Release v4.4.0

[1-Bort-1]

Bart asked for a release, on PR #271 alone. Follow the release procedure in AGENTS.md §4 ("Releasing").

State as of 2026-09-07:

• Latest release is v4.3.1 (2026-09-01, gh release view).
• Only PR Give a wing's mesh and airfoil settings a home in the settings file #271 (mesh:/airfoil: settings blocks) has merged since that tag. The ## Unreleased changelog section describes exactly that and nothing else — check it again against v4.3.1...main yourself before trusting this.
• The additions are purely additive API, so the version is v4.4.0. Bart has asked for this release and named that number, so the Project.toml bump is prompted rather than on your own initiative.

PR #273 ("Take the panel normal from the quarter-chord step") is open and is deliberately NOT part of this release. Do not wait for it, and do not pick it up if it merges while you work — it goes out in the next release.

What is wanted:

1. Open a PR against main that sets version = "4.4.0" in Project.toml and turns the ## Unreleased changelog header into ## VortexStepMethod v4.4.0 <merge date>. Nothing else in that PR. Bart merges it; the release waits for it.
2. Confirm main is green and that the docs and README describe what is going out. Anything that needs changing is its own PR Bart merges, and the release waits for it — say so on the thread.
3. Then agent release, registering the merged head of main. If Take the panel normal from the quarter-chord step #273 has landed on main by then, register the bump commit with --sha instead so the release is the tree the changelog describes.
4. The notes go to Slack for a thumbs up before anything is registered.

[1-Bort-1]

Queued as VortexStepMethod.jl-277.

[1-Bort-1]

Question from VortexStepMethod.jl-277

Release is blocked on one decision: this is not #271 alone, and that changes the version class.

Two PRs merged since v4.3.1, not one. Checked against v4.3.1..main as the thread asked: #262 (Continuous wrapping method) merged 08:44 and #271 merged 13:16, both on 2026-09-07.

#262's changelog entry is misfiled. It sits at CHANGELOG.md:330-342 under ## VortexStepMethod v4.1.0 2026-08-17, not under ## Unreleased. Two consequences: bin/release takes notes from the top section only, so v4.4.0 notes would omit #262 entirely; and the v4.1.0 section currently claims a feature that merged three weeks after it shipped (pivot_contour and min_clearance exist in src/ on main, and nowhere at v4.1.0 or v4.3.1).

#262 renamed a public struct field. ShrinkWrap.cell_size -> min_clearance (src/airfoil_aero/shrink_wrap.jl:33-46). The cell_size= keyword still constructs, but sw.cell_size field access and the @with_kw copy constructor are gone. AGENTS.md §4 gate 5 prefixes BREAKING: for renamed API, which points at v5.0.0 rather than the v4.4.0 you named for an additive #271. That is the tension I cannot resolve for you.

Which version, and how should #262 be described?
A) v4.4.0 — the preserved cell_size= keyword means nothing anyone constructs stops working. I move the entry into ## Unreleased under ### Changed, no BREAKING prefix, and make sure it names the field rename so it is in the notes.
B) v5.0.0 — I move the entry and prefix it BREAKING:, per a literal reading of gate 5.

My recommendation: A. No in-repo caller reads .cell_size, and the keyword still works, so the rename belongs in the notes rather than in the major number. Flagging plainly that A departs from a literal reading of your own gate 5, since a struct field is API under CLEAN_CODE §3.

Either way the Project.toml bump and the ## Unreleased -> ## VortexStepMethod v<version> <merge date> rename stay yours (§9, §4-Releasing-2), and the changelog move is its own PR you merge. The release waits for both.

On the record before anything is registered:

• main is green — CI run 34126474537 at 0a8f046, 7/7 jobs including Documentation.
• Docs describe what is going out — every newly exported symbol (MeshSettings, AirfoilSettings, airfoil_solver, alpha_range, delta_range, reynolds, rotation_matrix, slice_args, preview_args) is on a docs/src page, and airfoil_pipeline.md was rewritten to the rolling ball.
• README does not, and needs its own PR the release waits for — unchanged since v4.3.1, says nothing about the mesh:/airfoil: blocks, and README.md:135 still names XFoil as the .obj import backend when the default is now neuralfoil with solver: xfoil selectable. Say the word and I will open it alongside the changelog move.
• Do not run agent release before the bump lands. bin/release's version check passes today by accident: it skips ## Unreleased and matches the next header, v4.3.1, against Project.toml's 4.3.1 — so it would register Give a wing's mesh and airfoil settings a home in the settings file #271's notes as v4.3.1 again.

#273 is still open and stays out, as you said.