Support numbered prerelease updates

[DysektAI]

Summary

• Compare complete Semantic Versioning precedence in the in-app updater, including numbered alpha, beta, and RC identifiers.
• Keep stable installs off prerelease channels while allowing prerelease installs to advance through beta/RC and then stable.
• Ignore build metadata for update precedence.
• Document the alpha → beta → RC → stable lifecycle and immutable unique release tags.
• Set the next bridge release version to 4.0.1-beta.1 so existing 4.0.0-beta installs can discover it.

Release sequence

4.0.0-beta      (already published; old updater)
4.0.1-beta.1    (bridge release with full SemVer updater)
4.0.1-beta.2
4.0.1-rc.1
4.0.1

After the bridge release, prerelease iterations reuse the same numeric target and increment the prerelease identifier instead of consuming patch versions.

Validation

• dotnet build RatScanner.sln -c Release
• dotnet test RatScanner.sln -c Release --no-build --no-restore — 203 passed
• Focused GitHubUpdateServiceTests — alpha/beta/RC/stable/build-metadata coverage
• dotnet csharpier check .
• scripts/lint-markdown.ps1
• scripts/test-agent-docs.ps1 — 11/11 passed
• scripts/check-agent-docs.ps1
• Transitive package vulnerability audit — 0 vulnerabilities
• git diff --check

---

Confidence Score: 5/5

Safe to merge — the update logic is correct, thoroughly tested, and stable installs are protected from accidentally receiving prerelease builds at both the app layer and the GitHub release metadata layer.

The core SelectUpdateRelease logic handles all meaningful combinations (stable→stable, prerelease→prerelease, prerelease→stable) correctly and is backed by 200+ passing tests including five new scenario tests covering the exact channel-isolation contract. The only gap worth watching is the missing symmetric guard in the workflow for the operator error of publishing a prerelease version string to the latest channel, but even there the app-level IsNewerVersion check prevents stable users from receiving unwanted updates.

release.yml around the channel validation logic — a symmetric guard for the latest+prerelease-version case would close the remaining operator foot-gun.

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
src/App/GitHubUpdateService.cs	Replaces custom VersionInfo struct with NuGet.Versioning's NuGetVersion; adds SelectUpdateRelease that routes stable installs to /releases/latest and pre-release installs to the full releases list, then picks the highest SemVer candidate. Custom CompareSemanticVersions correctly implements SemVer 2.0 precedence (including build-metadata exclusion). Logic is well-tested and correct.
.github/workflows/release.yml	Adds a channel input (testing/latest) that controls the GitHub prerelease flag and make_latest. Guards against publishing a stable version to testing, but no symmetric guard prevents publishing a prerelease version to latest, which would occupy the /releases/latest slot (though app logic still prevents stable users from receiving it).
tests/RatScanner.Tests/PresentationServicesTests.cs	Adds thorough SelectUpdateRelease scenario tests (stable channel isolation, prerelease advancement, stable promotion, draft/untrusted-asset filtering) and inline data for alpha→beta→RC→stable precedence including very-large-number and case-sensitivity edge cases.
src/App/RatScanner.csproj	Bumps version to 4.0.1-beta.1 (bridge release) and adds NuGet.Versioning 7.6.0 package reference.
docs/agent-context/release-and-versioning.md	Documents the pre-release lifecycle (alpha→beta→RC→stable), the two-channel release model, and the bridge rollout procedure. Accurately describes the new updater behaviour.
CONTRIBUTING.md	Adds pre-release stage table and numbered-iteration examples; updates example version and release-tag description to match new workflow.
AGENTS.md	One-line update to the CI description replacing 'Latest release' with the two-channel description. Accurate and minimal.

Sequence Diagram

sequenceDiagram
    participant App as RatScanner App
    participant US as GitHubUpdateService
    participant GH as GitHub API

    App->>US: TryGetLatestReleaseAsync()
    US->>US: TryParseSemanticVersion(RatConfig.Version)
    alt current version is pre-release
        US->>GH: "GET /releases?per_page=100"
        GH-->>US: JSON array of all releases
        US->>US: "SelectUpdateRelease(includePrereleases=true)"
        US->>US: "Filter: draft=false, stable+prerelease allowed"
        US->>US: IsNewerVersion() — allows pre-release→pre-release and pre-release→stable
        US->>US: OrderByDescending(SemVer), pick highest
    else current version is stable
        US->>GH: GET /releases/latest
        GH-->>US: JSON object — latest non-draft non-prerelease release
        US->>US: "SelectUpdateRelease(includePrereleases=false)"
        US->>US: "Filter: draft=false, prerelease=false only"
        US->>US: IsNewerVersion() — blocks pre-release onto stable
    end
    US-->>App: LatestRelease? (or null)
    alt update available
        App->>US: TryApplyUpdate(release)
        US->>GH: Download RatScanner.zip (redirect-validated)
        US->>US: Extract, validate RatScanner.exe present
        US->>App: Spawn apply-update.ps1, return true
        App->>App: Exit
    end

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_{Reviews (4): Last reviewed commit: "fix: address follow-up review findings" | Re-trigger Greptile}

Context used:

• Context used - AGENTS.md (source)

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The project advances to 4.0.1-beta.1, documents prerelease lifecycle and release channels, adds channel-aware publishing, and updates GitHubUpdateService to select newer releases using strict SemVer precedence.

Changes

Versioning and release flow

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Release lifecycle contract CONTRIBUTING.md, docs/agent-context/release-and-versioning.md, src/App/RatScanner.csproj, AGENTS.md	Version metadata and documentation define prerelease stages, same-target iteration, unique tags, and testing versus latest release channels.
Channel-aware release publishing .github/workflows/release.yml	Manual releases derive prerelease status from <Version>, validate the testing channel, and publish testing or latest releases with corresponding GitHub visibility.
Semantic update selection and validation src/App/GitHubUpdateService.cs, tests/RatScanner.Tests/PresentationServicesTests.cs	The updater parses strict SemVer, compares prerelease identifiers while ignoring build metadata, selects valid newer releases, and tests stable, prerelease, promotion, parsing, and asset-filtering cases.

Estimated code review effort: 4 (Complex) | ~45 minutes

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant GitHubUpdateService
  participant GitHubReleasesApi
  participant NuGetVersion
  GitHubUpdateService->>GitHubReleasesApi: Query stable or prerelease releases
  GitHubReleasesApi-->>GitHubUpdateService: Return release JSON
  GitHubUpdateService->>NuGetVersion: Parse and compare SemVer versions
  NuGetVersion-->>GitHubUpdateService: Return release precedence
  GitHubUpdateService-->>GitHubUpdateService: Select newer trusted release

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Possibly related PRs

• tarkovtracker-org/RatScanner#2: Introduced related GitHubUpdateService update and versioning logic.
• tarkovtracker-org/RatScanner#6: Related release workflow changes for tag derivation and duplicate-release checks.
• tarkovtracker-org/RatScanner#7: Related manual Release workflow and publishing behavior.

Suggested labels: size:XXL

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly matches the main change: SemVer prerelease handling with numbered prerelease updates.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description is directly aligned with the changeset, covering updater logic, release workflow, documentation, and version bump.

✨ Finishing Touches

📝 Generate docstrings

• Create stacked PR
• Commit on current branch

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Commit unit tests in branch fix/semver-prerelease-updates

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[socket-security]

Review the following changes in direct dependencies. Learn more about Socket for GitHub.

Diff	Package	Supply Chain Security	Vulnerability	Quality	Maintenance	License
	nuget/​nuget.versioning@​7.6.0

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