feat(ci): implement automated alpha→beta→stable release pipeline

[sidmohan0]

Summary

Implements a comprehensive automated release pipeline with progressive quality gates:

• Monday-Wednesday: Automated alpha builds (4.2.0a20241202.0830.abc123)
• Thursday: Automated beta builds (4.2.0b1) with comprehensive testing
• Friday: Manual stable releases (4.2.0) when ready

Key Features

🌙 Alpha Releases (Mon-Wed)

• Automated nightly builds from dev branch at 2 AM UTC
• Timestamped versioning with commit hash for traceability
• Smart change detection - only builds when dev has new commits
• Automatic cleanup of old alpha releases (keep last 7)

🚧 Beta Releases (Thu)

• Consolidates week's alpha changes into stable pre-release
• Comprehensive test suite validation before publish
• Performance benchmark validation
• Integration testing included

🚀 Stable Releases (Fri)

• Manual trigger when ready for production
• Clean semantic versioning (4.2.0)
• Full changelog and social media ready

Technical Implementation

Workflows Added

• .github/workflows/nightly-release.yml - Alpha builds (Mon-Wed)
• .github/workflows/beta-release.yml - Beta builds (Thu)
• Enhanced bump2version config for alpha/beta support

Version Strategy

• Current: 4.1.1 (unchanged in code)
• Target: 4.2.0 minor version bump for this release
• Progression: 4.1.1 → 4.2.0a1 → 4.2.0b1 → 4.2.0

Quality Gates

Release	Tests	Performance	Purpose
Alpha	Basic	Quick check	Feature testing
Beta	Full suite	Benchmarks	Final validation
Stable	Complete	Validated	Production ready

Benefits

📈 Community Growth

• 5x more releases per week drives GitHub activity
• Early access builds encourage community engagement
• Continuous feedback loop with users

🔄 Development Velocity

• Rapid iteration with daily alpha feedback
• Risk mitigation with progressive quality gates
• Automated testing catches issues early

🎯 Release Confidence

• Thursday beta provides final validation
• Friday stable releases are pre-tested
• Rollback strategies for emergency situations

Usage

For Contributors

# Development work as usual - automation handles releases
git checkout dev
git commit -m "feat: add new feature"
git push origin dev

# Alpha builds automatically on Mon-Wed
# Beta builds automatically on Thu
# Stable release manually triggered on Fri

For Users

# Try latest features (alpha)
pip install --pre datafog

# Test stable pre-release (beta)
pip install datafog==4.2.0b1

# Production use (stable)
pip install datafog==4.2.0

Test Plan

This Week (Dry Run Testing)

• Monday: Test alpha workflow with dry_run=true
• Wednesday: Validate alpha versioning and cleanup
• Thursday: Test beta workflow with comprehensive tests
• Friday: Execute real 4.2.0 stable release

Production Validation

• Verify PyPI publishing works correctly
• Confirm GitHub releases are created properly
• Test rollback procedures
• Validate cleanup of old releases

Files Changed

New Workflows

• .github/workflows/nightly-release.yml - Mon-Wed alpha automation
• .github/workflows/beta-release.yml - Thursday beta consolidation

Enhanced Configuration

• .bumpversion.cfg - Added alpha/beta versioning support
• .pre-commit-config.yaml - Excluded GitHub Actions from prettier

Documentation (Local)

• docs/nightly-builds.md - Complete release cycle guide

Breaking Changes

None - this is purely additive infrastructure.

Next Steps

1. Merge to dev branch
2. Test workflows with dry runs this week
3. Execute first 4.2.0 release cycle
4. Monitor community engagement metrics

🤖 Generated with Claude Code