[AI] Document patch release process in releasing.md

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

.github/workflows/cut-release-branch.yml

@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@ permissions:
 jobs:
   cut-release-branch:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    environment: release
     steps:
       - name: Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2

.github/workflows/docker-edge.yml

@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ jobs:
     if: github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' || !github.event.repository.fork
     name: Build Docker image
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    environment: release
     strategy:
       matrix:
         os: [ubuntu, alpine]

.github/workflows/docker-release.yml

@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ jobs:
   build:
     name: Build Docker image
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    environment: release
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2
         with:

.github/workflows/electron-master.yml

@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ jobs:
     # this is so the assets can be added to the release
     permissions:
       contents: write
-    environment: release
     strategy:
       fail-fast: false
       matrix:
@@ -124,7 +123,6 @@ jobs:
   publish-microsoft-store:
     needs: build
     runs-on: windows-latest
-    environment: release
     if: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' && startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/v') }}
     steps:
       - name: Install StoreBroker

.github/workflows/netlify-release.yml

@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@ concurrency:
 jobs:
   build-and-deploy:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    environment: release
     steps:
       - name: Repository Checkout
         uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2

.github/workflows/publish-flathub.yml

@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ concurrency:
 jobs:
   publish-flathub:
     runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
-    environment: release
     steps:
       - name: Resolve version
         id: resolve_version

.github/workflows/publish-nightly-electron.yml

@@ -27,7 +27,6 @@ jobs:
           - windows-latest
           - macos-latest
     runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
-    environment: release
     if: github.event.repository.fork == false
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@de0fac2e4500dabe0009e67214ff5f5447ce83dd # v6.0.2

.github/workflows/publish-npm-packages.yml

@@ -87,7 +87,6 @@ jobs:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     name: Publish npm packages
     needs: build-and-pack
-    environment: release
     permissions:
       contents: read
       packages: write
@@ -106,7 +105,6 @@ jobs:
           node-version: 24
           check-latest: true
           registry-url: 'https://registry.npmjs.org'
-          cache: false
 
       - name: Publish Core
         run: |

packages/docs/docs/contributing/releasing.md

@@ -68,3 +68,46 @@ Finally, a draft GitHub release should be automatically created; confirm [on the
 - [ ] Un-draft the GitHub release which will send announcement notifications to all apps and create a PR to the [Actual Flathub Repository](https://github.com/flathub/com.actualbudget.actual/pulls).
 - [ ] Send an announcement on Discord and Twitter.
 - [ ] Approve and merge the [Flathub Release PR](https://github.com/flathub/com.actualbudget.actual/pulls) to master. After merge, it can take anywhere from hours to a few days before the app will be available in the Flathub Store.
+
+## Cutting a patch release
+
+Patch releases (e.g. `v26.5.1`) ship a small, targeted set of fixes on top of an existing release. Unlike monthly releases, the release branch is built by cherry-picking specific commits from `master` onto the previous release tag, so unrelated in-progress work on `master` is not pulled in.
+
+### Build the release branch
+
+- [ ] Identify the commits on `master` that should be included in the patch release and note their commit hashes.
+- [ ] Check out the previous release tag and create a new release branch from it:
+  ```bash
+  git checkout v26.5.0
+  git checkout -b release/v26.5.1
+  ```
+- [ ] Cherry-pick each commit onto the new branch, in the same order they were merged to `master`:
+  ```bash
+  git cherry-pick <commit-sha>
+  ```
+- [ ] Push the release branch. This is the branch that will be tagged later — **do not tag it yet**:
+  ```bash
+  git push -u {remote} release/v26.5.1
+  ```
+
+### Open the release PR against master
+
+The release branch is what gets tagged, but the version bump, release notes cleanup, and blog post still need to land on `master` so future releases pick them up.
+
+- [ ] Check out `master` and create a new branch from it (e.g. `release-notes/v26.5.1`).
+- [ ] In this branch:
+  - Bump the version in the relevant `package.json` files.
+  - Delete the `upcoming-release-notes/*.md` files that correspond to the cherry-picked commits.
+  - Add a new blog post under `packages/docs/blog/` (see [`2026-02-22-release-26-2-1.md`](https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/blob/master/packages/docs/blog/2026-02-22-release-26-2-1.md) for an example).
+- [ ] Commit the changes and open a PR against `master`. Include a link to the previously pushed release branch (e.g. `release/v26.5.1`) in the PR description so reviewers can see exactly what is shipping.
+
+### Tag the release
+
+- [ ] Once the PR has been approved and merged, tag the **release branch** (not `master`) and push the tag:
+  ```bash
+  git checkout release/v26.5.1
+  git tag v26.5.1
+  git push {remote} v26.5.1
+  ```
+
+From here the rest of the release pipeline (NPM, Docker, Desktop, GitHub draft release) runs automatically. Follow the [Verify the release](#verify-the-release) and [Finalize the release](#finalize-the-release) steps above to complete the rollout.

upcoming-release-notes/7740.md

@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
----
-category: Maintenance
-authors: [MikesGlitch]
----
-
-Improve Github workflows with suggestions from the code scan.