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Releasing Operator

How a version gets from the repository to people's phones, and where it is listed. Written so it is repeatable by anyone with the signing key.

Before tagging

  1. Update versionCode (add one) and versionName in app/build.gradle.kts.
  2. Add the release's entry to CHANGELOG.md, and copy its user-facing lines to fastlane/metadata/android/en-GB/changelogs/<versionCode>.txt (F-Droid shows that file).
  3. Build and install on at least one reference phone and go through: sign-in (debug build, so the real session is untouched), chat list, a chat, send, a notification arriving with the app in the background, Settings.
  4. Commit, then tag: git tag -a v0.3.0-beta -m "Operator 0.3.0-beta" and push the tag.

Building the release

export JAVA_HOME="/Applications/Android Studio.app/Contents/jbr/Contents/Home"
./gradlew clean :app:assembleOperatorRelease

Shipped builds are unshrunk (about 16 MB), which is what has been tested and what F-Droid builds. -Pminify turns R8 on for experiments; the shrunk build has not been verified against a real sign-in, so do not ship it without doing so.

Signing needs keystore.properties at the repository root (never committed), pointing at the keystore ~/.operator-signing/operator-release.jks, alias operator. The certificate's SHA-256 fingerprint, published in the README, is c978a97c7ce5eb6b4cd4cb14416e2f0fb2d15945c6f9795dd80cdc0bf7431f34. Losing this key means future updates cannot install over existing ones, so it is backed up offline.

Rename the output to operator-<version>.apk.

Publishing

  1. GitHub release on the tag, with the APK attached and the changelog entry as the body. This is the source of truth; everything below follows from it. Update the "Download the APK" link and size at the top of README.md to the new file name.
  2. IzzyOnDroid: not listed. The inclusion request (October 2026) was declined under their policy on AI-assisted code, which Operator disclosed.
  3. F-Droid builds from the tag using the metadata file in the fdroiddata repository. New versions are picked up automatically when the metadata's auto-update mode is set to tags. The first submission is a merge request to https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata adding metadata/io.github.operatorchat.operator.yml (a ready draft is in fdroid/ here). It needs a gitlab.com account to open the merge request. Expect the review to take weeks.
  4. Obtainium users get the GitHub release directly; nothing to do.

Where Operator is listed

Place Updated by Notes
GitHub releases Us, manually Source of truth. Signed with our key.
F-Droid Automatic from tags, built by F-Droid F-Droid's signature. Listing text comes from fastlane/metadata. Shows the "NonFreeNet" anti-feature because Operator depends on Beeper.
Obtainium Automatic from GitHub releases Not a store; a user-side updater.

Google Play: not listed. If that ever changes, the "Support Operator" row must be hidden in that build (Play forbids external donation links) and a data-safety form and privacy-policy URL are required.

After publishing

  • Install the published APK on a phone from the download, not from the build directory, and check it opens and signs in.
  • Tell the beta testers.
  • Open the next changelog entry as "unreleased".