CI Guard PR titles against changesets so Release workflow is not skipped #2203

Problem

In #2189 we merged hook bundling work with a squash-merge title fix(hooks): … and a changeset for @asyncapi/generator-hooks. That title is valid under Conventional Commits and passes central lint-pr-title.yml (semantic-pull-request allows scopes), but Release only runs when the commit on master starts with an unscoped prefix:

• fix:, fix!:, feat:, feat!:, or chore(release):

See .github/workflows/release-with-changesets.yml (startsWith on github.event.commits[0].message).

Squash merges use the PR title as that message (MERGE_COMMIT_MESSAGE: "{pullRequest.title} (#{pullRequest.number})" in automerge). Result: Release was skipped, the changeset stayed on master, and @asyncapi/generator-hooks was not published until a follow-up fix: PR.

Proposal

Add a generator-local required check (similar in spirit to verify-ai-disclosure.yml), without changing centrally managed lint-pr-title.yml from asyncapi/.github.

Rule A — changeset ⇒ release-trigger title

If the PR adds or modifies any .changeset/*.md file (excluding config.json), the PR title must use a Release-compatible unscoped prefix (same list as Release workflow). This would have blocked #2189 (fix(hooks): + changeset).

Rule B — release title + publishable code ⇒ changeset

If the PR title will trigger Release and the diff touches publishable package source paths (e.g. apps/hooks/src/, packages/components/src/, baked-in packages/templates/, etc., excluding tests/snapshots), require either:

• a changeset file in the PR diff, or
• pending changesets already on the branch (npx -p @changesets/cli@2.27.7 changeset status reports packages to bump).

Wake-up PRs (fix: trigger release… with no publishable path changes) should not fail Rule B.

Bot exemptions

Skip the check for known bots, aligned with existing workflows:

• asyncapi-bot / asyncapi-bot-eve when title starts with chore(release): or ci: update of files from global .github repo
• dependabot[bot] / dependabot-preview[bot]
• allcontributors[bot] when title starts with docs: add

Implementation sketch

• Small Node module under .github/workflows/scripts/release-pr-guard/ with unit tests (node:test).
• Workflow: e.g. verify-changeset-release-alignment.yml on pull_request.
• Docs: Development.md + .github/pr-review-checklist.md — scoped fix(hooks): does not trigger Release.
• Maintainers: add the new check to branch protection after merge.

Non-goals (optional follow-ups)

• Changing Release if: to accept scoped prefixes (policy decision).
• Org-wide changes to lint-pr-title.yml.

Related

• Merged PR: fix(hooks): bundle emitted AsyncAPI document in generate:after hook #2189
• Issue: generate:after hook copies AsyncAPI doc verbatim, leaving external $refs unresolvable at client runtime #2144 (hook bundling)

Acceptance criteria

• PR with changeset + fix(hooks): title fails CI with a clear message.
• PR with changeset + fix: title passes.
• fix: PR changing apps/hooks/src/ without changeset fails (unless pending changeset on branch).
• fix: empty/doc-only wake-up PR passes.
• Bot release PRs (chore(release):) are exempt.