fix: release full rebuild

[daveomri]

Summary

Refactors the release pipeline to the workflow_dispatch shape used by langchain-apify and crawlee-python, replacing the original release: published (manual tag) flow.

Why the first attempt used manual tags: the ticket said "Cut release v0.1.0 via GitHub Releases", which I read as the Releases UI flow. CI passed; it looked correct.

What broke on the v0.1.0 publish:

• update_changelog (in reusable workflow apify/workflows/.../python_bump_and_update_changelog.yaml) failed with You are not currently on a branch.
• Root cause: actions/checkout@v6 defaults to github.ref → on release: published that's the tag → HEAD detached.
• Downstream apify/actions/signed-commit@v1.0.0 runs git pull --rebase --autostash, which can't operate detached.
• The reusable workflow has an unstated assumption that the caller is on a branch (true for push / workflow_dispatch, false for release: published).

Why rebuild instead of just disabling update_changelog: the minimal fix means bumping pyproject.toml / CHANGELOG.md by hand every release: compounding tech debt and a growing diff against langchain-apify. Mirroring the canonical shape now keeps the full flow automated.

Changes

release.yml: full rebuild:

• Trigger → workflow_dispatch with release_type (auto / custom / patch / minor / major) + custom_version inputs; fail-fast validation on empty custom_version.
• New update_changelog job: bumps pyproject.toml, writes CHANGELOG.md, commits to main via apify/actions/signed-commit (works because workflow_dispatch from main keeps HEAD attached).
• New create_github_release job using softprops/action-gh-release@v2.
• publish_to_pypi checks out the post-bump changelog_commitish and is serialized after create_github_release → tag, release page, and wheel all anchor to the same SHA; no wheel-without-tag failure mode.
• Explicit permissions: block on every write job.

pre_release.yml:

• Tightened docs: / ci: skip gate to require conventional-commit colon or scope paren (no more false positives on documentation helper).
• Read permissions on release_metadata for git-cliff PR/issue context.
• Trimmed publish_to_pypi to contents: read.

All workflows: pinned apify/workflows/.../*.yaml to @v0.45.0 (per upstream recommendation), replacing SHA pins and @main.

CONTRIBUTING.md: rewrote Releases section; added "How beta and stable releases compose" subsection on the changelog_commitish chain.

.gitignore: local-only dev paths (.personal_testing/, .claude/, doc drafts, poetry.lock).

Test plan

CI-only change; no package code modified.

• Upstream contracts (apify/workflows@v0.45.0, apify/actions@v1.1.2) re-verified against passed inputs/outputs
• Job DAG verified: no cycles, no orphaned needs:, parallel jobs gate the same prerequisites
• v0.1.0 traced end-to-end: tag, release, and wheel anchor to the same changelog_commitish
• Pending: trigger Create a release with release_type: custom, custom_version: 0.1.0 once this PR merges

Source-code checklist items (tests, docstrings, README table, ## [Unreleased] entry, Actor docstring link) are N/A — CI-only PR. The new update_changelog job writes the first changelog entry automatically.

Related issues

Supersedes Dependabot PRs #6, #5, #3 (workflow SHA bumps, folded into @v0.45.0).

• signed-commit introduced upstream in: apify/workflows#297
• Pattern mirrored from: apify/crawlee-python#1896

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Refactors the release automation from GitHub Release publication events to a manual workflow_dispatch release flow, aligning stable releases with the changelog/version bump and PyPI publishing pipeline used by related Apify Python packages.

Changes:

• Rebuilds release.yml around manual release inputs, changelog updates, GitHub release creation, and PyPI publishing from the post-bump commit.
• Updates prerelease/code-check workflows to use apify/workflows@v0.45.0 and adjusts prerelease permissions/skip logic.
• Expands release documentation for stable and beta release behavior.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
CONTRIBUTING.md	Documents the new stable and beta release process.
.github/workflows/run_code_checks.yml	Pins reusable check workflows to apify/workflows@v0.45.0.
.github/workflows/release.yml	Replaces release-event publishing with a manual stable release pipeline.
.github/workflows/pre_release.yml	Updates prerelease gating, permissions, and reusable workflow pin.

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[drobnikj]

Two notes, but pre approving