Cake 6.3.0 Release

## Useful information

* [AppVeyor builds](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/cakebuild/cake)
* [GitHub Actions](https://github.com/cake-build/cake/actions)
* [Bitrise MacOS](https://app.bitrise.io/app/42eaef77e8db4a5c) / [Bitrise Debian](https://app.bitrise.io/app/ea0c6b3c61eb1e79)
* [Azure Pipelines](https://dev.azure.com/cake-build/Cake/_build)

## Repository Pre-requisites

### Automated Approach
- [x] Run the [`Prereqs.ps1`](https://github.com/cake-build/processes/blob/master/cake/Prereqs.ps1) file, using the following as an example `.\Prereqs.ps1 -GithubUsername devlead` (use your own username). This will clone a new version of all required repositories.

## Let people know that things are happening...

- [ ] Please go to the General Channel in the Slack Team for Cake-Contrib and let people know that a release is away. Use a message similar to the following `@channel We will soon start preparing for the [6.3.0 release](https://github.com/cake-build/cake/milestone/97?closed=1) of Cake and [6.3.0 release](https://github.com/cake-build/generator/milestone/4?closed=1) of Cake.Sdk. So this is a friendly reminder to pin your Cake version! :pushpin: :cake:`
- [ ] Using the Cake Social accounts let people know that the release is away to happen. Use something like the following `We are starting to prepare our next release, 6.3.0 (https://github.com/cake-build/cake/milestone/97?closed=1). This is your friendly reminder that if you haven't pinned to a specific version of Cake, you should do it now :-) 📌 🍰 https://cakebuild.net/docs/writing-builds/reproducible-builds/`
- [ ] Bluesky
- [ ] Retweet the above from the cake-contrib account
- [ ] Mastodon
- [ ] Retweet the above from the cake-contrib account
- [ ] Twitter
- [ ] Retweet the above from the cake-contrib account

## GitHub Issues Pre-requisites

- [x] Make sure all issues within the milestone are tagged with either Bug, Feature, Improvement, Documentation, Breaking change, or Build
- [x] Make sure all issues associated with the milestone are closed
- [x] Make sure that all issues only have 1 label associated with them
- [x] Raise an issue in the Cake.AddinDiscoverer repo if any of the following is true:
- You are releasing a **major** version of Cake (e.g.: 5.0.0, 6.0.0, 7.0.0, etc.). Addin Discoverer generates a report for each major version of Cake therefore it's important that it be updated to generate a report for this new major version you are about to release.
- The recommended .NET frameworks that addins should target has changed. The reports generated by Addin Discoverer indicates whether a given addins targets the recommended frameworks or not. Therefore, AddinDisco needs to be made aware when the recommendation changes.

## When doing a release

- [x] Create a branch locally to match the name of the release, for example, `git checkout -b release/6.3.0 develop`
- [x] Update `ReleaseNotes.md` to include the next version number as a placeholder and save the file
- [ ] Create release notes on GitHub using the `ReleaseNotes` task (`.\build.ps1 --target=ReleaseNotes`)
- [ ] Update `ReleaseNotes.md` with generated content (making sure to keep the formatting the same)
- [ ] Build everything (`./build.ps1`) to make sure it works.
- [ ] Commit the changes to `ReleaseNotes.md` and `SolutionInfo.cs`. Use comment like `(build) Updated version and release notes`
- [ ] At this point, if you want to share the work to date, and validate something, push the local release branch to GitHub
- [ ] Assuming everything is ok, switch to `main` branch (`git checkout main`)
- [ ] Merge release branch to the `main` `git merge --no-ff release/6.3.0`
- [ ] Build everything (`./build.ps1`) to make sure it works (we can never be too sure).
- [ ] Push `main` branch.
- [ ] Make sure that all builds succeed before going any further.
- [ ] [GitHub Actions](https://github.com/cake-build/cake/actions)
- [ ] [AppVeyor](https://ci.appveyor.com/project/cakebuild/cake)
- [ ] [Bitrise Ubuntu](https://app.bitrise.io/app/ea0c6b3c61eb1e79#/builds)
- [ ] [Bitrise OSX](https://app.bitrise.io/app/42eaef77e8db4a5c#/builds)
- [ ] Assuming that everything went ok, go to the draft release in GitHub and click Edit
- [ ] Click the Publish Release button
- [ ] This will trigger another build in GitHub, but this time with a [tag release build](https://github.com/cake-build/cake/actions/workflows/release.yml) .
- [ ] Switch to `develop` branch `git checkout develop`
- [ ] Merge release branch into develop `git merge --no-ff release/6.3.0`
- [ ] Resolve any merge conflicts
- [ ] Bump the Cake Tool Version number in `.config\dotnet-tools.json` to the latest released version, i.e. the version you just released
- [ ] Build everything (`./build.ps1`) to make sure it works.
- [ ] Commit the changes to `.config\dotnet-tools.json`. Use commit message like `(build) Updated Cake Tool to version 6.3.0`
- [ ] Push `develop` branch.
- [ ] Delete the local release branch that was created `git branch -d release/6.3.0` (and the remote one, if pushed to GitHub `git push origin --delete release/6.3.0`)

## After a release/hotfix

- [ ] Make sure that everything has been pushed correctly to NuGet
- `N/A` [Cake](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake/) (_deprecated with v2.0.0_)
- [ ] [Cake.Tool](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake.Tool/)
- [ ] [Cake.Frosting](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake.Frosting/)
- `N/A` [Cake.CoreCLR](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake.CoreCLR/) (_deprecated with v2.0.0_)
- [ ] [Cake.Core](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake.Core/)
- [ ] [Cake.Common](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake.Common/)
- [ ] [Cake.NuGet](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake.NuGet/)
- [ ] [Cake.Cli](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake.Cli/)
- [ ] [Cake.DotNetTool.Module](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake.DotNetTool.Module/)
- [ ] [Cake.Testing](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake.Testing/)
- [ ] [Cake.Testing.Xunit](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake.Testing.Xunit/)
- [ ] [Cake.Testing.Xunit.v3](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake.Testing.Xunit.v3/)
- [ ] Move to [example](https://github.com/cake-build/example) repository
- [ ] Bump the Cake Tool Version number in `.config\dotnet-tools.json` to the latest released version, i.e. the version you just released
- [ ] Build everything (`./build.ps1` or `./build.sh`) to make sure it works.
- [ ] Commit changes. Use message similar to `(build) Updated Cake tool to version 6.3.0`
- [ ] Push branch
- [ ] Move to [resources](https://github.com/cake-build/resources) repository
- [ ] Open the `dotnet-tool/.config/dotnet-tools.json` file
- [ ] Update the Cake version number to be the same as the version that you have just released
- [ ] Commit changes. Use message similar to `(build) Updated Cake tool to version 6.3.0`
- [ ] Push branch `git push`
- [ ] Release Cake.Sdk **(Process WIP)**
- [ ] Bump Cake.* Assemblies to released version
- [ ] `dotnet test --solution src` - fix any snapshot tests for code gen
- [ ] ensure all builds `dotnet run --project .\src\Cake.Generator.TestApp\Cake.Generator.TestApp.csproj -- --target=IntegrationTest`
- [ ] Send PR
- [ ] Ensure builds and merge PR
- [ ] Ensure builds
- [ ] Create GitHub release with the same version as Cake.Core/Common version
- [ ] Make sure that everything has been pushed correctly to NuGet
- [ ] [Cake.Sdk](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake.Sdk/)
- [ ] [Cake.Generator](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake.Generator/)
- [ ] [Cake.Template](https://www.nuget.org/packages/Cake.Template/)
- [ ] Move to [cakesdk-example](https://github.com/cake-build/cakesdk-example) repository
- [ ] Bump the Cake.Sdk Version number in `global.json` to the latest released version, i.e. the version you just released
- [ ] Commit changes. Use message similar to `(build) Updated Cake Sdk to version 6.3.0`
- [ ] Push branch
- [ ] Trigger new container builds on [GitHub Actions](https://github.com/cake-build/docker/actions).
- [ ] Move to [website](https://github.com/cake-build/website) repository
- [ ] Create a branch for a new blog post `git checkout -b 6.3.0-Blog-Post master`
- [ ] You can get a draft blog post using the console `secrets\Processes\FetchContributors`
- dotnet restore
- `dotnet run -- cake-build "cake,generator" v6.2.0 "8bfe098eb6f53151202d2a28ce38279cf95c0b63,5e49ca1a68baaa20ff03c5976fe37c04db2fefb3" "../../../../cake-build/website/input/blog/" v6.3.0 cake`
- [ ] Bump the Cake Tool Version number in `.config\dotnet-tools.json` to the latest released version, i.e., the version you just released
- [ ] Commit changes to `.config\dotnet-tools.json` file using message similar to `(build) Updated Cake tool to version 6.3.0`
- [ ] Commit blog post using a message similar to `v6.3.0 Blog Post`
- [ ] Push the branch and submit a pull request
- [ ] Have someone else verify the contents
- [ ] Merge the Pull Request
- [ ] Go to [cakebuild.net](https://cakebuild.net) Make sure that it works as expected.
- [ ] Go to the [Cake-Contrib Slack Team](https://cake-contrib.slack.com) and in the General Room let people know that it was released. Use something like `@channel Version 6.3.0 of the Cake has just been released, https://cakebuild.net/blog/2026/09/cake-v6.3.0-released :cake: :rocket: `
- [ ] Using the Cake Social accounts promote the blog post i.e., `Version 6.3.0 of the Cake has just been released, https://cakebuild.net/blog/2026/09/cake-v6.3.0-released 🍰 🚀 #dotnet #devops #csharp`
- [ ] Twitter - **add url here**
- [ ] Retweet the above from the cake-contrib account
- [ ] Bluesky - **add url here**
- [ ] Retweet the above from the cake-contrib account
- [ ] Mastodon - **add url here**
- [ ] Retweet the above from the cake-contrib account
- [ ] Go to reddit and submit link [reddit.com/r/cakebuild](https://www.reddit.com/r/cakebuild),
- [ ] reddit/cakebuild - **add url here**
- [ ] post to reddit/devops - **add url here**
- [ ] Go to [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/17902391/) and create a new post
- **add url here**
- [ ] Go to [Medium](https://medium.com/@cakebuildnet)
- [ ] Log into Medium as the cake-build twitter user
- [ ] Click on the Cake logo at top right of screen, then click on Stories
- [ ] Click on Import a Story
- [ ] Enter the URL of the blog post and click Import (if this errors out, just try it again)
- [ ] Click on see your story
- [ ] Click Publish and enter the tags`DevOps` `Csharp` `Release Notes` `Dotnet` `Continuous Integration`
- [ ] Click on `Publish Now`
- **add url here**
- [ ] .NET Foundation
- [ ] Submit a request for [content amplification](https://github.com/dotnet-foundation/content) by the .NET Foundation
- [ ] https://github.com/dotnet-foundation/content/issues/xxx
- [ ] Go to the Cake Slack Channel and share the links to Medium, LinkedIn, and Reddit so that other team members can share them
- [ ] Go and have a drink!

Start with the release checklist, `Prereqs.ps1`, `ReleaseNotes.md`, `SolutionInfo.cs`, `build.ps1`, and `.config\dotnet-tools.json`. Follow the listed build, branch, repository, package, and publishing steps, checking the linked CI systems as required. Done means the 6.3.0 release and all post-release updates are completed across the named repositories.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.