Release: Set up cargo-dist for automated builds & installers

[alvinreal]

Overview

Set up cargo-dist (now called dist) to handle the entire release pipeline automatically. This replaces the need for hand-written release workflows, install scripts, and package manager manifests.

What cargo-dist does for us (out of the box)

• Generates .github/workflows/release.yml automatically
• Builds optimized binaries for all platforms (Linux x86_64/ARM64, macOS Intel/Apple Silicon, Windows)
• Creates tarballs/zips with correct permissions
• Generates SHA256 checksums
• Creates GitHub Releases with changelogs
• Generates install.sh (curl | sh) and install.ps1 (irm | iex) installers
• Homebrew formula generation
• npm installer package (for npx morph)
• Windows MSI installer
• Supports cargo-binstall out of the box

Setup steps

1. Install dist: cargo install cargo-dist
2. Run dist init --yes in the morph repo
3. Review generated config in Cargo.toml under [workspace.metadata.dist]
4. Enable desired installers: dist init (interactive — select shell, powershell, homebrew, npm, msi)
5. Test locally with dist build and dist plan
6. Commit generated release.yml
7. Test on a PR (plan step runs automatically)

Installers to enable

• Shell script (curl | sh)
• PowerShell script (irm | iex)
• Homebrew formula
• npm package (optional — enables npx morph)
• MSI installer (optional — Windows GUI installer)

Build targets

• x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu
• x86_64-unknown-linux-musl
• aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
• x86_64-apple-darwin
• aarch64-apple-darwin
• x86_64-pc-windows-msvc

Acceptance

• dist plan shows correct build matrix
• dist build produces working binary for current platform
• PR CI runs plan step successfully
• Tag push triggers full release workflow

Docs

• https://axodotdev.github.io/cargo-dist/book/quickstart/rust.html
• https://github.com/axodotdev/cargo-dist