fix: the merge door rides pushes to main — fork PR tokens are read-only

Round-1 blocker (grok, claude on box#97's twin): a pull_request run from
a public fork gets a read-only GITHUB_TOKEN — permissions: cannot raise
it — and every ceremony PR this org merges is cross-repo from the bot
fork, so the tag create would 403 after green asserts, red on main per
release. The door now triggers on push to main (in-repo event, full
token): the decide step reads the version transition from event.before
(first-parent fallback for the all-zeros edge), and the release label —
still the operator's declared intent — is read via the API off the merge
commit's PR. A transition with no labeled PR behind it refuses. The two
doors now split on the pushed ref: tags to the tag door, main to this one.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

.github/workflows/release.yml

@@ -22,8 +22,15 @@ on:
     # Every tag, not a shape filter: a tag that mismatches VERSION must fail
     # LOUDLY below, not be silently skipped by a pattern that didn't match.
     tags: ['**']
-  pull_request:
+  push:
-    types: [closed]
+    # The merge-is-the-release path (#47) rides pushes to MAIN, not
+    # pull_request events, for one load-bearing reason the first review
+    # round caught: a workflow run triggered by a pull_request from a
+    # public FORK gets a READ-ONLY GITHUB_TOKEN — `permissions:` cannot
+    # raise that ceiling — and every ceremony PR this org has ever merged
+    # is cross-repo from the bot fork. The asserts would pass and the tag
+    # create would 403, red on main, every release. A push to main is an
+    # in-repo event with the full write token, whoever authored the PR.
     branches: [main]
 
 permissions:
@@ -31,9 +38,9 @@ permissions:
 
 jobs:
   release:
-    # The tag-push path, gated to push events so a closed PR never lands
+    # The tag-push path — a pushed TAG ref. The merge path (a pushed main
-    # here — the merge path is release-on-merge below.
+    # head) is release-on-merge below; the two doors split on the ref.
-    if: github.event_name == 'push'
+    if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
@@ -72,21 +79,17 @@ jobs:
   # NOTE: test/release.sh pins this block by awk-ing from
   # 'release-on-merge:' to EOF — keep it the last job.
   release-on-merge:
-    if: >-
+    if: github.event_name == 'push' && github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
-      github.event_name == 'pull_request' &&
-      github.event.pull_request.merged == true &&
-      contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'release')
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     env:
-      MERGE_SHA: ${{ github.event.pull_request.merge_commit_sha }}
+      MERGE_SHA: ${{ github.sha }}
-      BASE_SHA: ${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}
+      BASE_SHA: ${{ github.event.before }}
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4
         with:
-          # The merge commit is what ships — not the PR merge ref, which
+          # The pushed head is what ships. Full history so the before-side
-          # stops meaning anything once the PR closes. Full history so the
+          # VERSION is readable for the interlock below.
-          # base-side VERSION is readable for the interlock below.
+          ref: ${{ github.sha }}
-          ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.merge_commit_sha }}
           fetch-depth: 0
       # The decide step — asserts 1+2 fused, because the `release` label
       # carries TWO legitimate meanings (LABELS.md: "release flow and
@@ -115,6 +118,9 @@ jobs:
           GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
         run: |
           ver="$(cat VERSION)"
+          # event.before is all-zeros on a branch-create push; the merge
+          # commit's first parent is main the instant before, either way.
+          if ! git cat-file -e "$BASE_SHA" 2>/dev/null; then BASE_SHA="$(git rev-parse "$MERGE_SHA^1")"; fi
           base_ver="$(git show "$BASE_SHA:VERSION")"
           case "$ver" in
             *-dev)
@@ -136,6 +142,16 @@ jobs:
             echo "VERSION '$ver' is bare, unchanged by this PR, and never released — the label says ship but this PR did not mint the version. Refusing to guess." >&2
             exit 1
           fi
+          # The version transitioned — now the LABEL, the operator's declared
+          # intent, read via the API because a push event carries no PR
+          # payload (and the PR itself lives on a fork — see the trigger
+          # comment). No release-labeled PR behind this commit = a version
+          # transition nobody declared: refuse.
+          if ! gh api "repos/$GITHUB_REPOSITORY/commits/$MERGE_SHA/pulls" \
+              -q '[.[] | select(.merged_at != null) | .labels[].name] | index("release") != null' | grep -qx true; then
+            echo "VERSION transitioned ('$base_ver' -> '$ver') but no merged, release-labeled PR is behind this commit — a release is a labeled ceremony PR (#47), not a bare push. Refusing." >&2
+            exit 1
+          fi
           echo "ceremony=yes" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
       # Assert 3 — the changelog names exactly this version, and the one
       # extractor (shared with the tag job and test/release.sh) gets a

test/release.sh

@@ -135,12 +135,20 @@ check "release.yml: the assert precedes the create" \
 # treatment for the merge path's load-bearing pieces: the gate, the four
 # fail-loud asserts, the same-job tag+publish, and the surviving tag-push
 # fallback.
-check "release.yml: fires when a PR into main closes (merge = ship)" 0 "" \
+# The merge door rides pushes to MAIN, not pull_request events: a fork PR's
-  grep -qF "pull_request:" "$RY"
+# pull_request run gets a read-only GITHUB_TOKEN (permissions: cannot raise
-check "release.yml: only a MERGED PR releases (closed-unmerged never fires)" 0 "" \
+# it), and every ceremony PR this org merges is cross-repo from the bot
-  grep -qF "github.event.pull_request.merged == true" "$RY"
+# fork — the tag create would 403 after green asserts (#48 round 1). The
-check "release.yml: only the 'release' label carries the intent" 0 "" \
+# label — the operator's intent — is read via the API off the merge commit.
-  grep -qF "contains(github.event.pull_request.labels.*.name, 'release')" "$RY"
+check "release.yml: the merge door rides pushes to main (fork-token-proof)" 0 "" \
+  grep -qF "branches: [main]" "$RY"
+check "release.yml: ...and the doors split on the ref (tag door takes tags)" 0 "" \
+  grep -qF "startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')" "$RY"
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016  # the $-string is a literal in the target file
+check "release.yml: the release label is read via the API off the merge commit" 0 "" \
+  grep -qF 'commits/$MERGE_SHA/pulls' "$RY"
+check "release.yml: a transition without a labeled PR refuses" 0 "" \
+  grep -qF "no merged, release-labeled PR is behind this commit" "$RY"
 # The decide step tells the label's two meanings apart (LABELS.md gives
 # `release` to release-flow WORK as well as to the ceremony PR): work under
 # the label is a green NOTICE no-op — in the -dev steady state and in the
@@ -169,7 +177,8 @@ MJOB="$(awk '/^  release-on-merge:/,0' "$RY")"
 mjob_has() { printf '%s' "$MJOB" | grep -qF -e "$1"; }
 check "release.yml: the merge job API-creates the tag itself" 0 "" \
   mjob_has "git/refs"
-check "release.yml: ...at the MERGE commit" 0 "" mjob_has "merge_commit_sha"
+# shellcheck disable=SC2016  # the $-string is a literal in the target file
+check "release.yml: ...at the pushed main head (github.sha = the merge commit)" 0 "" mjob_has 'sha="$MERGE_SHA"' 
 check "release.yml: ...and publishes in the SAME job" 0 "" \
   mjob_has "gh release create"
 # Ordering, the marker-then-box idiom again: the last assert's refusal must