Safeguard durable-functions v4 preview publishing

[wangbill (YunchuWang)]

Summary

What changed?

• Upgrade only the durable-functions ESRP release job to v12 so it can infer the npm dist-tag from the package's publishConfig.tag metadata.
• Keep future durable-functions prereleases on a major-specific preview-v<major> channel and remove that channel metadata for stable releases.
• Add package-scoped release documentation and a regression test for the prerelease/GA metadata lifecycle.

Why is this change needed?

durable-functions@4.0.0-beta.1 must be opt-in. Publishing it without an explicit non-latest dist-tag would make an unqualified npm install durable-functions resolve v4 instead of the stable v3 line. The existing generic preview tag already points to a v3 alpha, so v4 uses preview-v4.

Current EngHub ESRP guidance says the current EsrpRelease@12 task infers npm tags from publishConfig.tag: https://eng.ms/docs/microsoft-security/identity/trust-and-security-services/tss-release-distribute/tss-release-esrp-parent/oss-publishing/releasing-open-source/npmjs

Issues / work items

• Related Add durable-functions@4.0.0 — Azure Functions Durable provider on the gRPC core (+ core host helpers, E2E CI, and release pipeline) #282

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Project checklist

• Release notes are not required for the next release
  • Otherwise: Notes added to CHANGELOG.md
• Backport is not required
  • Otherwise: Backport tracked by issue/PR #issue_or_pr
• All required tests have been added/updated (unit tests, E2E tests)
• Breaking change?
  • If yes:
    • Impact: v4 remains an explicit opt-in preview; the stable v3 latest channel is unchanged.
    • Migration guidance: Install durable-functions@preview-v4 or pin durable-functions@4.0.0-beta.1.

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AI-assisted code disclosure (required)

Was an AI tool used? (select one)

• No
• Yes, AI helped write parts of this PR (e.g., GitHub Copilot)
• Yes, an AI agent generated most of this PR

If AI was used:

• Tool(s): GitHub Copilot
• AI-assisted areas/files: release workflow, ESRP task update, regression test, and release documentation
• What you changed after AI output: Reviewed the implementation, narrowed it to durable-functions, and selected the major-specific preview-v4 policy.

AI verification (required if AI was used):

• I understand the code and can explain it
• I verified referenced APIs/types exist and are correct
• I reviewed edge cases/failure paths (timeouts, retries, cancellation, exceptions)
• I reviewed concurrency/async behavior
• I checked for unintended breaking or behavior changes

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Testing

Automated tests

• Result: Passed. durable-functions: 19 suites, 153 tests. Repository ESLint also passed.

Manual validation (only if runtime/behavior changed)

• Environment: Windows, local npm workspace
• Steps + observed results:
  1. Packed the durable-functions workspace.
  2. Inspected package/package.json inside durable-functions-4.0.0-beta.1.tgz.
  3. Confirmed name=durable-functions, version=4.0.0-beta.1, and publishConfig.tag=preview-v4.

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Notes for reviewers

• This policy and the ESRP v12 upgrade apply only to durable-functions; the two @microsoft release jobs remain on ESRP v9.
• Before the official build, ensure the durable-functions-v4.0.0-beta.1 Git tag points to the final merged release commit. ESRP v12 publishes immediately, so inspect the signed .tgz before queueing the release.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Updates the durable-functions (Azure Functions Durable provider) release tooling and docs to ensure v4 prereleases publish to a major-specific npm dist-tag (e.g., preview-v4) without moving npm’s latest tag away from the stable v3 line.

Changes:

• Upgrades the durable-functions ESRP release job to EsrpRelease@12 to support inferring the npm dist-tag from publishConfig.tag.
• Updates the Prepare Release workflow to set/clear publishConfig.tag for durable-functions and to emit the correct manual fallback npm publish --tag ... command.
• Adds package-scoped documentation and a unit test to enforce the prerelease/GA metadata lifecycle.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 6 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
packages/azure-functions-durable/test/unit/release-metadata.spec.ts	Adds a regression test to enforce publishConfig.tag usage for prerelease vs GA.
packages/azure-functions-durable/README.md	Documents installing v4 prereleases via preview-v4.
packages/azure-functions-durable/CHANGELOG.md	Notes the new prerelease channel policy for v4.
eng/ci/release.yml	Upgrades only the durable-functions ESRP task version to v12.
doc/release_process.md	Updates release guidance to reflect major-specific preview tags and ESRP v12 behavior.
.github/workflows/prepare-release.yaml	Sets/removes publishConfig.tag for durable-functions and adjusts fallback dist-tag output.