[release/beta] Publish updater manifests before beta release discovery

[Cooper-X-Oak]

This was generated by AI during triage.

Parent

#492

Triage

• Category: bug
• State: ready-for-agent
• Requested repository labels: bug, windows, priority: high

What to build

Harden the beta release workflow so updater manifests are not discoverable as a release until the platform-specific beta manifest assets have been uploaded.

PR #490 adds client-side defense for the publishing window, but the release process should still avoid exposing a beta tag or release feed entry before updater assets are ready.

Evidence

The Windows handoff log showed beta update checks failing against:

https://github.com/appergb/openless/releases/download/v1.3.4-4-beta-tauri/latest-windows-x86_64-beta.json

Later verification showed that the manifest asset existed with Last-Modified: 2026-05-18T08:09:44Z, after earlier user-visible updater failures. This indicates a release publishing race: the beta release became discoverable before the Windows updater manifest was available.

Acceptance criteria

• The beta release workflow does not make a beta release/tag discoverable to updater clients before all required updater manifests are uploaded.
• The Windows beta manifest asset is present before the release feed can select the beta tag.
• A failed platform packaging/upload job does not leave a half-published beta release that clients treat as latest.
• The workflow documents which manifests are required for beta readiness.
• The client-side readiness probe from Fix Windows hotkey conflicts, startup cancellation, and beta updater race #490 remains a defensive fallback, not the normal success path.

Blocked by

None - can start immediately, but requires release workflow review.

Related

• [windows/handoff] Fix log-confirmed hotkey retry, startup cancel, and beta updater race #492: client-side Windows handoff fix.
• Fix Windows hotkey conflicts, startup cancellation, and beta updater race #490: client-side beta updater manifest readiness probe.