Extract release JSON building into helper script (avoid YAML/bash heredoc trap)

.github/workflows/release.yml

@@ -76,17 +76,12 @@ jobs:
           REPO: ${{ github.repository }}
           TAG: ${{ github.ref_name }}
           GH_API_URL: ${{ github.api_url }}
+          GH_SHA: ${{ github.sha }}
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
-
-          # Branch on host: github.com sets GITHUB_API_URL; Gitea leaves it empty
-          # (or set to the Gitea base, which we detect by path). We treat any
-          # api_url that is the github.com default as GitHub and anything else as Gitea.
-
           zip_path=( dist/projects-portfolio-*.zip )
           zip_path="${zip_path[0]}"
           asset_name=$(basename "$zip_path")
-          asset_bytes=$(wc -c < "$zip_path")
 
           if [[ "$GH_API_URL" == "https://api.github.com" ]]; then
             # ---- GitHub.com path ----
@@ -94,35 +89,16 @@ jobs:
               echo "::error::GITHUB_TOKEN is not available on this runner. Check repo permissions." >&2
               exit 1
             fi
-
+            payload=$(python3 scripts/release-helper.py build-payload --github)
-            # Build the JSON payload to a temp file via Python heredoc.
-            python3 - > /tmp/release-payload.json <<'PYEOF'
-            import json, os
-            print(json.dumps({
-                "tag_name": os.environ["TAG"],
-                "name": os.environ["TAG"],
-                "body": (
-                    "Automated release.\n\n"
-                    "Built from commit " + os.environ.get("GH_SHA", "unknown") + ".\n\n"
-                    "See the workflow run for the artifact."
-                ),
-                "draft": False,
-                "prerelease": False,
-                "generate_release_notes": True,
-            }))
-            PYEOF
-
             release_json=$(curl -fsS -X POST \
               -H "Authorization: token ${GITHUB_TOKEN}" \
               -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
               -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-              -d @/tmp/release-payload.json \
+              -d "$payload" \
               "${GH_API_URL}/repos/${REPO}/releases")
-            release_id=$(python3 -c 'import json,sys; print(json.loads(sys.stdin.read())["id"])' <<<"$release_json")
+            release_id=$(echo "$release_json" | python3 scripts/release-helper.py extract-id)
-            upload_url=$(python3 -c 'import json,sys; print(json.loads(sys.stdin.read())["upload_url"])' <<<"$release_json")
+            upload_url=$(echo "$release_json" | python3 scripts/release-helper.py extract-upload-url)
             echo "Created GitHub release id=$release_id"
-
-            # Asset upload uses the per-release upload_url (template with {?name,label}).
             curl -fsS -X POST \
               -H "Authorization: token ${GITHUB_TOKEN}" \
               -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" \
@@ -136,41 +112,19 @@ jobs:
               echo "::error::GITEA_TOKEN secret is not set. Create a personal access token in Gitea with 'write:repository' scope and add it as a repository secret named GITEA_TOKEN." >&2
               exit 1
             fi
-
-            # Gitea's api_url may be unset or set to the Gitea base.
             if [ -z "${GH_API_URL:-}" ] || [[ "$GH_API_URL" == "https://git.keithsolomon.net"* ]]; then
               API="https://git.keithsolomon.net/api/v1"
             else
               API="${GH_API_URL%/}/api/v1"
             fi
-
+            payload=$(python3 scripts/release-helper.py build-payload)
-            python3 - > /tmp/release-payload.json <<'PYEOF'
-            import json, os
-            print(json.dumps({
-                "tag_name": os.environ["TAG"],
-                "name": os.environ["TAG"],
-                "body": (
-                    "Automated release.\n\n"
-                    "Built from commit " + os.environ.get("GH_SHA", "unknown") + ".\n\n"
-                    "See the workflow run for the artifact."
-                ),
-                "draft": False,
-                "prerelease": False,
-            }))
-            PYEOF
-
             release_json=$(curl -fsS -X POST \
               -H "Authorization: token ${GITEA_TOKEN}" \
               -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-              -d @/tmp/release-payload.json \
+              -d "$payload" \
               "${API}/repos/${REPO}/releases")
-            release_id=$(python3 -c 'import json,sys; print(json.loads(sys.stdin.read())["id"])' <<<"$release_json")
+            release_id=$(echo "$release_json" | python3 scripts/release-helper.py extract-id)
-            if [ -z "$release_id" ]; then
-              echo "::error::Failed to create Gitea release. Response: $release_json" >&2
-              exit 1
-            fi
             echo "Created Gitea release id=$release_id"
-
             curl -fsS -X POST \
               -H "Authorization: token ${GITEA_TOKEN}" \
               -H "Content-Type: application/zip" \

scripts/release-helper.py

@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""
+Helper script for the release workflow (.github/workflows/release.yml).
+
+Subcommands:
+
+  build-payload [--github]   Build the JSON payload for creating a release.
+                             Reads TAG, GH_SHA from env.
+                             With --github, includes generate_release_notes=True.
+                             Writes JSON to stdout.
+
+  extract-id < response.json   Print the release id from a release API response.
+  extract-upload-url < response.json   Print the upload_url from a GitHub release
+                             response (used as the asset upload endpoint template).
+
+This script exists to avoid bash heredoc-inside-YAML-literal indentation traps.
+"""
+
+import json
+import os
+import sys
+
+
+def build_payload(github: bool) -> int:
+    tag = os.environ.get("TAG", "")
+    sha = os.environ.get("GH_SHA", "unknown")
+    payload = {
+        "tag_name": tag,
+        "name": tag,
+        "body": (
+            "Automated release.\n\n"
+            f"Built from commit {sha}.\n\n"
+            "See the workflow run for the artifact."
+        ),
+        "draft": False,
+        "prerelease": False,
+    }
+    if github:
+        payload["generate_release_notes"] = True
+    print(json.dumps(payload))
+    return 0
+
+
+def extract_field(field: str) -> int:
+    raw = sys.stdin.read()
+    try:
+        data = json.loads(raw)
+    except json.JSONDecodeError as e:
+        print(f"::error::Failed to parse JSON response: {e}", file=sys.stderr)
+        return 1
+    value = data.get(field, "")
+    if not value:
+        print(f"::error::Field {field!r} missing from response: {raw}", file=sys.stderr)
+        return 1
+    print(value)
+    return 0
+
+
+def usage() -> int:
+    print(__doc__, file=sys.stderr)
+    return 2
+
+
+def main() -> int:
+    if len(sys.argv) < 2:
+        return usage()
+    cmd = sys.argv[1]
+    if cmd == "build-payload":
+        return build_payload(github="--github" in sys.argv)
+    if cmd == "extract-id":
+        return extract_field("id")
+    if cmd == "extract-upload-url":
+        return extract_field("upload_url")
+    return usage()
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(main())