# Public release checklist

## Current prerequisites

- Ensure the required skgrad version is available on PyPI before UnifiedIG.
  The feature-space API requires `pipeline_view`; do not lower the requirement
  to bypass installation failures. The initial skgrad 0.1.5 availability blocker
  was resolved before the successful UnifiedIG trial CI run.
- Run CI against published dependencies. Local sibling package validation is
  useful but does not demonstrate a successful public one-install workflow.
- Set the intended release version in `pyproject.toml`,
  finalize the Unreleased changelog, and review the release contents.
- Configure the GitHub `pypi` environment and PyPI trusted publisher for this
  repository's `release.yml` workflow. Environment protection may require a
  maintainer's approval. These remote settings are not changed by this audit.

## Validation and publishing

Pushes and pull requests run Python 3.10–3.13 tests, separate optional framework
jobs, and wheel/sdist validation. The tree job installs XGBoost and LightGBM.
The package job installs the wheel into a fresh environment using public
package resolution, runs `pip check` and the runnable README example, and
rebuilds a wheel from the sdist.

A matching `v<version>` tag push triggers release validation and PyPI
publication. A manually published GitHub release does not trigger publication.
The release job tests all optional backends, validates build metadata, rebuilds
from the sdist, and smoke-tests a fresh wheel installation before publishing.
A separate job then creates the GitHub release and attaches the distributions.
See [publishing releases](publishing.md) for the tag procedure, prerelease
handling, and recovery when GitHub release creation fails after PyPI succeeds.

## Documentation site

The separate Documentation workflow builds and deploys GitHub Pages from
`main`, without requiring a package version tag. See [building the documentation](building.md)
for Pages settings and manually rerunning deployment after enabling Pages.

## Dependency policy

CBaseline `>=0.1.2,<0.2`, skgrad `>=0.1.5,<0.2`, and TreeIG `>=0.2.0,<0.3`
are normal dependencies. The lower bounds identify the release-tested stack;
skgrad's feature-space API is required. Upper bounds avoid silently accepting
new minor API series while these dependencies remain pre-1.0. Broaden bounds
after compatibility testing. The `trees` extra remains a compatibility alias;
it is unnecessary for normal installation.

The paper, comprehensive SHAP benchmarks, conda-forge, GPU work, and expanded
plotting are not prerequisites for this release.