From 820a69597d96bc3176a12d74dcfd8f968ecbb33f Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Angela Tran <angela@compiler.la>
Date: Wed, 10 Jul 2024 22:54:32 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] docs(release): add steps for making a tag-based

similar to the steps in our release issue template but with commands
---
 docs/releases.md | 38 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 38 insertions(+)

diff --git a/docs/releases.md b/docs/releases.md
index 1a3d00f5..884d0d42 100644
--- a/docs/releases.md
+++ b/docs/releases.md
@@ -33,3 +33,41 @@ More details about the deployment steps and release creation can be found in the
 The list of releases can be found on the [repository Releases page](https://github.com/cal-itp/eligibility-server/tags) on GitHub.
 
 [Start a new Release on Github](https://github.com/cal-itp/eligibility-server/issues/new?labels=release&template=release.yml&title=Make+a+Release){ .md-button }
+
+### 1. Create a release candidate tag on `main` and push it
+
+```bash
+git fetch
+git checkout main
+git reset --hard origin/main
+git tag -a YYYY.0M.R-rcR
+```
+
+Git will open your default text editor and prompt you for the tag annotation. For the tag annotation, use the release candidate version. Finally, after closing the text editor:
+
+```bash
+git push origin YYYY.0M.R-rcR
+```
+
+This builds a new package and deploys to the Azure test environments. No GitHub release is created for release candidates.
+
+### 2. Create a release tag on `main` and push it
+
+```bash
+git fetch
+git checkout main
+git reset --hard origin/main
+git tag -a YYYY.0M.R
+```
+
+Git will open your default text editor and prompt you for the tag annotation. For the tag annotation, use the title of the release-tagged Issue that kicked off the release. Finally, after closing the text editor:
+
+```bash
+git push origin YYYY.0M.R
+```
+
+This builds the package and deploys to the Azure production environments. A GitHub release is created.
+
+### 3. [Generate release notes](https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/releasing-projects-on-github/automatically-generated-release-notes)
+
+Edit release notes with additional context, images, animations, etc. as-needed and link to the release issue.