aman/docs/release-checklist.md

Release Checklist

1. Update CHANGELOG.md with final release notes.
2. Bump project.version in pyproject.toml.
3. Run quality and build gates:
   • make release-check
   • make check-default-model
4. Ensure model promotion artifacts are current:
   • benchmarks/results/latest.json has the latest winner_recommendation.name
   • benchmarks/model_artifacts.json contains that winner with URL + SHA256
   • make sync-default-model (if constants drifted)
5. Build packaging artifacts:
   • make package
6. Verify artifacts:
   • dist/*.whl
   • dist/*.tar.gz
   • dist/*.deb
   • dist/arch/PKGBUILD
7. Tag release:
   • git tag vX.Y.Z
   • git push origin vX.Y.Z
8. Publish release and upload package artifacts from dist/.