docs: describe merge-door resume recovery

.github/labeler.yml

@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ scope:release-flow:
           - CHANGELOG.md
           - drills/**
           - test/decide.test.sh
+          - test/preflight.test.sh
           - test/facts.test.sh
           - test/release-chain.test.sh
           - test/version.test.sh

.github/scripts/release-path.sh

@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ printf '%s\n' \
   bin/ \
   lib/version.sh \
   lib/decide.sh \
+  lib/preflight.sh \
   lib/facts.sh \
   lib/changelog.sh \
   lib/forge.sh

README.md

@@ -127,12 +127,13 @@ steps run past the tag, and what a failure at each leaves behind is what
 sorts them. Two fail before the release exists: the consumer's
 [artifact hook](docs/CONSUMERS.md#the-artifact-hook) sits between the tag and
 the publish, so its non-zero exit aborts, and the publish itself
-([`forge_release_create`](.github/workflows/release.yml#L255-L268))
+([`forge_release_create`](.github/workflows/release.yml#L264-L277))
 can fail on the API call or the assets. Either leaves the same state — a tag
-standing and no release — which the
-[nothing-exists assert](#the-merge-door-refused-releaseyml) names and the tag
-door recovers. The third is the re-arm, which runs after the publish, and its
-refusal is the single failure in this file that leaves a real release behind.
+standing and no release — which the merge-door preflight recognizes and a
+re-run resumes. The tag door remains the fallback when the original run is no
+longer reachable or the release must come from a fixed tree. The third is the
+re-arm, which runs after the publish, and its refusal is the single failure in
+this file that leaves a real release behind.
 
 ## The two doors
 
@@ -482,18 +483,17 @@ without its stamp (a state the
 the PR — red main here means it was overridden). Stamp the section on main,
 then publish by the tag door.
 
-> tag '$VER' already exists — this release already happened, or a manual tag won the race; refusing to re-release, creating nothing.
-> release '$VER' already exists — refusing to re-release, creating nothing.
+> release '$VER' already exists — this release already happened; refusing to re-release, creating nothing.
+> tag '$VER' already exists at <tag sha> but this run would tag <MERGE_SHA> — a manual tag won the race, or it names a different commit; refusing to re-release, creating nothing. Delete that tag, or re-tag the merge commit.
+> NOTICE: tag '$VER' already stands at this merge commit and no release exists — a previous run of this door tagged and then failed to publish. Resuming: the tag is not recreated; the artifact hook and the publish run.
 
-[L208–L223](.github/workflows/release.yml#L208-L223), the nothing-exists
-assert — what makes a re-run of a completed ceremony refuse instead of
-clobber, and what catches a manual tag racing the merge. If the release
-truly exists, there is nothing to do: this red is the system declining to do
-the thing twice. If the tag exists but the release does not (a manual tag
-won the race, or
-[a failed artifact hook](docs/CONSUMERS.md#the-artifact-hook), or the publish
-step itself failing after the tag), recover by the tag door: delete and
-re-push the tag, or run `forge_release_create` by hand from a fixed tree.
+[L208–L239](.github/workflows/release.yml#L208-L239), the merge-door
+preflight — the published-release refusal prevents clobbering, the
+different-commit refusal diagnoses a racing or manual tag with both SHAs, and
+the notice resumes this door after its tag succeeded but the artifact hook or
+publish failed. Re-run the merge-door job first. If that run is no longer
+reachable or the tree itself needs repair, use the tag-door fallback: delete
+and re-push the tag from the fixed tree, or run `forge_release_create` by hand.
 
 > direct push refused (branch protection?) — opening the bump PR instead
 

changelog.d/273.md

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+- Merge-door release reruns resume after a matching stranded tag while completed or conflicting releases still refuse with precise diagnostics (#273).