Requested by Samuel Attard · Slack thread

• I have read the contribution documentation for this project.
• I agree to follow the code of conduct that this project follows, as appropriate.
• The changes are appropriately documented (if applicable).
• The changes have sufficient test coverage (if applicable).
• The testsuite passes successfully on my local machine (if applicable).

Summarize your changes:

Renames the Electron Forge publish command to release, keeping publish as a hidden, deprecated alias. Targets the next (8.0.0) major line.

Closes #2820

Before / After

• Before: electron-forge publish
• After: electron-forge release. electron-forge publish still works but is hidden from --help and prints a deprecation warning to stderr before running the same behavior:

  ⚠ electron-forge publishis deprecated and will be removed in a future major version; useelectron-forge release instead.

How

• CLI command (packages/api/cli/src/electron-forge.ts): registers release as the primary command and adds publish as a { hidden: true } alias so it no longer appears in --help.
• Per-command entry file: electron-forge-publish.ts → electron-forge-release.ts (via git mv). The release logic is now exported as a reusable runRelease() function, mirroring how electron-forge-make.ts exposes getMakeOptions(). A new thin electron-forge-publish.ts shim prints the deprecation warning and delegates to runRelease(), matching the existing commander executable-subcommand dispatch (commander runs the sibling electron-forge-<command>.js).
• Core API (packages/api/core/src/api/): publish.ts → release.ts (via git mv); the default export is now release(), the options interface is ReleaseOptions, and the trace/debug names are release()/electron-forge:release. ForgeAPI.release() is the primary method; ForgeAPI.publish() and the PublishOptions type are kept as @deprecated aliases that forward to release, so existing programmatic consumers keep working.
• Templates: the base template's package.json publish script is now "release": "electron-forge release"; updated the vite/webpack template verdaccio specs accordingly.
• Tests: core publish.spec.ts → release.spec.ts (imports the renamed API); added CLI help assertions that release is listed and the publish alias is hidden.

Scope / tradeoffs

• The publisher plugin surface (PublisherBase.publish, publisher packages, the Publisher concept, forge config publishers, and internal identifiers like publishTargets/PublishState/publish-dry-run) is intentionally left unchanged — that is a separate, larger surface and out of scope here.
• The programmatic API rename turned out to be low-risk (the only in-repo consumer of PublishOptions/api.publish was the CLI bin), so the full API rename was done with publish/PublishOptions retained as deprecated aliases rather than the minimal alias-only fallback.