Add CI/CD pipeline, in-game changelog and version display [skip ci]

[riyuk]

Summary

This sets up the full CI/CD pipeline for DandersFrames — automated builds, CurseForge uploads, nightly betas, and an in-game changelog so players can actually see what changed.

What's new

CI/CD Pipeline (GitHub Actions)

Two workflows:

• release.yml — Triggers on pushes to main and version tags (v*). Packages the addon via BigWigs Packager, uploads to CurseForge, creates a GitHub Release, and optionally pings Discord.
• nightly-beta.yml — Runs every night at 3 AM UTC. If there are new commits since the last beta, it creates a beta tag and triggers the release workflow. Can also be triggered manually.

In-Game Changelog

• New info button (ℹ) next to the close button in the settings window
• Opens a changelog overlay showing the full changelog text
• Title bar and footer now show the version number + release channel (e.g. v4.0.6 alpha or v4.0.6 beta in orange)

Build Infrastructure

• Changelog.lua — Auto-generated by CI with version, build date, release channel, and changelog text. Ships as a dev stub locally. Do not edit this file.
• generate_changelog.sh — Reads CHANGELOG.md, determines version/channel from git tags, and writes Changelog.lua.
• .pkgmeta — BigWigs Packager config for CurseForge.
• CHANGELOG.md — Human-maintained changelog. This is what players see in-game.

How releases work

Automatic alpha builds

Every push to main automatically creates an alpha build on CurseForge. The version is derived from the last tag (e.g. v4.0.5-alpha.3 = 3 commits after v4.0.5).

Important: If a commit should NOT produce an alpha build and/or should NOT appear in the changelog, add [skip ci] to the commit message. This is useful for things like README edits, workflow changes, or anything that isn't an actual addon change.

Automatic beta builds (nightly)

Every night, the nightly workflow checks if there are new (non-[skip ci]) commits since the last beta. If yes, it automatically creates a beta tag (e.g. v4.0.5-beta.1) and triggers a build. You can also trigger it manually from the Actions tab whenever you want.

What alpha and beta players see

Alpha and beta builds auto-generate a changelog from commit messages — each commit becomes one line in the "Unreleased" section. Commits tagged with [skip ci] are excluded automatically.

This auto-generated section is prepended to whatever is already in CHANGELOG.md, so players always see both the latest unreleased changes and the last stable release notes.

Creating a stable release

When you're ready to ship a proper release:

1. Edit CHANGELOG.md — Add a new section at the top with the version number and date. Write the changes however you like — this is what players will see in-game. Keep the previous versions below so there's always a full history.

## [4.0.6] - 2026-03-01

### Bug Fixes
* Fixed something that was broken
* Another fix

### New Features
* Cool new thing

## [4.0.5] - 2026-02-14
...older entries stay here...

2. Commit and push to main
3. Tag the commit: git tag v4.0.6 && git push --tags
4. The release workflow picks up the tag, packages everything, and uploads it as a release to both CurseForge and GitHub

That's it. The tag name determines the version and release channel. No manual beta tagging needed — that's handled by the nightly workflow.

What happens to the changelog on major bumps?

You never need to manually clear CHANGELOG.md — keep the full history in the file. The build script is smart about it: on a minor or major version bump (e.g. v4.0.x → v4.1.0 or v5.0.0), the in-game changelog automatically trims down to only the latest version's section. Players see a fresh start, but the full history stays in the repo for reference.

Required GitHub Secrets

Secret	Required	Purpose
CF_API_KEY	Yes	CurseForge API token for uploads
PAT_TOKEN	Yes	GitHub PAT with Contents: Read+Write (for nightly beta tag creation)
DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL	No	Discord webhook for release notifications (skipped if not set)

How to create the PAT_TOKEN

The nightly beta workflow needs a Personal Access Token to create tags and trigger the release workflow (the default GITHUB_TOKEN can't trigger other workflows).

1. Go to GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Fine-grained tokens
2. Click "Generate new token"
3. Set a name like DandersFrames CI and pick an expiration (or no expiration)
4. Under Repository access, select "Only select repositories" and pick the DandersFrames repo
5. Under Permissions → Repository permissions, set Contents to Read and write — that's the only permission needed
6. Click Generate token and copy it
7. Go to the DandersFrames repo → Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → New repository secret
8. Name: PAT_TOKEN, Value: paste the token

Same process for CF_API_KEY (get it from CurseForge → Account → API Tokens) and DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL (Discord → Server Settings → Integrations → Webhooks).

Testing

Please pull this branch and test it locally before merging — check that the addon loads, the info button works, and the changelog overlay shows up correctly in-game. Better safe than sorry! :D

Files changed

• New: .github/workflows/release.yml, .github/workflows/nightly-beta.yml, .pkgmeta, CHANGELOG.md, Changelog.lua, generate_changelog.sh
• Modified: DandersFrames.toc (version placeholder + CurseForge project ID + Changelog.lua in load order), GUI/GUI.lua (version display + info button + changelog overlay)