Flex external releases

Customer-facing Flex releases. App tags use a v prefix in opentrons. oe-core uses the same stack tag. ot3-firmware uses an ex* coordination tag mapped from the stack v* tag, plus an integer vN version tag on the same commit.

Stack repos

Robot-stack tooling

just go, just track-builds, and just invalidate-cloudfront are advisory: they sync local clones under this workspace, print tables and analysis, and emit copy-paste commands. A human (or agent) runs git tag -a, git push, and aws cloudfront create-invalidation elsewhere. Nothing here pushes tags, triggers CI, or invalidates CloudFront by itself.

robot-stack-infra is always cloned for reference; it is not included in release tagging tables.

Plan a release non-interactively, for example:

just go --non-interactive --skip-assumptions --path flex --release-type external --stability stable

Release branch

Flex external defaults to isolation branches chore_release-<version> (for example chore_release-9.1.0, without a v prefix in the branch name) when that branch exists on the remote after just go syncs repos. Otherwise go uses each repo's default branch. Override with --app-branch and --stack-branch REPO=BRANCH when a flavor ships from a different branch (for example chore_release-10.0.0-beta). Suggested tag commands include git checkout <release-branch> before git tag -a when that branch is not the repo default.

Default version inference: highest chore_release-X.Y.Z on opentrons, with fallback to the latest merged v* tag base.

When does just go say a new tag is needed?

For each repo, automation/go.py uses the release branch described above and the coordinated stack tag for the selected stability lane. It compares branch tip commit to whether that coordinated tag already points at HEAD.

Flex app tag numbers come from the app monorepo tag catalog (opentrons or opentrons-ot2). At one semver base, stable, alpha, and beta are independent lanes (for example ot3@4.0.0-alpha.3 and ot3@4.0.0-beta.0 can coexist). Change logs compare against the prior tag in the same lane on the release branch.

Tags must be annotated (git tag -a … -m 'chore(release): …'). When the release branch differs from the repo default, tag blocks print git checkout <release-branch> first.

Pushing a tag triggers CI builds in the tagged repo. The app monorepo tag drives app artifacts; stack repo tags drive robot OS and firmware builds.

How the next tag is chosen

App (opentrons)

• Stable: tag is exactly the base version, e.g. v9.1.0, if that tag does not already exist on the branch.
• Alpha: find tags matching v9.1.0-alpha.* on the branch and increment N (first alpha is v9.1.0-alpha.0).
• Beta: increment v9.1.0-beta.N (VM isolation train).

Robot OS (oe-core)

Uses the same stack tag as the app (for example v9.1.0-alpha.7).

Firmware (ot3-firmware)

Dual-tag when the release commit does not already have an integer vN version tag. CI checks out the ex* coordination tag; cmake reads the co-located vN. Do not use semver v* as the firmware coordination tag.

git tag -a v70 -m "Flex firmware v70"
git tag -a ex9.1.0-alpha.7 -m "Coordinated release marker"
git push origin v70 ex9.1.0-alpha.7

Before pushing the app tag, run just validate-release-tags --tag <app-tag>.

Tag push order

Push annotated tags in this order. Dependent stack repos first, app monorepo last. just go prints this reminder at the end of a release run.

Flex stack repos only get a new tag when their release branch tip is ahead of the latest channel tag on that branch.

Track release builds

After pushing the app tag, run (non-interactive form):

just track-builds --non-interactive --path flex --tag v9.1.0 --wait

automation/track_builds.py locates GitHub Actions runs for:

1. App workflow on the monorepo (App test, build, and deploy)
2. Kickoff cross-repo dispatch (Start Flex build)
3. Robot OS build in oe-core

The Rich table lists key jobs (deploy, desktop builds, dispatch spawn, robot image build). The Slack copy block includes only two links:

Flex release `v9.1.0`

- app: <app workflow run URL>
- flex: <robot OS workflow run URL>

--wait polls every 15 seconds until app, kickoff, and robot OS workflow runs all appear (default timeout 900 seconds). Polling checks workflow runs only; job details are fetched afterward with retries for transient GitHub 404s. Exit code 2 if a run is still missing after the timeout.

CloudFront invalidation

CI does not invalidate CloudFront automatically. After builds finish, print a copy-paste command (it does not run invalidation):

just invalidate-cloudfront --non-interactive --path flex --tag v9.1.0

Invalidates /app/* and /ot3-oe/* on the channel host. Uses AWS profile robotics_robot_stack_prod-admin when credentials allow distribution lookup; otherwise the script prints a lookup command and placeholder ID.

Validate published artifacts

Optionally regenerate live manifest inventories:

just assets-pages

Or per-platform reports: just flex-assets / just ot2-assets. Pages: external assets, internal assets.

Where to find published releases

External Flex artifacts live on builds.opentrons.com.

Robot releases.json is the source of truth for on-robot updates. Desktop app updates use channel YAMLs (latest.yml, prerelease YAMLs) via electron-updater; those YAMLs are authoritative. App releases.json is parsed by a CloudFront edge function to pick the latest stable semver from production and route latest* requests accordingly.

Electron-updater channel YAMLs:

• alpha.yml
• alpha-mac.yml
• alpha-linux.yml
• beta.yml
• beta-mac.yml
• beta-linux.yml
• latest.yml
• latest-mac.yml
• latest-linux.yml

See also the live inventory: Flex external assets.