ci: let staging override skip all pretests

[senamakel]

Summary

• make release-staging.yml treat skip_e2e=true as a full pretest bypass, not just an E2E-only bypass
• allow the downstream staging build jobs to run after intentionally skipped pretest jobs by adding always() to the gated if: expressions
• rename the reusable build workflow's internal metadata flag to skip_pretests so the build logs match the policy being applied
• update the release smoke note so operators must link the relevant prior pretest evidence when using the override

Problem

• The first staging follow-up only skipped the E2E pretest job; Pretest — unit + rust still ran, which does not match the operator intent for the override.
• The dispatched staging run 25969391067 also showed a second issue: even with pretests in the expected state, Build desktop matrix and Docker: build (no push) were skipped entirely.
• Root cause for the second issue: GitHub Actions treats skipped needs: dependencies specially; without always() on the downstream if:, the job can be skipped before the rest of the condition is considered.

Solution

• gate both pretest-tests and pretest-e2e on the existing skip_e2e dispatch input so the override suppresses the whole pretest phase
• update the downstream build job conditions to accept either success or the intentional skipped state for those dependencies
• prefix those downstream conditions with always() so GitHub evaluates the skip-aware logic instead of short-circuiting the job
• keep the reusable build log and release-ops docs aligned with the new semantics

Submission Checklist

• Tests added or updated (happy path + at least one failure / edge case) per Testing Strategy
• Diff coverage ≥ 80% — changed lines (Vitest + cargo-llvm-cov merged via diff-cover) meet the gate enforced by .github/workflows/coverage.yml. Run pnpm test:coverage and pnpm test:rust locally; PRs below 80% on changed lines will not merge.
• Coverage matrix updated — N/A: behaviour-only workflow/docs change
• All affected feature IDs from the matrix are listed in the PR description under ## Related
• No new external network dependencies introduced (mock backend used per Testing Strategy)
• Manual smoke checklist updated if this touches release-cut surfaces (docs/RELEASE-MANUAL-SMOKE.md)
• Linked issue closed via Closes #NNN in the ## Related section

Impact

• affects GitHub Actions staging release behavior only
• fixes two operator-path bugs: the override now skips all pretests, and the desktop/docker build jobs no longer get skipped due to needs semantics when that override is used
• no runtime desktop/core behavior changed

Related

• Closes: N/A
• Follow-up PR(s)/TODOs: rerun release-staging.yml with skip_e2e=true after this merges

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AI Authored PR Metadata (required for Codex/Linear PRs)

Linear Issue

• Key: N/A
• URL: N/A

Commit & Branch

• Branch: codex/fix-staging-skip-all-pretests
• Commit SHA: b90f1fff

Validation Run

• pnpm --filter openhuman-app format:check
• pnpm typecheck
• Focused tests: gh workflow view .github/workflows/release-staging.yml
• Rust fmt/check (if changed): pnpm rust:check
• Tauri fmt/check (if changed): N/A: workflow/docs-only change

Validation Blocked

• command: actionlint .github/workflows/*.yml
• error: actionlint is not installed in this environment
• impact: workflow syntax was sanity-checked with gh workflow view, but no local actionlint pass or live dry-run of the fixed staging workflow was available

Behavior Changes

• Intended behavior change: skip_e2e=true now bypasses the entire staging pretest phase, and the downstream build jobs still execute under that intentional skipped state
• User-visible effect: release operators can dispatch the staging release override and actually get desktop/docker artifacts instead of a green run with all build jobs skipped

Parity Contract

• Legacy behavior preserved: default release-staging.yml dispatch still requires the full pretest gate before building
• Guard/fallback/dispatch parity checks: downstream build jobs now require either successful pretests or an explicit skipped state paired with the override flag, and they use always() so GitHub evaluates that contract correctly

Duplicate / Superseded PR Handling

• Duplicate PR(s): N/A
• Canonical PR: this PR
• Resolution (closed/superseded/updated): N/A

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Chores

  • Renamed workflow inputs and refined CI/CD job dependencies for improved clarity and control when skipping pretests during staging builds.

• Documentation

  • Updated release smoke testing procedures to specify required pretest evidence when E2E testing is skipped.

[coderabbitai]

Caution

Review failed

The pull request is closed.

ℹ️ Recent review info

⚙️ Run configuration

Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: CHILL

Plan: Pro

Run ID: f7725905-9cee-4fec-946e-945014e58bf2

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between bcfecc3 and b90f1ff.

📒 Files selected for processing (3)

• .github/workflows/build-desktop.yml
• .github/workflows/release-staging.yml
• docs/RELEASE-MANUAL-SMOKE.md

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

This PR renames the skip_e2e_pretest flag to skip_pretests in the build-desktop reusable workflow, updates release-staging to pass the renamed flag and conditionally skip the pretest-tests job, modifies job conditions to handle the new skip behavior, and updates release documentation to reflect the broader pretest skipping semantics.

Changes

CI Pretest Gate Refactor

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Build-desktop workflow input contract \.github/workflows/build-desktop.yml``	skip_e2e_pretest input is renamed to skip_pretests with updated description. The input is used in the build-policy logging step.
Release-staging pretest skip logic \.github/workflows/release-staging.yml``	Input description updated to clarify that skip_e2e skips the entire pretest phase. The pretest-tests job is made conditional and skipped when skip_e2e is true. Build-desktop and build-docker job conditions are updated with always() and logic to accept skipped pretest-tests. The renamed skip_pretests flag is passed to the build-desktop reusable workflow.
Release smoke test documentation docs/RELEASE-MANUAL-SMOKE.md	Instructions updated to reference pretest evidence (unit/rust and E2E as applicable) rather than only E2E evidence when skipping E2E in manual releases.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 2 (Simple) | ⏱️ ~12 minutes

Possibly related PRs

• tinyhumansai/openhuman#1887: Introduces the release pretest gate and how release-staging calls build workflows, directly related to this PR's flag rename and conditional gating updates.

Poem

🐰 A flag renamed, from skip_e2e_pretest to the clearer skip_pretests it goes,
The gates now conditional, letting workflows skip when the tester says no,
Build-desktop speaks, release-staging listens with care,
Evidence gathered, documented everywhere!
The CI now flows with intention so bright. ✨

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