ci: add timely lance release check (#2790)

This PR will add a timely lance release check for lancedb which will
auto bump lance while new tags released.

---

**This PR was primarily authored with Codex using GPT-5-Codex and then
hand-reviewed by me. I AM responsible for every change made in this PR.
I aimed to keep it aligned with our goals, though I may have missed
minor issues. Please flag anything that feels off, I'll fix it
quickly.**

---------

Signed-off-by: Xuanwo <github@xuanwo.io>

.github/workflows/lance-release-timer.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+name: Lance Release Timer
+
+on:
+  schedule:
+    - cron: "*/10 * * * *"
+  workflow_dispatch:
+
+permissions:
+  contents: read
+  actions: write
+
+concurrency:
+  group: lance-release-timer
+  cancel-in-progress: false
+
+jobs:
+  trigger-update:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      - name: Checkout repository
+        uses: actions/checkout@v4
+
+      - name: Check for new Lance tag
+        id: check
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ROBOT_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          python3 ci/check_lance_release.py --github-output "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+
+      - name: Look for existing PR
+        if: steps.check.outputs.needs_update == 'true'
+        id: pr
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ROBOT_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          TITLE="chore: update lance dependency to v${{ steps.check.outputs.latest_version }}"
+          COUNT=$(gh pr list --search "\"$TITLE\" in:title" --state open --limit 1 --json number --jq 'length')
+          if [ "$COUNT" -gt 0 ]; then
+            echo "Open PR already exists for $TITLE"
+            echo "pr_exists=true" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          else
+            echo "No existing PR for $TITLE"
+            echo "pr_exists=false" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
+          fi
+
+      - name: Trigger codex update workflow
+        if: steps.check.outputs.needs_update == 'true' && steps.pr.outputs.pr_exists != 'true'
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ROBOT_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          TAG=${{ steps.check.outputs.latest_tag }}
+          gh workflow run codex-update-lance-dependency.yml -f tag=refs/tags/$TAG
+
+      - name: Show latest codex workflow run
+        if: steps.check.outputs.needs_update == 'true' && steps.pr.outputs.pr_exists != 'true'
+        env:
+          GH_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.ROBOT_TOKEN }}
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+          gh run list --workflow codex-update-lance-dependency.yml --limit 1 --json databaseId,htmlUrl,displayTitle

ci/check_lance_release.py

@@ -0,0 +1,208 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+"""Determine whether a newer Lance tag exists and expose results for CI."""
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import argparse
+import json
+import os
+import re
+import subprocess
+import sys
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Iterable, List, Sequence, Tuple, Union
+
+try:  # Python >=3.11
+    import tomllib  # type: ignore
+except ModuleNotFoundError:  # pragma: no cover - fallback for older Python
+    import tomli as tomllib  # type: ignore
+
+LANCE_REPO = "lance-format/lance"
+
+SEMVER_RE = re.compile(
+    r"^\s*(?P<major>0|[1-9]\d*)\.(?P<minor>0|[1-9]\d*)\.(?P<patch>0|[1-9]\d*)"
+    r"(?:-(?P<prerelease>[0-9A-Za-z.-]+))?"
+    r"(?:\+[0-9A-Za-z.-]+)?\s*$"
+)
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class SemVer:
+    major: int
+    minor: int
+    patch: int
+    prerelease: Tuple[Union[int, str], ...]
+
+    def __lt__(self, other: "SemVer") -> bool:  # pragma: no cover - simple comparison
+        if (self.major, self.minor, self.patch) != (other.major, other.minor, other.patch):
+            return (self.major, self.minor, self.patch) < (other.major, other.minor, other.patch)
+        if self.prerelease == other.prerelease:
+            return False
+        if not self.prerelease:
+            return False  # release > anything else
+        if not other.prerelease:
+            return True
+        for left, right in zip(self.prerelease, other.prerelease):
+            if left == right:
+                continue
+            if isinstance(left, int) and isinstance(right, int):
+                return left < right
+            if isinstance(left, int):
+                return True
+            if isinstance(right, int):
+                return False
+            return str(left) < str(right)
+        return len(self.prerelease) < len(other.prerelease)
+
+    def __eq__(self, other: object) -> bool:  # pragma: no cover - trivial
+        if not isinstance(other, SemVer):
+            return NotImplemented
+        return (
+            self.major == other.major
+            and self.minor == other.minor
+            and self.patch == other.patch
+            and self.prerelease == other.prerelease
+        )
+
+
+def parse_semver(raw: str) -> SemVer:
+    match = SEMVER_RE.match(raw)
+    if not match:
+        raise ValueError(f"Unsupported version format: {raw}")
+    prerelease = match.group("prerelease")
+    parts: Tuple[Union[int, str], ...] = ()
+    if prerelease:
+        parsed: List[Union[int, str]] = []
+        for piece in prerelease.split("."):
+            if piece.isdigit():
+                parsed.append(int(piece))
+            else:
+                parsed.append(piece)
+        parts = tuple(parsed)
+    return SemVer(
+        major=int(match.group("major")),
+        minor=int(match.group("minor")),
+        patch=int(match.group("patch")),
+        prerelease=parts,
+    )
+
+
+@dataclass
+class TagInfo:
+    tag: str  # e.g. v1.0.0-beta.2
+    version: str  # e.g. 1.0.0-beta.2
+    semver: SemVer
+
+
+def run_command(cmd: Sequence[str]) -> str:
+    result = subprocess.run(cmd, capture_output=True, text=True, check=False)
+    if result.returncode != 0:
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"Command {' '.join(cmd)} failed with {result.returncode}: {result.stderr.strip()}"
+        )
+    return result.stdout.strip()
+
+
+def fetch_remote_tags() -> List[TagInfo]:
+    output = run_command(
+        [
+            "gh",
+            "api",
+            "-X",
+            "GET",
+            f"repos/{LANCE_REPO}/git/refs/tags",
+            "--paginate",
+            "--jq",
+            ".[].ref",
+        ]
+    )
+    tags: List[TagInfo] = []
+    for line in output.splitlines():
+        ref = line.strip()
+        if not ref.startswith("refs/tags/v"):
+            continue
+        tag = ref.split("refs/tags/")[-1]
+        version = tag.lstrip("v")
+        try:
+            tags.append(TagInfo(tag=tag, version=version, semver=parse_semver(version)))
+        except ValueError:
+            continue
+    if not tags:
+        raise RuntimeError("No Lance tags could be parsed from GitHub API output")
+    return tags
+
+
+def read_current_version(repo_root: Path) -> str:
+    cargo_path = repo_root / "Cargo.toml"
+    with cargo_path.open("rb") as fh:
+        data = tomllib.load(fh)
+    try:
+        deps = data["workspace"]["dependencies"]
+        entry = deps["lance"]
+    except KeyError as exc:  # pragma: no cover - configuration guard
+        raise RuntimeError("Failed to locate workspace.dependencies.lance in Cargo.toml") from exc
+
+    if isinstance(entry, str):
+        raw_version = entry
+    elif isinstance(entry, dict):
+        raw_version = entry.get("version", "")
+    else:  # pragma: no cover - defensive
+        raise RuntimeError("Unexpected lance dependency format")
+
+    raw_version = raw_version.strip()
+    if not raw_version:
+        raise RuntimeError("lance dependency does not declare a version")
+    return raw_version.lstrip("=")
+
+
+def determine_latest_tag(tags: Iterable[TagInfo]) -> TagInfo:
+    return max(tags, key=lambda tag: tag.semver)
+
+
+def write_outputs(args: argparse.Namespace, payload: dict) -> None:
+    target = getattr(args, "github_output", None)
+    if not target:
+        return
+    with open(target, "a", encoding="utf-8") as handle:
+        for key, value in payload.items():
+            handle.write(f"{key}={value}\n")
+
+
+def main(argv: Sequence[str] | None = None) -> int:
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__)
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--repo-root",
+        default=Path(__file__).resolve().parents[1],
+        type=Path,
+        help="Path to the lancedb repository root",
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--github-output",
+        default=os.environ.get("GITHUB_OUTPUT"),
+        help="Optional file path for writing GitHub Action outputs",
+    )
+    args = parser.parse_args(argv)
+
+    repo_root = Path(args.repo_root)
+    current_version = read_current_version(repo_root)
+    current_semver = parse_semver(current_version)
+
+    tags = fetch_remote_tags()
+    latest = determine_latest_tag(tags)
+    needs_update = latest.semver > current_semver
+
+    payload = {
+        "current_version": current_version,
+        "current_tag": f"v{current_version}",
+        "latest_version": latest.version,
+        "latest_tag": latest.tag,
+        "needs_update": "true" if needs_update else "false",
+    }
+
+    print(json.dumps(payload))
+    write_outputs(args, payload)
+    return 0
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    sys.exit(main())

ci/set_lance_version.py

@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ import re
 import sys
 import json
 
+LANCE_GIT_URL = "https://github.com/lance-format/lance.git"
+
 
 def run_command(command: str) -> str:
     """
@@ -29,7 +31,7 @@ def get_latest_stable_version() -> str:
 
 def get_latest_preview_version() -> str:
     lance_tags = run_command(
-        "git ls-remote --tags https://github.com/lance-format/lance.git | grep 'refs/tags/v[0-9beta.-]\\+$'"
+        f"git ls-remote --tags {LANCE_GIT_URL} | grep 'refs/tags/v[0-9beta.-]\\+$'"
     ).splitlines()
     lance_tags = (
         tag.split("refs/tags/")[1]
@@ -176,8 +178,8 @@ def set_stable_version(version: str):
 def set_preview_version(version: str):
     """
     Sets lines to
-    lance = { "version" = "=0.29.0", default-features = false, "features" = ["dynamodb"], "tag" = "v0.29.0-beta.2", "git" = "https://github.com/lance-format/lance.git" }
+    lance = { "version" = "=0.29.0", default-features = false, "features" = ["dynamodb"], "tag" = "v0.29.0-beta.2", "git" = LANCE_GIT_URL }
-    lance-io = { "version" = "=0.29.0", default-features = false, "tag" = "v0.29.0-beta.2", "git" = "https://github.com/lance-format/lance.git" }
+    lance-io = { "version" = "=0.29.0", default-features = false, "tag" = "v0.29.0-beta.2", "git" = LANCE_GIT_URL }
     ...
     """
 
@@ -194,7 +196,7 @@ def set_preview_version(version: str):
             config["features"] = features
 
         config["tag"] = f"v{version}"
-        config["git"] = "https://github.com/lance-format/lance.git"
+        config["git"] = LANCE_GIT_URL
 
         return dict_to_toml_line(package_name, config)