release-desktop.sh

The release script bumps the version, builds the binary + installer, tags git, and uploads everything to GitHub. One command, one new release that the auto-updater finds. Grit scaffolds this as scripts/release-desktop.sh.

The full pipeline

$scripts/release-desktop.sh 1.2.3

That runs:

1. Bump wails.json's productVersion + outputfilename
2. Bump version.go's AppVersion constant
3. Regenerate branded NSIS bitmaps from icon.ico
4. Download + cache the offline WebView2 runtime (first time only)
5. wails build -nsis -platform windows/amd64 -trimpath -ldflags '-s -w'
6. Run makensis on the slim variant
7. Tag v1.2.3 + git push
8. gh release create with three assets (raw .exe, full installer, slim installer)

Prerequisites

• bash, jq, python3 on PATH (Git Bash on Windows gives you all)
• wails CLI
• makensis — Windows NSIS install
• gh — GitHub CLI, signed in (gh auth login)
• powershell.exe on PATH (needed for the bitmap generation step)

Versioning

Semantic versioning:

v1.0.0    Initial release
v1.0.1    Bug fix only
v1.1.0    New feature, backward-compatible
v2.0.0    Breaking change

For internal-only POS apps, you can be looser — many shops just use date-based versions like 2026.06.12. The important rule is that versions sort lexically + the auto-updater recognises a higher value as newer.

Three assets per release

• Raw .exe (FieldPOS-v1.2.3.exe) — what the auto-updater downloads and swaps. ~15 MB.
• Full installer (FieldPOS-Setup-v1.2.3.exe) — ~150 MB with bundled WebView2 runtime. Customer-facing.
• Slim installer (FieldPOS-Setup-Slim-v1.2.3.exe) — ~22 MB, downloads WebView2 online. Easier email attachment.

GitHub Actions alternative

For teams, automate via GitHub Actions instead of running the script locally:

on:
  push:
    tags: ['v*']

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: windows-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
      - uses: pnpm/action-setup@v2
      - run: go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/cmd/wails@latest
      - run: choco install nsis -y
      - run: scripts/release-desktop.sh ${{ github.ref_name }}
        env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Push a tag locally, GitHub Actions runs the same script in CI, the release appears on the Releases page, every running v1 binary sees the new release on its next 6-hour check.

Code signing — optional but worth it

An unsigned .exe shows the Windows SmartScreen warning the first time a customer runs it. A code-signing cert (~$200/year) skips this. Add a signing step to the script:

signtool sign /f cert.pfx /p "$CERT_PWD" /tr http://timestamp.digicert.com /td sha256 /fd sha256 \
  "build/bin/FieldPOS-v$VERSION.exe"

What's next

Final chapter — Branded installers. NSIS deep dive: full vs slim variants, branded MUI bitmaps from your icon.