Automate branch-based alpha publishing in graphitation-release pipeline

[Copilot]

This updates the Azure DevOps release flow to publish based on the branch the pipeline runs from, without any manual prerelease toggle.

• Automatic branch-based release behavior

  • Removed the runtime prerelease boolean parameter from .azure-devops/graphitation-release.yml.
  • Release mode is now inferred automatically from the source branch.

• Branch-aware publish targeting

  • Release commands now always target the branch that triggered the pipeline via:
    • -b origin/${BUILD_SOURCEBRANCH#refs/heads/}
  • Applied consistently to both npmjs publish and Azure Artifacts publish steps.

• Automatic npm tag selection

  • On main, publish uses the default npm dist-tag behavior (latest).
  • On non-main branches, publish uses -t alpha automatically.

• Beachball script alignment

  • Updated root package.json scripts so origin/main is pinned only for:
    • yarn change
    • yarn checkchange
  • yarn beachball remains unpinned for general usage.

• Release docs simplification

  • Rewrote CONTRIBUTING.md release instructions to the new operational model:
    • run pipeline from target branch
    • no manual prerelease toggle
    • pipeline automatically selects latest for main and alpha for non-main, while targeting the run branch

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[pavelglac]

@copilot what is the default behavior of beachball for pushing changes? I am thinking if only yarn change and yarn checkchange needs to know what is the main branch. With that we could just change these two and rest would be safe that changelogs would be pushed to source branch (so you would avoid unexpected commits in main).

[Copilot]

@copilot what is the default behavior of beachball for pushing changes? I am thinking if only yarn change and yarn checkchange needs to know what is the main branch. With that we could just change...

Good call — I updated this in commit a50e246. beachball publish pushes by default (unless --no-push is set), and -b is for the compare target branch. I changed scripts so only change/checkchange pin origin/main, while publish uses defaults, which keeps changelog/version commits on the source branch.

Warning

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• microsoft.github.io
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[pavelglac]

@copilot so what will happen if I call yarn beachball publish without branch? Please find answer in beachball repository.

[Copilot]

@copilot so what will happen if I call yarn beachball publish without branch? Please find answer in beachball repository.

From microsoft/beachball docs/help: publish defaults to --push (so it commits + pushes), and if -b/--branch is omitted it targets git config init.defaultBranch (typically main), not necessarily the current checked-out branch. I updated the pipeline in b478904 to pass publish -b "$releaseBranch" explicitly for prerelease runs.

[pavelglac]

@copilot I want to have different logic.

1. When branch is different than main add tag alpha
2. Always target the branch from which the release pipeline is running.

I want you to only change the pipeline and document. Now you do not need to specify that you want to prerelease. It will be automatically if it will not be from the main branch.

[Copilot]

@copilot I want to have different logic.

1. When branch is different than main add tag alpha
2. Always target the branch from which the release pipeline is running.
   ...

Implemented in eee022d.

• Removed the manual prerelease pipeline parameter.
• Pipeline now always targets the running branch (-b origin/${BUILD_SOURCEBRANCH#refs/heads/}).
• Non-main branches publish with -t alpha automatically.
• main publishes with default tag behavior.
• Updated CONTRIBUTING.md to match this flow.

Screenshot: N/A (no UI changes; pipeline + docs only).