Nightly Workflow

Quick Reference

Item	Value
Workflow file	`.github/workflows/nightly.yml`
Workflow name (Actions UI)	Nightly Release
Triggers	`schedule` (`0 0 * * *` UTC), `workflow_dispatch`
Runner	`windows-2025-vs2026`
Environment	`production` (approval before publish, when configured)
Checkout branch	`alpha` (`fetch-depth: 0`)
Build orchestration	`Scripts/Build/nightly.proj` (`Configuration=Nightly`)
Concurrency	`nightly-alpha`, `cancel-in-progress: true`
Permissions	`contents: read`

Overview

The Nightly Release workflow builds and publishes bleeding-edge NuGet packages from the alpha branch on a daily schedule. It skips work when there are no recent commits (24-hour window, with an optional extended retention window), and supports a repository kill switch.

Related: The release.yml job release-alpha shares the NIGHTLY_DISABLED kill switch name for alpha-channel publishing — see Kill switches.

Purpose

Automated nightly packages (*.Nightly on nuget.org) without manual runs
Skip CI and NuGet pushes when alpha is quiet (24h + optional retention days)
Prerelease WebView2 binaries for Krypton.Toolkit.Utilities (cached per version)
Discord notification when at least one new package is pushed
Repository and branch guards before checkout

Trigger Conditions

Scheduled

Cron: 0 0 * * * (midnight UTC daily)
Uses the workflow definition on the branch where the schedule is registered (typically after merge to master or the default branch that hosts the file).

Manual (`workflow_dispatch`)

Input	Type	Purpose
`retention_check_days`	number (optional)	When there are no commits in the last 24h, look back this many days on `alpha` for activity. Overrides `NIGHTLY_RELEASE_RETENTION_CHECK_DAYS` when set.

Use manual runs to force a build or to test retention behaviour after re-enabling the workflow.

Workflow Structure

Job: `nightly`

Runner: windows-2025-vs2026

Environment: production

Concurrency: group nightly-alpha, cancel in-progress runs.

Step sequence (summary)

Phase	Steps	Gated by `has_changes`
Control	Kill switch, repository check, branch check	No
Source	Checkout `alpha`, change detection, skip notice	Detection only
Toolchain	.NET 9/10, .NET 11 (stable → preview fallback), optional preview SDK, `global.json`	Yes
Build	MSBuild, NuGet, cache, WebView2 resolve/restore/populate/save	Yes
Publish	Restore, Build, Pack, Push NuGet, Get version, Discord	Yes

All build/publish steps use:

if: steps.nightly_release_kill_switch.outputs.enabled == 'true' && steps.check_changes.outputs.has_changes == 'true'

Detailed Behaviour

Kill switch

Variable	Value	Effect
`NIGHTLY_DISABLED`	`true`	Workflow disables after kill-switch step; no checkout/build
`NIGHTLY_DISABLED`	unset / `false`	Normal operation

Location: Repository Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions → Variables.

Security verification

Repository — must be Krypton-Suite/Standard-Toolkit.

Branch ref (GITHUB_REF) — must be one of:

refs/heads/alpha
refs/heads/master
refs/heads/main

The job always checks out ref: alpha for build content regardless of which allowed ref triggered the run (for example manual dispatch from master).

Change detection and retention window

Step: Check for changes on alpha
Outputs: has_changes (true/false), change_window (24h, retention_<N>d, or none).

24-hour window — count commits on alpha since 24 hours ago (UTC). If count > 0 → proceed (change_window=24h).
Retention window — if 24h count is 0:
- Resolve retention days:
  - workflow_dispatch input retention_check_days (if numeric), else
  - repository variable NIGHTLY_RELEASE_RETENTION_CHECK_DAYS, else
  - 0 (no extended window).
- Cap retention at 90 days (warning if higher).
- If retention ≤ 0 → skip build (change_window=none).
- Else count commits on alpha in the last N days; if > 0 → proceed (change_window=retention_<N>d).
Skip — if still no commits, has_changes=false and Skip notification logs a notice; no build/publish.

Use case for retention: After NIGHTLY_DISABLED=true for several days, set NIGHTLY_RELEASE_RETENTION_CHECK_DAYS=7 (or pass retention_check_days on a manual run) so the next scheduled run can still publish if alpha had commits during that week.

.NET SDK setup

Step	When	Detail
Setup .NET (9 and 10)	Kill switch on	`9.0.x`, `10.0.x`
Setup .NET 11 (stable)	Kill switch on	`DOTNET_PREVIEW_SETUP_VERSION` or `11.0.x`; `continue-on-error: true`
Setup .NET 11 (preview fallback)	Stable step failed	Same version with `dotnet-quality: preview`
Setup .NET Preview	`USE_DOTNET_PREVIEW != 'false'`	`DOTNET_PREVIEW_SETUP_VERSION`, preview quality

Pin SDK via `global.json`

Runs only when has_changes == true. Uses USE_DOTNET_PREVIEW and DOTNET_PREVIEW_SDK_BAND:

USE_DOTNET_PREVIEW=false: Prefer latest installed 11.0, then 10.0, then 9.0.
Preview enabled: Require DOTNET_PREVIEW_SDK_BAND; pin latest SDK matching that band, fallback to 11.0 then 10.0.

Writes rollForward: latestFeature.

WebView2 (prerelease)

Nightly builds use the latest prerelease WebView2 package for Krypton.Toolkit.Utilities:

Resolve WebView2 version — NuGet search API (prerelease=true); fallback 1.0.3595.46.
Restore WebView2 cache — actions/cache/restore under ${{ runner.temp }}/webview2, key webview2-<os>-<version>.
Populate WebView2 (Preview) — Download/extract nupkg if needed; copy Microsoft.Web.WebView2.Core.dll, Microsoft.Web.WebView2.WinForms.dll, WebView2Loader.dll into Source/Krypton Components/Krypton.Toolkit.Utilities/Lib/WebView2.
Save WebView2 cache — actions/cache/save on success.

Build and pack

Project: Scripts/Build/nightly.proj
Properties: Configuration=Nightly, Platform=Any CPU, UseArtifactsOutput=true
Parallelism: msbuild /m

Step	MSBuild target
Restore	`/t:Restore`
Build Nightly	`/t:Build` with `/restore`
Pack Nightly	`/t:Pack` with `/restore`

NuGet publishing

Secret: NUGET_API_KEY (optional — missing key skips push with warning, packages_published=false).

Package search paths (both):

artifacts/packages/Nightly/*.nupkg
Bin/Packages/Nightly/*.nupkg

Guard: Dot-sources Scripts/CI/StandardToolkitNupkgGuard.ps1 — Test-StandardToolkitNupkgPushAllowed per package. If any package fails the size gate, the step exits 1.

Variable: STANDARD_TOOLKIT_MIN_NUPKG_MB (passed to guard script).

Push: dotnet nuget push to https://api.nuget.org/v3/index.json with --skip-duplicate.

Output: packages_published — true only if at least one package was newly pushed (not duplicate).

Version extraction

Step: Get Version
Project (MSBuild fallback): Source/Krypton Components/Krypton.Toolkit/Krypton.Toolkit 2022.csproj
Configuration: Nightly

Primary: Krypton.Toolkit.dll assembly version from (first hit):
- artifacts/bin/Nightly/net48/Krypton.Toolkit.dll
- Bin/Nightly/net48/Krypton.Toolkit.dll
- Recursive search under artifacts/bin, Bin/Nightly, Bin
Fallback: dotnet msbuild -getProperty:Version on the csproj above.
Hard fallback: 100.25.1.1

Accepted version format: ^[1-9]\d{2,}\.\d+\.\d+\.\d+$

Outputs: version, tag (e.g. v100.25.1.1-nightly)

Discord notification

When: packages_published == 'True' and kill switch enabled.

Secret: DISCORD_WEBHOOK_NIGHTLY (optional — warning and skip if unset).

Content highlights:

Nightly package links (Toolkit, Ribbon, Navigator, Workspace, Docking, Standard.Toolkit)
Target frameworks including .NET 11.0
Changelog: alpha branch path Documents/Changelog/Changelog.md

Configuration

Secrets

Secret	Required	Purpose
`NUGET_API_KEY`	For publish	nuget.org push
`DISCORD_WEBHOOK_NIGHTLY`	No	Release announcement

Variables

Variable	Purpose
`NIGHTLY_DISABLED`	Kill switch (`true` disables)
`NIGHTLY_RELEASE_RETENTION_CHECK_DAYS`	Extended lookback when 24h has no commits (max 90)
`USE_DOTNET_PREVIEW`	`false` skips preview SDK step; affects `global.json` pinning
`DOTNET_PREVIEW_SETUP_VERSION`	.NET 11 install version (e.g. `11.0.x`)
`DOTNET_PREVIEW_SDK_BAND`	Required when preview enabled; band for `global.json`
`STANDARD_TOOLKIT_MIN_NUPKG_MB`	Minimum package size gate for push

Environment

production — use GitHub environment protection so NuGet push requires approval when configured.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause	Action
Workflow skipped immediately	`NIGHTLY_DISABLED=true`	Clear or set variable to `false`
“No commits in 24h” notice	No `alpha` commits in 24h and retention 0	Commit to `alpha`, set retention days, or manual dispatch
Build steps skipped	`has_changes=false`	Same as above; check `change_window` in logs
NuGet push skipped	Missing `NUGET_API_KEY`	Add secret
Job failed on push	Nupkg size guard	Check `STANDARD_TOOLKIT_MIN_NUPKG_MB` and package sizes
Duplicate packages only	Versions already on nuget.org	Expected; `packages_published=false`, no Discord
WebView2 warnings	Cache corrupt / download fail	Re-run; check logs under Populate WebView2
Wrong repository/branch error	Security steps	Run only on allowed repo/ref
Version fallback `100.25.1.1`	DLL/MSBuild version not found	Inspect build outputs under `artifacts/bin` / `Bin`

Workflow flow

Trigger (schedule 00:00 UTC or workflow_dispatch)
    │
    ├─> Kill switch (NIGHTLY_DISABLED)
    │       └─> disabled → stop
    │
    ├─> Verify repository + GITHUB_REF
    │
    ├─> Checkout alpha (full history)
    │
    ├─> Change detection
    │       ├─> commits in 24h → has_changes=true
    │       ├─> else retention window (var/input, max 90d)
    │       └─> else → skip notice, stop (no build)
    │
    ├─> Setup .NET 9/10, 11 (stable/preview), optional preview SDK
    ├─> Pin global.json (if has_changes)
    ├─> MSBuild + NuGet + package cache
    ├─> WebView2 resolve → cache restore → populate → cache save
    ├─> msbuild nightly.proj: Restore → Build → Pack
    ├─> Push NuGet (guard + skip-duplicate) → packages_published
    ├─> Get version from assembly / MSBuild
    └─> Discord (if packages_published)

Maintenance

Change schedule

Edit on.schedule cron in .github/workflows/nightly.yml (must be on the branch GitHub uses for scheduled workflows).

Change retention default

Set repository variable NIGHTLY_RELEASE_RETENTION_CHECK_DAYS (integer, ≤ 90), or document manual retention_check_days for one-off runs.

Align documentation

When changing nightly.yml, update this file and GitHub Workflow Index quick-reference row if triggers or kill switches change.

Build workflow — PR CI (different trigger; shares SDK/WebView2 patterns on alpha)
Release workflow — release-alpha and shared NIGHTLY_DISABLED
Kill switches
Build scripts — nightly.proj

Code reference

File: .github/workflows/nightly.yml