Release Candidate Smoke-Test Checklist
A maintainer runs this manual checklist against a packaged VSIX before tagging or publishing a release candidate. It complements — it does not replace — the automated CI gates (branch protection) and the release runbook.
Record the run by copying the tables below into the release PR or a release issue and filling in Actual / Pass-Fail / Notes for each step. Run on each target OS where practical (Windows, macOS, Linux) and note OS-specific differences.
Environment
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Candidate version | |
| VSIX file / SHA-256 | |
| VS Code version | |
| OS | |
| KiCad CLI version (if installed) | |
| MCP server version (if connected) | |
| Date / tester |
Install and activation
| Step | Expected result | Actual | Pass/Fail | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fresh install of the VSIX into a clean VS Code | Extension installs; activity-bar icon appears | |||
| Upgrade install over the previous version | Settings/secrets preserved; no duplicate views | |||
| Activation time on a sample project | Activates without error; under the perf budget | |||
| Getting-started walkthrough on first install | Walkthrough opens once |
Project discovery and scoping
| Step | Expected result | Actual | Pass/Fail | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open a single-project workspace | Project tree shows the project | |||
| Open a multi-project / multi-root workspace | All projects discovered; active project shown in status bar | |||
| Switch active project (status bar / palette) | Tree, variants, diagnostics, and context update | |||
| Open a workspace with no KiCad project | No errors; project views stay empty |
Diagnostics, viewer, and export
| Step | Expected result | Actual | Pass/Fail | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| View a schematic and a PCB in the built-in viewer | Both render and fit to screen | |||
| Run DRC and ERC (KiCad CLI installed) | Findings appear in Problems panel | |||
| Export Gerbers / BOM / PDF | Files produced in the output folder | |||
| Prepare Manufacturing Release — dry run | Preview shown; nothing written | |||
| Prepare Manufacturing Release — create | release-manifest.json + RELEASE-SUMMARY.md produced | |||
| BoardReadyOps / readiness scorecard | Scorecard reports per-dimension status | |||
| Generate KiCad Diff Report on a committed file | Structural diff report opens |
Trust and failure paths
| Step | Expected result | Actual | Pass/Fail | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restricted (untrusted) workspace | Write/export/MCP actions are disabled with a clear reason | |||
| Grant workspace trust | Gated features become available | |||
| KiCad CLI not installed / wrong path | Capability-gated commands warn; no crash | |||
| MCP endpoint unavailable | MCP views show disconnected; no blocking errors | |||
Malicious output path (.., absolute, symlink) | Guarded operation rejects it with a safe message |
Marketplace and Open VSX
| Step | Expected result | Actual | Pass/Fail | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VSIX identity / metadata | oaslananka.kicadstudiokit with the candidate version | |||
| Marketplace listing (after publish) | Version, icon, and README render correctly | |||
| Open VSX listing (after publish) | Same VSIX payload published | |||
| Marketplace/Open VSX indexing delay | Treated as advisory, not a publish failure |
Sign-off
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Overall result (pass / pass-with-notes / fail) | |
| Blocking issues | |
| Maintainer sign-off |