fix: bump CLI version to 0.9.7-preview and relax E2E skill version check

[obit91]

Summary

Fixes two policy gate CI failures caused by an incorrect version stamp in packages/squad-cli/package.json, and aligns all copies of the e2e-template-testing skill and the CI policy gate itself with CONTRIBUTING.md guidance.

Closes #1152
Closes #1153

Changes

packages/squad-cli/package.json

The insider publish workflow stamped the CLI at 0.9.6-build.4, which contains a - but not the -preview suffix required by the policy gate. Bumped to 0.9.7-preview per CONTRIBUTING.md.

.github/workflows/squad-ci.yml — Prerelease Version Guard

The guard used /-/.test(version) which rejects any hyphenated version, including the CONTRIBUTING.md-sanctioned x.y.z-preview format. Updated to:

• Allow x.y.z-preview (the canonical dev version per CONTRIBUTING.md)
• Block all other prerelease tags: -build.N, -alpha, -beta, etc.

Before:

if (pkg.version && /-/.test(pkg.version))

After:

// Allow x.y.z-preview (CONTRIBUTING.md canonical dev suffix); block all other prerelease tags
if (pkg.version && /-/.test(pkg.version) && !/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+-preview$/.test(pkg.version))

All 4 copies of e2e-template-testing/SKILL.md

Affected locations:

• .squad-templates/skills/e2e-template-testing/SKILL.md
• templates/skills/e2e-template-testing/SKILL.md
• packages/squad-sdk/templates/skills/e2e-template-testing/SKILL.md
• packages/squad-cli/templates/skills/e2e-template-testing/SKILL.md

Build commands — aligned with CONTRIBUTING.md lines 253-256:

Before:

npm run build
cd packages/squad-cli && npm link

After:

npm run build -w packages/squad-sdk && npm run build -w packages/squad-cli
npm link -w packages/squad-cli

Version verify text — changed from hardcoded 0.9.7-preview to version-agnostic x.y.z-preview placeholder with explicit note that the -preview suffix is required, linking to CONTRIBUTING.md.

Validation

E2E skill steps verified end-to-end on this branch:

• Build ✅, link ✅, squad version → 0.9.7-preview ✅
• squad init in a fresh repo stamps <!-- version: 0.9.7-preview --> ✅

See validation comment for full details.

[obit91]

@bradygaster @tamirdresher — update on the CI policy gate failure.

The skip-version-check label is no longer needed. The policy gate has been fixed in this PR itself.

Root cause: The gate used /-/.test(version) which rejects any hyphenated version — including x.y.z-preview, which CONTRIBUTING.md explicitly mandates as the canonical dev version format.

Fix (in this PR): Updated the guard to allow x.y.z-preview specifically while still blocking unsanctioned suffixes like -build.4, -alpha, -beta:

// Before
if (pkg.version && /-/.test(pkg.version))

// After — allows CONTRIBUTING.md-sanctioned -preview, blocks everything else
if (pkg.version && /-/.test(pkg.version) && !/^\d+\.\d+\.\d+-preview$/.test(pkg.version))

The latest CI run on this branch should pass the version gate cleanly. The E2E skill steps were also validated end-to-end (see validation comment).

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Note

Copilot was unable to run its full agentic suite in this review.

Updates the E2E template-testing skill documentation to clarify the squad version verification step and bumps the Squad CLI package version to a new preview release.

Changes:

• Updated SKILL.md instructions to describe expected squad version output (with an example).
• Bumped @bradygaster/squad-cli version to 0.9.7-preview.
• Applied the same doc change across all mirrored template locations.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 5 out of 5 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
templates/skills/e2e-template-testing/SKILL.md	Clarifies the squad version verification guidance in the base template.
packages/squad-sdk/templates/skills/e2e-template-testing/SKILL.md	Mirrors the same verification wording in the SDK template copy.
packages/squad-cli/templates/skills/e2e-template-testing/SKILL.md	Mirrors the same verification wording in the CLI template copy.
.squad-templates/skills/e2e-template-testing/SKILL.md	Mirrors the same verification wording in the internal template copy.
packages/squad-cli/package.json	Bumps the CLI version to 0.9.7-preview.

[obit91]

E2E Skill Validation

Manually verified the updated SKILL.md build steps work end-to-end on this branch:

Step 1 — Build

npm run build -w packages/squad-sdk && npm run build -w packages/squad-cli

Both compiled cleanly (exit 0).

Step 2 — Link

npm link -w packages/squad-cli

Linked successfully.

Step 3 — Version check

squad version

Output: 0.9.7-preview ✅ -preview suffix confirmed.

Step 4 — squad init version stamp

Ran squad init in a fresh isolated repo. The generated .github/agents/squad.agent.md was stamped with:

<!-- version: 0.9.7-preview -->

Version flows correctly from package.json → build → link → init stamp. ✅

No regressions introduced by the SKILL.md build/link command changes.