Release Checklist

Use this checklist before tagging a release.

1. Confirm the package version in pyproject.toml and lightbox/lightbox.py.

2. Add a dated entry to docs/changelog.rst with user-visible changes, support notes, and security-relevant updates.

3. Run the local quality gates:

   python -m ruff check lightbox tests docs/_ext scripts
   python -m ruff format --check lightbox tests docs/_ext scripts
   python -m mypy lightbox
   python -m pytest
   node --check lightbox/static/lightbox.js
   bash -n scripts/*.sh
   

4. Build and validate the HTML documentation:

   python -m sphinx -W --keep-going -E -a -d docs/_build/doctrees/html -b html docs docs/_build/html
   python scripts/validate_docs.py docs/_build/html
   bash scripts/validate_standards.sh docs/_build/html
   

5. Run the browser keyboard and focus checks after installing Playwright and its Chromium browser:

   python -m playwright install chromium
   python scripts/browser_smoke.py docs/_build/html/index.html
   

6. Rebuild the PDF download and then rebuild HTML so the download link points to the fresh PDF:

   ./scripts/dev.sh docs
   

7. Build and check distributions:

   rm -rf build dist ./*.egg-info
   python -m build
   python -m twine check dist/*
   python scripts/validate_dist.py dist
   

8. Install the built wheel in a fresh environment and build a minimal Sphinx project using extensions = ["lightbox"].

9. Run pip-audit for the release environment.

10. Confirm the release version is not already present on PyPI immediately before publishing.

11. Create the release commit, tag it as vX.Y.Z, and push the tag.

12. Verify that GitHub Actions finishes the test matrix, docs validation, GitHub Pages deployment, and PyPI trusted-publishing job.