implement release management strategy

[WilliamBerryiii]

Description

Implements a trunk-based release workflow using release-please automation with manual VS Code extension publishing. Configures version synchronization between root and extension packages, disables automatic release-triggered publishing, and provides contributor documentation explaining the complete release workflow.

• feat(release-please): Added extra-files configuration to synchronize extension/package.json version with root package version during releases
• feat(workflow): Exposed release-please step outputs (release_created, tag_name, version, major, minor, patch) in main.yml for downstream visibility
• feat(workflow): Disabled automatic release trigger in extension-publish.yml, retaining only workflow_dispatch for manual publishing
• docs(contributing): Created comprehensive release process guide covering trunk-based development, Release PR workflow, version calculation, and extension publishing steps

Related Issue(s)

Closes #160

Type of Change

Select all that apply:

Code & Documentation:

• Bug fix (non-breaking change fixing an issue)
• New feature (non-breaking change adding functionality)
• Breaking change (fix or feature causing existing functionality to change)
• Documentation update

Infrastructure & Configuration:

• GitHub Actions workflow
• Linting configuration (markdown, PowerShell, etc.)
• Security configuration
• DevContainer configuration
• Dependency update

AI Artifacts:

• Reviewed contribution with prompt-builder chatmode and addressed all feedback
• Copilot instructions (.github/instructions/*.instructions.md)
• Copilot prompt (.github/prompts/*.prompt.md)
• Copilot chatmode (.github/chatmodes/*.chatmode.md)

Note for AI Artifact Contributors:

• Chatmodes: Research, indexing/referencing other project (using standard VS Code GitHub Copilot/MCP tools), planning, and general implementation chatmodes likely already exist. Review .github/chatmodes/ before creating new ones.
• Model Versions: Only contributions targeting the latest Anthropic and OpenAI models will be accepted. Older model versions (e.g., GPT-3.5, Claude 3) will be rejected.
• See Chatmodes Not Accepted and Model Version Requirements.

Other:

• Script/automation (.ps1, .sh, .py)
• Other (please describe):

Sample Prompts (for AI Artifact Contributions)

Testing

• Verified release-please-config.json validates with extra-files JSON structure
• Confirmed workflow YAML syntax is valid
• Documentation follows project markdown conventions

Checklist

Required Checks

• Documentation is updated (if applicable)
• Files follow existing naming conventions
• Changes are backwards compatible (if applicable)

AI Artifact Contributions

• Used prompt-builder chatmode to review contribution
• Addressed all feedback from prompt-builder review
• Verified contribution follows common standards and type-specific requirements

Required Automated Checks

The following validation commands must pass before merging:

• Markdown linting: npm run lint:md
• Spell checking: npm run spell-check
• Frontmatter validation: npm run lint:frontmatter
• Link validation: npm run lint:md-links
• PowerShell analysis: npm run lint:ps

Security Considerations

• This PR does not contain any sensitive or NDA information
• Any new dependencies have been reviewed for security issues
• Security-related scripts follow the principle of least privilege

Additional Notes

This PR implements the release management strategy for OIDC-based VS Code Marketplace publishing. The GitHub environment marketplace has been configured with:

• Deployment restricted to main branch only
• Secrets configured: AZURE_CLIENT_ID, AZURE_TENANT_ID, AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID
• Service principal added to publisher organization

After merge, the publish workflow can be tested via dry-run mode from the Actions tab.

🚀 - Generated by Copilot

[github-actions]

Dependency Review

✅ No vulnerabilities or license issues or OpenSSF Scorecard issues found.

Scanned Files

None

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR implements a comprehensive release management strategy using release-please automation with manual VS Code extension publishing. The changes establish version synchronization between root and extension packages, expose release metadata for downstream workflows, and provide detailed contributor/maintainer documentation for the trunk-based release workflow.

Changes:

• Configure release-please to synchronize extension/package.json version with root package.json
• Expose release-please outputs (release_created, tag_name, version, major/minor/patch) in main workflow
• Disable automatic release-triggered publishing, retaining only manual workflow_dispatch for extension publishing
• Add comprehensive release process documentation covering conventional commits, Release PR workflow, and extension publishing procedures

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File	Description
release-please-config.json	Adds extra-files configuration to synchronize extension package version during releases
.github/workflows/main.yml	Exposes release-please step outputs for downstream workflow visibility
.github/workflows/extension-publish.yml	Comments out release trigger, making extension publishing manual-only
docs/contributing/release-process.md	New comprehensive documentation covering release workflow, version calculation, and publishing steps

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.