microsoft/release
Guide for performing the DirectX Tool Kit for DirectX 12 release process. Use this skill when asked to help with releasing a new version, publishing packages, or updating ports.
npx skills add https://github.com/microsoft/DirectXTK --skill releasemain branch with all tests passing.d:\vcpkg (synced with main branch)<!-- markdownlint-disable MD029 -->
main branch.build\preparerelease.ps1 which will generate a topic branch for the release, update the version number in CMakeLists.txt, the README.md file, the release notes in the nuspec files, and create a stub in the CHANGELOG.md file for the new release.CHANGELOG.md file to update it with a summary of changes.main once approved. Allow the GitHub Actions workflows and the Azure DevOps pipelines to complete successfully before proceeding.build\completerelease.ps1 which will set a tag on the project repo and the test repo, and create a release on GitHub with the release notes from CHANGELOG.md. Ensure you have set up GPG signing for your GitHub account so that the tags will be verified.main branch. Be sure to include --tags.main branch to the MSCodeHub mirror repository. Be sure to include --tags.main branch to the release branch.10. Edit the GitHub release and upload the signed binaries from the matching DirectXTK release to the release assets (xwbtool.exe, xwbtool_arm64.exe, and MakeSpriteFont.exe).
11. Download the GitHub source .zip archive from the release. Unzip and compare to the local repo to ensure it matches — keep in mind there may be some CR/LF differences.
12. Run minisign on the .zip to generate a signature file, and upload the signature file to the release assets.
13. Validate the NuGet packages with <https://github.com/walbourn/directxtk-tutorials> by pushing the NuGet packages to a local Packages Source folder, and refreshing the NuGet packages from that folder. Then build using BuildAllSolutions.targets.
14. Run the PowerShell script build\promotenuget.ps1 -Version <version> -Release to promote the version to the Release view on the project-scoped ADO feed. The -Version parameter is required and should match the NuGet package version (e.g., 2026.6.2.1).
15. Run the MSCodeHub pipeline to publish the NuGet packages to nuget.org. The pipeline will automatically push the most recent package promoted to the Release view to nuget.org.
16. Git pull a local repository of VCPKG to d:\vcpkg in sync with the main branch of the VCPKG repository.
17. Run the PowerShell script build\updatevcpkg.ps1 to update the DirectXTK12 port in VCPKG with the new release version. This will edit the files in ports\directxtk12.
18. Test the VCPKG port using the script at assets/vcpkgdxtk12.cmd (in this skill folder). Copy it to d:\vcpkg and run from there after bootstrapping VCPKG.
19. Run .\vcpkg x-add-version directxtk12 to update the VCPKG versioning history.
20. Submit a PR to the VCPKG repository to update the DirectXTK12 port back to the main GitHub repo. The PR will be reviewed and merged by the VCPKG maintainers.
When fully completed, be sure to update the GitHub release with links to the matching NuGet packages, the VCPKG port, and the winget manifests for the tools.
| Script | Purpose |
| --- | --- |
| build\preparerelease.ps1 | Creates topic branch, updates version numbers and changelog stub |
| build\completerelease.ps1 | Sets tags, creates GitHub release from changelog |
| build\promotenuget.ps1 | Promotes NuGet package to Release view on ADO feed |
| assets\vcpkgdxtk12.cmd | Tests VCPKG port across all triplets and features |
| build\updatevcpkg.ps1 | Updates DirectXTK12 VCPKG port files |
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