fix: drop the component suffix from the release branch name

docs/RELEASE-PROCESS.md

@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ Three workflows cooperate:
 
 1. **Release Please** ([`.github/workflows/release-please.yml`](../.github/workflows/release-please.yml)) runs on every push to `main`. It executes [`src/tools/release-please-runner.ts`](../src/tools/release-please-runner.ts), which runs release-please as a library with Communique registered as the changelog generator (`"changelog-type": "communique"` in [`release-please-config.json`](../release-please-config.json)). Each run:
    - tags and creates the GitHub Release for any release PR that merged since the last run, then dispatches the **Release** workflow for that tag;
-   - opens or updates the single release PR (title `chore(release): <version>`, head branch `release-please--branches--main--components--agent-tty`), carrying the `package.json` version bump plus a new `CHANGELOG.md` section written by Communique (`communique generate HEAD <last-tag> --concise`);
+   - opens or updates the single release PR (title `chore(release): <version>`, head branch `release-please--branches--main`), carrying the `package.json` version bump plus a new `CHANGELOG.md` section written by Communique (`communique generate HEAD <last-tag> --concise`);
    - dispatches **CI** and **Validate skills** onto the release branch (pushes made with the workflow token never trigger `pull_request` workflows on their own).
 2. **Release** ([`.github/workflows/release.yml`](../.github/workflows/release.yml)) is the publish pipeline (see below). It is dispatched by Release Please after the tag exists, and still also triggers on manually pushed `v*` tags.
 3. **CI** runs on the release PR like on any other PR and gates the merge.

src/tools/release-please-runner.ts

@@ -329,6 +329,23 @@ function joinSections(head: string, entry: string, rest: string): string {
  * `release-please-config.json` keeps the standard `"release-type": "node"`.
  */
 export class CommuniqueNodeStrategy extends Node {
+  /**
+   * The stock strategy always embeds the package name in the release branch
+   * (`release-please--branches--main--components--agent-tty`), even when
+   * `include-component-in-tag` is false. Follow the tag setting instead so
+   * this single-package repo gets the plain `release-please--branches--main`.
+   *
+   * Migration note: buildRelease() skips release creation when a merged PR's
+   * branch component does not match this value, so a release PR opened on
+   * the old component-suffixed branch must be closed — never merged — once
+   * this is live; the next push to main recreates it on the new branch.
+   */
+  override async getBranchComponent(): Promise<string | undefined> {
+    return this.includeComponentInTag
+      ? await super.getBranchComponent()
+      : undefined;
+  }
+
   protected override async buildUpdates(
     options: BuildUpdatesOptions,
   ): Promise<Update[]> {

test/unit/tools/release-please-runner.test.ts

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import { describe, expect, it } from 'vitest';
 // compatibility contract the runner depends on but release-please does not
 // document — the merged release PR body must parse back into a version +
 // notes, otherwise no GitHub Release is created on merge.
+import { BranchName } from 'release-please/build/src/util/branch-name.js';
 import { PullRequestBody } from 'release-please/build/src/util/pull-request-body.js';
 import {
   PullRequestTitle,
@@ -12,6 +13,7 @@ import {
 import { Version } from 'release-please/build/src/version.js';
 
 import {
+  CommuniqueNodeStrategy,
   UnreleasedAwareChangelog,
   assertLlmCredentials,
   buildCommuniqueArgs,
@@ -358,6 +360,40 @@ describe('createCommuniqueChangelogNotes', () => {
   });
 });
 
+describe('CommuniqueNodeStrategy branch component', () => {
+  // The branch component follows include-component-in-tag (the stock strategy
+  // always embeds the package name in the branch). The fake `this` works
+  // because the override only touches that flag and, on the true path, the
+  // stock implementation's `component` field.
+  it('drops the component when tags do not carry one', async () => {
+    await expect(
+      CommuniqueNodeStrategy.prototype.getBranchComponent.call({
+        includeComponentInTag: false,
+      } as unknown as CommuniqueNodeStrategy),
+    ).resolves.toBeUndefined();
+  });
+
+  it('keeps the stock component when tags carry one', async () => {
+    await expect(
+      CommuniqueNodeStrategy.prototype.getBranchComponent.call({
+        includeComponentInTag: true,
+        component: 'agent-tty',
+      } as unknown as CommuniqueNodeStrategy),
+    ).resolves.toBe('agent-tty');
+  });
+
+  it('round-trips the short branch name (release-time contract)', () => {
+    // buildRelease() parses the merged PR's branch and skips the release on a
+    // component mismatch, so the componentless name must parse back cleanly.
+    expect(BranchName.ofTargetBranch('main').toString()).toBe(
+      'release-please--branches--main',
+    );
+    const parsed = BranchName.parse('release-please--branches--main');
+    expect(parsed?.getTargetBranch()).toBe('main');
+    expect(parsed?.getComponent()).toBeUndefined();
+  });
+});
+
 describe('workflow outputs', () => {
   it('maps releases and pull requests into workflow outputs', () => {
     expect(