Releasing

How to cut a new openbadgeslib release: bump the version in the source, update the changelog, tag, and let CI publish to PyPI. This is for maintainers; see Contributing for the day-to-day development workflow.

Where the version lives

The version is single-sourced from openbadgeslib/util.py (__version__). pyproject.toml reads it dynamically ([tool.setuptools.dynamic]) and docs/conf.py parses the same file, so you only ever edit one place. The test_version_is_single_sourced test fails CI if a static version is reintroduced.

Release steps

Replace X.Y.Z with the new version throughout.

1. Bump the version in openbadgeslib/util.py (__version__). That is the only place to edit.

   python -c "import openbadgeslib.util as u; print(u.__version__)"

2. Add a Changelog.txt entry. Entries are newest-first; follow the existing format (* vX.Y.Z - YYYY-MM-DD header, then - dash-prefixed bullets, with SECURITY: markers on security-relevant lines):

   * vX.Y.Z - 2026-06-27
   
     - Short description of each change.
   

   README.md links to Changelog.txt rather than duplicating it, so there is nothing to mirror there.

3. Run the checks locally before tagging — CI runs the same flake8 + pytest gate (see Contributing):

   pip install -e ".[dev]"
   flake8 openbadgeslib tests
   pytest --cov=openbadgeslib --cov-report=term-missing

4. Commit the version bump and changelog:

   git add openbadgeslib/util.py Changelog.txt
   git commit -m "Release vX.Y.Z"
   git push origin master

5. Tag the release with an annotated tag and push it:

   git tag -a vX.Y.Z -m "openbadgeslib vX.Y.Z"
   git push origin vX.Y.Z

6. Create the GitHub Release. Draft a Release for the vX.Y.Z tag (Releases → Draft a new release, or gh release create) and Publish it. Publishing — not merely tagging — is what triggers the upload to PyPI.

   gh release create vX.Y.Z --title "vX.Y.Z" --notes-file -

What CI does

The workflow is .github/workflows/ci.yml. It has two jobs:

• test runs on every push to master and every pull request, across the Python 3.10, 3.11, 3.12, and 3.13 matrix (fail-fast: false). Each leg installs ".[dev]", runs flake8 openbadgeslib tests, then pytest --cov.
• publish runs when a GitHub Release is published or the workflow is triggered manually (workflow_dispatch), and needs: test, so it runs only if the whole test matrix passed. It builds the sdist and wheel with python -m build and uploads them to PyPI via pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish.

publish:
  needs: test
  if: github.event_name == 'release' || github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch'

This means: tagging alone does nothing; a Release whose tests fail will not publish; and you can publish the current master on demand from Actions → CI → Run workflow (or gh workflow run ci.yml).

The PyPI token

The publish job authenticates with secrets.PYPI_API_TOKEN:

- name: Publish to PyPI
  uses: pypa/gh-action-pypi-publish@release/v1
  with:
    password: ${{ secrets.PYPI_API_TOKEN }}

This must exist as a repository (or environment) secret named PYPI_API_TOKEN, holding a PyPI API token scoped to the openbadgeslib project. If it is missing or expired the upload step fails even when every test passes. Rotate it in PyPI and update the GitHub secret when needed — the token never lives in the repo.

Post-release checklist

• Confirm the publish job is green in the Actions tab.
• Confirm the new version appears on PyPI and installs cleanly: pip install openbadgeslib==X.Y.Z.
• Confirm python -c "import openbadgeslib.util as u; print(u.__version__)" reports X.Y.Z from the published wheel.