62. Resolving per-repo dispatch version skew

Date: 2026-06-25

Status

Accepted

Context

ADR 48 decided that Fullsend offers two tags to track updates: version (vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH) and moving (latest). During its implementation a major problem was found: in per-repo mode reusable-dispatch.yml has hardcoded references to reusable-<stage>.yml at v0. This is what we call "version skew". The version skew does not happen on per-org mode, as organizations reference reusable-<stage>.yml directly.

This ADR presents a few options to solve this problem and recommends a solution.

Options

A. Re-introduce reusable-dispatch.yml to the user repository

Move reusable-dispatch.yml back into the enrolled repo so the uses: ref can be templated at install time by the CLI.

Rejected We extracted dispatch specifically to reduce update noise in user repos. Re-introducing it undoes that benefit.

B. Convert dispatch to a composite action

Replace the dispatch workflow with a composite action that handles routing and agent execution in a single job.

Rejected Composite actions cannot spawn separate jobs, so it is not possible.

C. Release branches with ref rewriting

Change the release process to create a release branch where @v0 references in reusable-dispatch.yml are rewritten to @vX.Y.Z before tagging.

1. Branch from main.
2. Rewrite all uses: ...@v0 to uses: ...@vX.Y.Z in reusable-dispatch.yml.
3. Update default values for fullsend_version, etc.
4. Commit, tag the branch with vX.Y.Z and latest.

Rejected Introduces significant repository-level complexity.

D. Merge stage workflows into dispatch

Inline all six stage workflows as conditional jobs directly inside reusable-dispatch.yml. The uses: lines to stage workflows disappear entirely.

This impacts per-org mode as its workflows reference directly reusable-<stage>.yml.

Accepted Removes the problem completely at the cost of a large file. This file can be eventually simplified to make it easier to handle.

Decision

The decision is to merge the stage workflows into the dispatch workflow to avoid the version skew it introduced in the first place.

However, as per-org mode is deprecated (see ADR 44), reusable-<stage>.yml will be kept to allow per-org mode to continue to work. When per-org mode is removed, then reusable-<stage>.yml files will be removed. During the deprecation period reusable-<stage>.yml files need to be in sync with the merged reusable-dispatch.yml.

Implementation

See merge-stage-workflows plan.

Consequences

• reusable-<stage>.yml stage logic is inlined into reusable-dispatch.yml; standalone files are retained until per-org mode is removed per ADR 44.
• reusable-dispatch.yml grows significantly in size.
• reusable-dispatch.yml and reusable-<stage>.yml must stay in sync during the deprecation period.