fix(workflows): resolve release-please skip cascade and Python project discovery

[WilliamBerryiii]

Description

Since March 13, the stable release-please job silently stopped creating release PRs. Two independent bugs contributed to the failure.

Commit f89f0eb6 added conditional Python CI jobs to the release-please job's needs: list. When those jobs evaluated to skipped, GitHub Actions propagated the skip to release-please itself — the standard needs-cascade behavior.

Added if: ${{ !cancelled() && !failure() }} to the release-please job in release-stable.yml. This is the accepted GitHub Actions idiom for tolerating skipped dependencies while still blocking on real failures or cancellations. A brief inline comment documents the guard's purpose.

Separately, PowerShell's Get-ChildItem -Recurse does not traverse hidden directories (names starting with .) by default. The only pyproject.toml in the repository lives at .github/skills/experimental/powerpoint/pyproject.toml, so the discover-python-projects job always reported has-projects=false. Added the -Force flag to Get-ChildItem in both pr-validation.yml and release-stable.yml to enable hidden-directory traversal, keeping the two workflows consistent.

Related Issue(s)

Closes #1042

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 agent and addressed all feedback
• Copilot instructions (.github/instructions/*.instructions.md)
• Copilot prompt (.github/prompts/*.prompt.md)
• Copilot agent (.github/agents/*.agent.md)
• Copilot skill (.github/skills/*/SKILL.md)

Note for AI Artifact Contributors:

• Agents: Research, indexing/referencing other project (using standard VS Code GitHub Copilot/MCP tools), planning, and general implementation agents likely already exist. Review .github/agents/ before creating new ones.
• Skills: Must include both bash and PowerShell scripts. See Skills.
• 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 Agents Not Accepted and Model Version Requirements.

Other:

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

Sample Prompts (for AI Artifact Contributions)

Testing

• Validated all 40 workflow files with actionlint — no errors.
• Local PowerShell reproduction confirmed -Force discovers the project at .github/skills/experimental/powerpoint/pyproject.toml (Count: 1 with -Force vs Count: 0 without).
• Reviewed GitHub Actions documentation confirming !cancelled() && !failure() is the correct guard pattern for optional needs: dependencies.

Checklist

Required Checks

• Documentation is updated (if applicable)
• Files follow existing naming conventions
• Changes are backwards compatible (if applicable)
• Tests added for new functionality (if applicable)

AI Artifact Contributions

• Used /prompt-analyze 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
• Skill structure validation: npm run validate:skills
• Link validation: npm run lint:md-links
• PowerShell analysis: npm run lint:ps
• Plugin freshness: npm run plugin:generate

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

The even/odd minor-version convention means stable releases use even minors (3.0.x, 3.2.x). This fix unblocks the next stable release-please PR on merges to main.

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[github-actions]

Dependency Review

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

Scanned Files

None

[codecov-commenter]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 85.92%. Comparing base (bf08994) to head (eef877e).
⚠️ Report is 3 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    #1043      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   86.02%   85.92%   -0.11%     
==========================================
  Files          30       30              
  Lines        5410     5428      +18     
==========================================
+ Hits         4654     4664      +10     
- Misses        756      764       +8     

Flag	Coverage Δ
pester	85.92% <ø> (-0.11%)	⬇️

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see 1 file with indirect coverage changes

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