ci: stage nightly wheels without publishing

.github/workflows/release.yaml

@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ env:
   RELEASE_HELM_ID: nemo-platform
   RELEASE_HELM_PATH: k8s/helm
   RELEASE_HELM_REGISTRY: nvcr.io/0921617854601259/nemo-platform
+  RELEASE_PUBLISH_NIGHTLY_WHEELS: "false"
   RELEASE_NIGHTLY_WHEEL_INDEX: https://pypi.nvidia.com
   RELEASE_STABLE_WHEEL_INDEX: https://pypi.org/simple
   # Nightly GHCR readiness checks authenticate with the repository GITHUB_TOKEN.
@@ -548,6 +549,7 @@ jobs:
           WHEEL_IDS: ${{ needs.plan-release.outputs.wheel_ids }}
           CONTAINER_IDS: ${{ needs.plan-release.outputs.container_ids }}
           INCLUDE_HELM: ${{ needs.plan-release.outputs.include_helm }}
+          PUBLISH_NIGHTLY_WHEELS: ${{ env.RELEASE_PUBLISH_NIGHTLY_WHEELS }}
           DRY_RUN: ${{ needs.plan-release.outputs.dry_run }}
           COMMIT_URL: ${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}/commit/${{ needs.plan-release.outputs.source_sha }}
           RUN_URL: ${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }}
@@ -568,7 +570,11 @@ jobs:
               "*Artifacts:*",
             ];
             if (wheels.length > 0) {
-              lines.push("*:python: Wheels to publish:*");
+              const wheelAction = releaseType === "nightly"
+                && process.env.PUBLISH_NIGHTLY_WHEELS !== "true"
+                ? "stage"
+                : "publish";
+              lines.push(`*:python: Wheels to ${wheelAction}:*`);
               wheels.forEach((wheel) => lines.push(`- ${wheel}`));
             }
             if (containers.length > 0) {
@@ -659,6 +665,7 @@ jobs:
           NIGHTLY_TIMESTAMP: ${{ needs.plan-release.outputs.nightly_timestamp }}
           WHEEL_VERSION: ${{ needs.plan-release.outputs.wheel_version }}
           WHEEL_IDS: ${{ needs.plan-release.outputs.wheel_ids }}
+          PUBLISH_NIGHTLY_WHEELS: ${{ env.RELEASE_PUBLISH_NIGHTLY_WHEELS }}
         with:
           github-token: ${{ secrets.CI_DISPATCH_TOKEN }}
           script: |
@@ -675,6 +682,7 @@ jobs:
                 nightly_timestamp: process.env.NIGHTLY_TIMESTAMP,
                 wheel_version: process.env.WHEEL_VERSION,
                 wheels: JSON.parse(process.env.WHEEL_IDS),
+                publish_nightly_wheels: process.env.PUBLISH_NIGHTLY_WHEELS === "true",
               },
             });
 
@@ -903,7 +911,9 @@ jobs:
       - name: Wait for selected wheels in PyPI
         if: >-
           needs.plan-release.outputs.has_wheels == 'true' &&
-          needs.plan-release.outputs.dry_run != 'true'
+          needs.plan-release.outputs.dry_run != 'true' &&
+          (needs.plan-release.outputs.release_type != 'nightly' ||
+          env.RELEASE_PUBLISH_NIGHTLY_WHEELS == 'true')
         shell: bash
         env:
           WHEEL_IDS: ${{ needs.plan-release.outputs.wheel_ids }}
@@ -1162,6 +1172,7 @@ jobs:
           CHART_VERSION: ${{ needs.stage-helm.outputs.chart_version }}
           NIGHTLY_WHEEL_INDEX: ${{ env.RELEASE_NIGHTLY_WHEEL_INDEX }}
           STABLE_WHEEL_INDEX: ${{ env.RELEASE_STABLE_WHEEL_INDEX }}
+          PUBLISH_NIGHTLY_WHEELS: ${{ env.RELEASE_PUBLISH_NIGHTLY_WHEELS }}
           NGC_CATALOG_BASE: ${{ env.RELEASE_NGC_CATALOG_BASE }}
           POLL_RESULT: ${{ needs.poll-final-release.result }}
           GITHUB_RELEASE_RESULT: ${{ needs.create-github-release.result }}
@@ -1171,6 +1182,15 @@ jobs:
         with:
           script: |
             const releaseType = process.env.RELEASE_TYPE;
+            const wheelIds = JSON.parse(process.env.WHEEL_IDS);
+            const wheelCatalog = JSON.parse(process.env.WHEEL_CATALOG);
+            const containerIds = JSON.parse(process.env.CONTAINER_IDS);
+            const stagesNightlyWheels = releaseType === "nightly"
+              && process.env.PUBLISH_NIGHTLY_WHEELS !== "true"
+              && wheelIds.length > 0;
+            const hasPublishedArtifacts = (wheelIds.length > 0 && !stagesNightlyWheels)
+              || containerIds.length > 0
+              || process.env.INCLUDE_HELM === "true";
             const results = [
               process.env.POLL_RESULT,
               process.env.GITHUB_RELEASE_RESULT,
@@ -1184,7 +1204,7 @@ jobs:
             const title = published
               ? (releaseType === "stable"
                 ? "*:ship: Release publish complete*"
-                : "*:crescent_moon: Nightly release publish complete*")
+                : "*:crescent_moon: Nightly release complete*")
               : (releaseType === "stable"
                 ? "*:alert: Release publish failed*"
                 : "*:alert: Nightly release publish failed*");
@@ -1195,11 +1215,10 @@ jobs:
             ];
 
             if (published) {
-              const wheelIds = JSON.parse(process.env.WHEEL_IDS);
-              const wheelCatalog = JSON.parse(process.env.WHEEL_CATALOG);
-              const containerIds = JSON.parse(process.env.CONTAINER_IDS);
-              lines.push("", "*Artifacts published:*");
-              if (wheelIds.length > 0) {
+              if (hasPublishedArtifacts) {
+                lines.push("", "*Artifacts published:*");
+              }
+              if (wheelIds.length > 0 && !stagesNightlyWheels) {
                 lines.push("*:python: Wheels published:*");
                 for (const wheelId of wheelIds) {
                   const wheel = wheelCatalog.find((candidate) => candidate.id === wheelId);
@@ -1228,6 +1247,13 @@ jobs:
                 lines.push("*:helm: Helm chart published:*");
                 lines.push(`- ${chart}: ${process.env.CHART_VERSION}`);
               }
+              if (stagesNightlyWheels) {
+                lines.push("", "*:python: Wheel staging dispatched:*");
+                for (const wheelId of wheelIds) {
+                  const wheel = wheelCatalog.find((candidate) => candidate.id === wheelId);
+                  lines.push(`- ${wheel.package}: ${process.env.WHEEL_VERSION}`);
+                }
+              }
             } else {
               lines.push(
                 "",

RELEASING.md

@@ -91,9 +91,10 @@ America/Los_Angeles.
    `-nightly-<UTC timestamp>` appended, falling back to the `Chart.yaml`
    version if no such tag exists. A stable chart uses the stable release version
    unless `helm-version` is set for a stable Helm-only release.
-6. Waits for every selected final artifact to become public before continuing.
-   The polling job times out after four hours and sends a Slack alert after two
-   hours if it is still waiting.
+6. Waits for every selected final artifact that is published publicly to become
+   available before continuing. Nightly wheels are staged but not published, so
+   they are not polled. The polling job times out after four hours and sends
+   a Slack alert after two hours if it is still waiting.
 7. For a non-dry-run stable release with `release-scope: all`, creates the
    GitHub release and tag at the selected SHA. GitHub generates the release
    notes from the previous numeric SemVer tag. Subset releases do not create a
@@ -107,7 +108,7 @@ America/Los_Angeles.
 
 | Artifact | Nightly | Stable |
 | --- | --- | --- |
-| Wheels | [`pypi.nvidia.com`](https://pypi.nvidia.com) | [PyPI](https://pypi.org) |
+| Wheels | Staged only | [PyPI](https://pypi.org) |
 | Containers | `ghcr.io/nvidia-nemo/nemo-platform/<id>:nightly-...` | `nvcr.io/nvidia/nemo-platform/<id>:<version>` and the public NGC catalog |
 | Helm chart | OCI chart at `oci://ghcr.io/nvidia-nemo/nemo-platform` | Initially staged at `0921617854601259/nemo-platform`, then promoted to the public [NGC Helm repository](https://helm.ngc.nvidia.com/nvidia/nemo-platform) |
 
@@ -148,7 +149,7 @@ release completes, check the selected artifacts at their destination above.
 For a full stable release, also verify that the GitHub tag and generated GitHub
 release point to the requested source SHA.
 
-For a wheel release, a quick client check is:
+For a stable wheel release, a quick client check is:
 
 ```bash
 uv tool upgrade nemo-platform