Engineering KB — Packaging & Release

Operational guide to validate, package, and publish the engineering knowledge base (KB) as a ZIP artifact, then attach it to a GitHub Release for consumers to install/update from.

Audience

• KB maintainers (this repository)
• Platform/DevEx engineers responsible for distributing KB updates

Prerequisites

• Node.js + npm
• Git
• GitHub CLI (gh) (used by the release script)
• Pair CLI (pair-cli) installed globally

1) One-time CLI setup

Install GitHub CLI

gh --version

If missing, install it (macOS/Homebrew example):

brew install gh

Authenticate gh

gh auth login -h github.com
gh auth status

Install pair-cli

The release script invokes pair-cli package .... Install it globally:

npm install -g @foomakers/pair-cli

If the package is hosted on GitHub Packages, authenticate npm before installing.

1. Create a GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT)

Create a PAT that can read packages from GitHub Packages.

• If the package is in a private org/repo, you typically need:
  • read:packages
  • and repository access as needed (depending on org settings)

2. Configure .npmrc (do not commit tokens)

This repo ignores .npmrc via .gitignore. Keep your token local.

Option A (recommended): use an environment variable in a repo-local .npmrc

Create ./.npmrc with:

@foomakers:registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com
//npm.pkg.github.com/:_authToken=${GITHUB_TOKEN}

Then export the token in your shell:

export GITHUB_TOKEN="YOUR_PAT_HERE"

After setup, verify the CLI:

pair-cli --help

2) Release (packages + publishes)

Use the release script as the only supported workflow in this repository. It will:

• validate/package the KB into a ZIP (internally)
• tag the version
• create a GitHub Release and upload the ZIP asset

Usage

chmod +x scripts/release.sh
scripts/release.sh --version 1.0.1

Common options:

scripts/release.sh --version 1.0.1 --draft
scripts/release.sh --version 1.0.1 --notes "Release notes..."
scripts/release.sh --version 1.0.1 --no-package   # reuse existing dist/*.zip

What gets published

The script publishes:

• a Git tag, e.g. v1.0.1
• a GitHub Release named v1.0.1
• a ZIP asset under dist/ (example: dist/kb-package-<timestamp>.zip)
• a manifest.json inside the ZIP with metadata (including the package version)

Troubleshooting

gh auth status fails

Re-authenticate:

gh auth login -h github.com

pair-cli: command not found

Install or reinstall globally:

npm install -g @foomakers/pair-cli
pair-cli --help

Package version vs CLI version

• pair vX.Y.Z printed in logs is the CLI version
• --pkg-version A.B.C is the package version that goes into the package manifest