Publishing Rowboat Apps — advanced path

Most authors should use the in-app guided publish (Apps → app detail → Publish): it creates the repo, pushes source, cuts the release, and registers the app automatically. This doc is for developers who manage their own repo, build pipeline, or monorepo and want to publish releases themselves.

The bundle format (`.rowboat-app`)

A .rowboat-app file is a ZIP named <name>.rowboat-app containing, at the archive root (relative, forward-slash paths):

rowboat-app.json        # the manifest (required)
dist/**                 # browser-ready static files (required; dist/<entry> must exist)
agents/<file>.yaml      # only files listed in manifest.agents
defaults/**             # optional starter data, copied to data/ on first install

Rules:

Never include src/, package.json, node_modules/, data/, dotfiles, or .rowboat-*.json. Installers enforce size limits (100 MB compressed, 500 MB uncompressed, 10,000 entries) and reject symlink entries and unsafe paths.
manifest.name must match the bundle filename stem and, once registered, never changes. version is strict semver (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH).
Agent definitions may contain ONLY name, instructions, triggers — runtime state, active, and model overrides are rejected.

The two-asset requirement

Every release on a registered repo MUST attach both assets:

<name>.rowboat-app — the bundle
rowboat-app.json — a standalone copy of the manifest

The standalone manifest powers Rowboat's quota-free update check (it is fetched via releases/latest/download/rowboat-app.json).

Tag convention

Tag releases v<version> (e.g. v1.2.0), matching manifest.version.

Registry record

The registry (rowboatlabs/apps-registry) holds one record per app at apps/<name>.json:

{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "name": "my-app",
  "owner": "your-github-login",
  "repo": "your-github-login/my-app",
  "description": "What the app does",
  "iconUrl": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/you/my-app/HEAD/dist/icon.png",
  "createdAt": "2026-07-06T00:00:00Z"
}

Register either via the in-app form (Apps → Catalog → Register existing release) or by opening the one-file PR yourself. A validation Action checks: the PR adds exactly that one file; the name is valid, unique, and not retired; owner equals the PR author; the author has push access to repo; and releases/latest/download/<name>.rowboat-app exists. It auto-merges on success or closes the PR with a rejected: <code> comment.

The latest-release constraint (monorepos)

Version discovery always reads the repo's latest release. A monorepo registering multiple apps therefore works only if every release attaches every registered app's asset pair — otherwise resolution for the other apps breaks whenever any one app releases. One repo per app avoids this entirely and is what the guided path does.

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