From 12bedc1b69a0811be863e082dd609d326314da4e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Leendert de Borst <ldeborst@xivisoft.com>
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2025 11:48:40 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Create release-checklist.md

---
 docs/misc/dev/release/release-checklist.md | 65 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 65 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 docs/misc/dev/release/release-checklist.md

diff --git a/docs/misc/dev/release/release-checklist.md b/docs/misc/dev/release/release-checklist.md
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+---
+layout: default
+title: Release Checklist
+parent: Release
+grand_parent: Development
+nav_order: 4
+---
+
+# Release Checklist
+
+Step-by-step guide for creating a new AliasVault release.
+
+## 1. Create release branch
+
+- **Feature release**: Branch from `main`
+
+```bash
+# Feature release
+git checkout main && git checkout -b release/X.Y.Z
+```
+
+- **Bug/hotfix release**: Branch from previous tag (e.g., `0.25.2`)
+
+```bash
+# Hotfix release
+git checkout 0.25.2 && git checkout -b release/0.25.3
+```
+
+## 2. Bump version and write release notes
+
+Run the version bump script which automatically bumps all versions and creates Fastlane changelog files:
+
+```bash
+./scripts/bump-version.sh
+```
+
+- Commit the release notes in its own commit first
+- **Cherry-pick the release notes commit to `main`**
+- Commit the version bump changes in a separate commit
+- The version bump commit stays only in the release branch
+    - ***Not cherry-picked***, as the `main` branch is always targeting the next feature (pre)release
+
+## 3. Additional changes (optional)
+
+- If additional fixes are needed after testing, add them to the release branch
+- **Cherry-pick all fix commits back to `main`**
+
+## 4. Publish release
+
+- Create the release from GitHub Releases based on the release branch
+- Tag is created automatically
+
+## 5. Verify cherry-picks
+
+After release, verify all relevant changes were cherry-picked to `main`:
+
+```bash
+git range-diff <previous-tag>..release/<version> <previous-tag>..main
+# Example:
+git range-diff 0.25.2..release/0.25.3 0.25.2..main
+```
+
+**Expected output:**
+- Only the version bump commit should show as `<` (only in release branch)
+- All other commits should show as `=` (in both branches)