[gouyt13]

Summary

Release v0.7.1 put every PR under Other changes because the release configuration expected labels, but the PRs had none. Add a metadata-only workflow that maps conventional PR title prefixes to dedicated release:* labels and updates the category when the title changes, preserving ordinary manual labels.

Add Performance, Build and CI, and Maintenance release categories alongside the existing categories and manual labels. Document the title convention in the PR template and contributor/maintainer guides, and route workflow edits to the classifier regression checks.

The workflow uses pull_request_target without checking out or executing PR code. Unrecognized titles warn and retain the manual classification path. It does not backfill historical PRs or update published releases.

Testing

• Automation unittest suite: 40 passed, including 9 classifier tests executing the actual workflow JavaScript with mocked GitHub APIs. Coverage includes title formats, edits, repeated events, label preservation, label-creation races, and API failures.
• Project Python formatting/lint and Ruff checks for .github/scripts: passed.
• Strict MkDocs build, workflow/release YAML structure checks, local Markdown link targets, and git diff --check: passed.
• Separate independent review: PASS; all seven final files match the reviewed snapshot. Reviewer independently reran the 40 tests, Ruff checks, and diff check.
• actionlint v1.7.9 (Snap) passed for .github/workflows/pr-labels.yml. JavaScript tests used Node 12.22.9; the action uses its bundled Node 24 runtime.

The classifier starts handling PR events after merging into the default branch. Live fork events, token API calls, and generated release output still need post-merge verification.