Can I gate a channel other than Live?

Yes. Pick any channel name in Settings, or leave it empty to use the checklist as a guide only.

Anyone with the Developer role or above. Only Admins change the checklist itself.

Which plan do I need?

Team, together with release blockers.

A release checklist the Live channel actually waits for

Team

Most teams have a release checklist somewhere: a doc, a wiki page, a message pinned in a channel. It works until a busy Friday, when someone promotes the build and nobody opened the doc.

On AppForShare the checklist lives on each build, every tick has a name and a time, and the Live channel refuses a build until the list is done and the release blockers from tester feedback are resolved.

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Example

Shop app 2.5 (121), release checklist

Smoke test on real devicesSara, Nov 2
Release notes writtenOmar, Nov 2
Client signed offOpen
Release blockers1 open

Live takes this build once the last step is ticked and the blocker is resolved.

Made for

Teams where more than one person can promote a build
Agencies that need a clear sign off before a client sees a build
QA leads who want blockers to mean something

What it ends

A checklist in a doc that nobody opens on release day
Builds promoted to Live while a crash report is still open
Asking in chat who tested what before a release

How it works

Step 1
Write the checklist
An Admin adds up to 20 steps in Settings, such as a smoke test on real devices or release notes written, and picks the channel it guards: Live by default.
Step 2
Tick it on each build
Developers tick steps on the build page. Each tick shows who did it and when. Open release blockers of the app are listed next to it.
Step 3
Promote when ready
Live takes the build once every step is ticked and no blocker is open. Until then the build page, the CLI and CI get a clear answer about what is missing.

Blockers from tester feedback

A tester report marked as a release blocker holds the gate until someone resolves it, also when it was reported on an older build of the same app. You can switch this part off and keep only the checklist.

When you have to ship anyway

An Admin can put a build into Live before the list is done, for example for an urgent fix. The build page then shows who did it. Developers and AI assistants connected through the MCP server cannot override.

The same answer everywhere

Promoting from the build page, appforshare promote in the CLI, the GitHub Action, Fastlane or the MCP server all go through the same gate. An upload with --channel live that is not ready yet lands without the channel, and you promote it once the list is done. appforshare checklist shows the state of a build in the terminal.

Good to know

The gate guards the AppForShare channel link. It does not change what you submit to the App Store or Google Play.
One checklist per workspace, the same for every app in it.
When the workspace leaves Team, the checklist stops holding channels back. The ticks are kept.

Questions

Can I gate a channel other than Live?: Yes. Pick any channel name in Settings, or leave it empty to use the checklist as a guide only.
Who can tick a step?: Anyone with the Developer role or above. Only Admins change the checklist itself.
Which plan do I need?: Team, together with release blockers.