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name: Release Approval description: Approval workflow templates with GitHub Actions and Slack integration for multi-stakeholder release gating. Use when setting up approval workflows, configuring stakeholder gates, automating approval notifications, integrating Slack webhooks, requesting release approvals, tracking approval status, or when user mentions release approval, stakeholder sign-off, approval gates, multi-stage approvals, or release gating.

Release Approval

CRITICAL: The description field above controls when Claude auto-loads this skill.

Overview

Provides comprehensive patterns, templates, and scripts for multi-stakeholder release approval workflows including GitHub Actions integration, Slack notifications, approval gate configuration, and status tracking automation.

Instructions

1. Approval Workflow Architecture

Understand Approval Gate Patterns:

• Sequential Approvals: Stakeholders approve in order (dev → QA → security → release)
• Parallel Approvals: All stakeholders review simultaneously, release when all approve
• Conditional Approvals: Requirements change based on change scope (breaking vs patch)
• Hybrid Approvals: Some gates parallel, others sequential

Design Workflow:

1. Identify required stakeholder groups (technical lead, product owner, QA, security, compliance)
2. Define approval thresholds (required vs optional approvals)
3. Set timeout and escalation policies
4. Document veto power and override conditions

2. GitHub Actions Workflow Setup

Configure Approval Workflows:

1. Use templates/github-actions-approval.yml for basic approval workflow
2. Use templates/github-actions-approval-slack.yml for Slack-integrated workflow
3. Configure environment protection rules for production
4. Set required reviewers in repository settings

Workflow Triggers:

• Manual workflow dispatch for on-demand approvals
• Tag push events for automatic approval requests
• Pull request reviews for pre-merge approvals
• Issue comments for approval tracking

3. Approval Gate Configuration

Setup Approval Gates:

1. Use templates/approval-gates.yml to define stakeholder groups and requirements
2. Use scripts/setup-approval-gates.sh to initialize gate configuration
3. Configure approval thresholds per gate (required count, optional count)
4. Define approval dependencies (QA requires dev approval first)

Configuration Structure:

approval_gates:
  - stage: development
    approvers: ["@dev-team-lead", "@tech-lead"]
    required: 2
    timeout_hours: 24
  - stage: qa
    approvers: ["@qa-lead"]
    required: 1
    depends_on: ["development"]
  - stage: security
    approvers: ["@security-team"]
    required: 1
    veto_power: true
  - stage: release
    approvers: ["@release-manager"]
    required: 1
    depends_on: ["development", "qa", "security"]

4. Slack Notification Integration

Setup Slack Webhooks:

1. Use scripts/setup-slack-webhook.sh to configure Slack integration
2. Use templates/slack-webhook-config.json for webhook configuration template
3. Store webhook URLs in GitHub Secrets (never hardcode)
4. Use scripts/notify-slack.sh for sending approval notifications

Notification Types:

• Approval Requested: Notify stakeholders when approval needed
• Approval Granted: Confirm when stakeholder approves
• Approval Denied: Alert when stakeholder rejects with reason
• Approval Timeout: Escalate when approval times out
• Approval Complete: Celebrate when all approvals obtained

5. Requesting and Tracking Approvals

Request Approvals:

1. Use scripts/request-approval.sh to send approval requests
2. Create GitHub issue for approval tracking
3. Request PR reviews from stakeholders
4. Send Slack notifications to stakeholder channels

Track Approval Status:

1. Use scripts/check-approval-status.sh to monitor approval progress
2. Update approval tracking issue as approvals come in
3. Generate approval audit trail
4. Store approval records in .github/releases/approvals/

6. Approval Automation Patterns

Automate Common Scenarios:

Auto-Approve for Non-Breaking Changes:

• Patch releases with docs-only changes
• Dependency updates with passing tests
• Automated security patches

Escalation on Timeout:

• Send reminder notifications after grace period
• Escalate to backup approvers
• Alert release manager for intervention

Conditional Approval Requirements:

• Breaking changes require additional security review
• Feature releases require product owner approval
• Hotfix releases have expedited approval process

7. Approval Audit Trail

Document Approvals:

1. Use scripts/generate-approval-audit.sh to create audit records
2. Store approval records in .github/releases/approvals/v{version}.json
3. Include: approver name, timestamp, decision, comments, justification
4. Commit approval records to git for permanent audit trail

Audit Record Structure:

{
  "version": "1.2.3",
  "requested_at": "2025-01-15T10:00:00Z",
  "completed_at": "2025-01-15T14:30:00Z",
  "approvals": [
    {
      "stage": "development",
      "approver": "tech-lead",
      "decision": "approved",
      "timestamp": "2025-01-15T11:00:00Z",
      "comments": "All tests passing, ready for QA"
    },
    {
      "stage": "qa",
      "approver": "qa-lead",
      "decision": "approved_with_conditions",
      "timestamp": "2025-01-15T13:00:00Z",
      "comments": "Minor UI issue logged, non-blocking"
    }
  ],
  "final_decision": "approved",
  "conditions": ["Monitor UI issue #1234 post-release"]
}

Available Scripts

1. setup-approval-gates.sh: Initialize approval gate configuration with stakeholder groups
2. request-approval.sh: Send approval requests to stakeholders via GitHub and Slack
3. check-approval-status.sh: Monitor approval progress and generate status reports
4. notify-slack.sh: Send Slack notifications for approval events
5. setup-slack-webhook.sh: Configure Slack webhook integration with GitHub Actions
6. generate-approval-audit.sh: Create comprehensive approval audit records
7. escalate-approval.sh: Handle approval timeouts with escalation logic

Available Templates

1. github-actions-approval.yml: GitHub Actions workflow for approval orchestration
2. github-actions-approval-slack.yml: GitHub Actions workflow with Slack integration
3. approval-gates.yml: Approval gate configuration with stakeholder groups
4. slack-webhook-config.json: Slack webhook configuration template (placeholders only)
5. approval-issue-template.md: GitHub issue template for approval tracking
6. approval-audit-template.json: JSON template for approval audit records
7. environment-protection-rules.md: GitHub environment protection rules guide

Available Examples

1. basic-approval-workflow.md: Simple sequential approval workflow example
2. parallel-approval-gates.md: Multi-stakeholder parallel approval pattern
3. conditional-approval.md: Change-scope-based conditional approval requirements
4. slack-integration-complete.md: Full Slack webhook integration example
5. automated-gating.md: Auto-approval and escalation patterns
6. approval-audit-trail.md: Complete audit trail generation example

Requirements

• GitHub CLI (gh) installed and authenticated
• GitHub repository with write access
• GitHub Actions enabled
• Slack workspace with webhook permissions (optional)
• Repository secrets configured for sensitive data
• Stakeholder GitHub usernames documented
• Clear approval policies defined

Security Considerations

CRITICAL: Always use placeholders for sensitive data

• ❌ Never hardcode Slack webhook URLs in code or configs
• ✅ Store webhook URLs in GitHub Secrets: SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL
• ✅ Use placeholders in templates: https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR_WEBHOOK_HERE
• ❌ Never commit .env files with real credentials
• ✅ Create .env.example with placeholder values
• ✅ Document how to obtain webhooks in README

Environment Variable Pattern:

# .env.example
SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL=https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR_WEBHOOK_HERE
GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_your_github_token_here
APPROVAL_TIMEOUT_HOURS=24

Progressive Disclosure

For additional reference material:

• Read examples/basic-approval-workflow.md for quick start
• Read examples/parallel-approval-gates.md for multi-stakeholder patterns
• Read examples/slack-integration-complete.md for webhook setup
• Read examples/automated-gating.md for automation patterns
• Read templates/github-actions-approval.yml for workflow implementation

Integration with Commands and Agents

Commands that use this skill:

• /versioning:approve-release - Orchestrates approval workflow using these patterns

Agents that use this skill:

• approval-workflow-manager - Uses templates and scripts for approval orchestration

Workflow:

1. User runs /versioning:approve-release <version>
2. Command invokes approval-workflow-manager agent
3. Agent loads this skill for templates and scripts
4. Agent uses request-approval.sh to notify stakeholders
5. Agent uses check-approval-status.sh to monitor progress
6. Agent uses generate-approval-audit.sh to document approvals

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Skill Location: plugins/versioning/skills/release-approval/SKILL.md Version: 1.0.0