refactor(Versioning): Publish a feature version with an AuthorData

[khvn26]

• I have read the Contributing Guide.
• I have added information to docs/ if required so people know about the feature.
• I have filled in the "Changes" section below.
• I have filled in the "How did you test this code" section below.

Changes

Stacked on #8308.

In this PR, we accommodate EnvironmentFeatureVersion.publish() to the AuthorData dataclass.

EnvironmentFeatureVersion.publish() took published_by and published_by_api_key, so every caller had to categorise a request user. That split was written four ways across the codebase, and one of them was wrong: EnvironmentFeatureVersionCreateSerializer only handled FFAdminUser, so a version created with publish_immediately by a master API key recorded no publisher at all. Fixed here, with a test.

publish() now takes an AuthorData, which callers construct directly, or via AuthorData.from_request(request) where a request is available.

We also drop a dead serializer.save(published_by=request.user) kwarg in EnvironmentFeatureVersionViewSet.publish — the serializer reads the author from the request context and ignored it.

No behaviour change beyond the attribution fix.

How did you test this code?

Added unit tests, and modified existing tests asserting EnvironmentFeatureVersion.publish().

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3 Skipped Deployments

Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
docs	Ignored	Preview	Aug 17, 2026 11:31am
flagsmith-frontend-preview	Ignored	Preview	Aug 17, 2026 11:31am
flagsmith-frontend-staging	Ignored	Preview	Aug 17, 2026 11:31am

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Configuration used: Organization UI

Review profile: ASSERTIVE

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Run ID: 14411d1e-6c13-4ba2-ac3c-f987b37e3df2

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between a35dcd1 and e831228.

📒 Files selected for processing (22)

• api/core/dataclasses.py
• api/core/workflows_services.py
• api/features/future/services.py
• api/features/future/views.py
• api/features/versioning/models.py
• api/features/versioning/serializers.py
• api/features/versioning/tasks.py
• api/features/versioning/versioning_service.py
• api/features/versioning/views.py
• api/tests/unit/audit/test_unit_audit_signals.py
• api/tests/unit/audit/test_unit_audit_views.py
• api/tests/unit/core/test_unit_core_dataclasses.py
• api/tests/unit/environments/test_unit_environments_views.py
• api/tests/unit/features/feature_segments/test_unit_feature_segments_views.py
• api/tests/unit/features/test_unit_features_models.py
• api/tests/unit/features/test_unit_features_views.py
• api/tests/unit/features/versioning/test_unit_versioning_models.py
• api/tests/unit/features/versioning/test_unit_versioning_tasks.py
• api/tests/unit/features/versioning/test_unit_versioning_versioning_service.py
• api/tests/unit/features/versioning/test_unit_versioning_views.py
• api/tests/unit/util/mappers/test_unit_mappers_engine.py
• docs/docs/deployment-self-hosting/observability/_events-catalogue.md

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---

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The change introduces AuthorData validation and uses AuthorData as the single publication-attribution value. Versioning entry points, workflow services, tasks, and future-feature services now pass user or API-key data through this object. Tests update publication calls and add API-key attribution coverage. Observability documentation updates source-code line references.

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~20 minutes

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to e8312

This change standardizes feature-version publisher attribution and fixes missing attribution for master API key publishing; no actionable merge-blocking risk remains beyond normal checks and review.

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[github-actions]

Docker builds report

Image	Build Status	Security report
ghcr.io/flagsmith/flagsmith-api-test:pr-8310	Finished ✅	Skipped
ghcr.io/flagsmith/flagsmith-e2e:pr-8310	Finished ✅	Skipped
ghcr.io/flagsmith/flagsmith-frontend:pr-8310	Finished ✅	Results ✅
ghcr.io/flagsmith/flagsmith-api:pr-8310	Finished ✅	Results ✅
ghcr.io/flagsmith/flagsmith:pr-8310	Finished ✅	Results ✅
ghcr.io/flagsmith/flagsmith-private-cloud:pr-8310	Finished ✅	Results ✅

[github-actions]

✅ private-cloud · depot-ubuntu-latest-arm-16 — run #19460 (attempt 1)

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🗂️ Previous results

✅ private-cloud · depot-ubuntu-latest-16 — run #19460 (attempt 1)

Playwright Test Results (private-cloud - depot-ubuntu-latest-16)

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Details

 2 tests across 2 suites
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✅ oss · depot-ubuntu-latest-arm-16 — run #19460 (attempt 1)

Playwright Test Results (oss - depot-ubuntu-latest-arm-16)

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 1 test across 1 suite
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✅ oss · depot-ubuntu-latest-16 — run #19460 (attempt 1)

Playwright Test Results (oss - depot-ubuntu-latest-16)

 1 passed

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✅ private-cloud · depot-ubuntu-latest-arm-16 — run #19450 (attempt 1)

Playwright Test Results (private-cloud - depot-ubuntu-latest-arm-16)

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 2 tests across 2 suites
 1 minute, 1 second
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✅ private-cloud · depot-ubuntu-latest-16 — run #19450 (attempt 1)

Playwright Test Results (private-cloud - depot-ubuntu-latest-16)

 3 passed

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 3 tests across 3 suites
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✅ oss · depot-ubuntu-latest-arm-16 — run #19450 (attempt 1)

Playwright Test Results (oss - depot-ubuntu-latest-arm-16)

 1 passed

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 1 test across 1 suite
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✅ oss · depot-ubuntu-latest-16 — run #19450 (attempt 1)

Playwright Test Results (oss - depot-ubuntu-latest-16)

 1 passed

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 1 test across 1 suite
 33.7 seconds
 187c818
 🔄 Run: #19450 (attempt 1)

✅ private-cloud · depot-ubuntu-latest-16 — run #19447 (attempt 1)

Playwright Test Results (private-cloud - depot-ubuntu-latest-16)

 1 passed

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 1 test across 1 suite
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 3e25f55
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✅ private-cloud · depot-ubuntu-latest-arm-16 — run #19447 (attempt 1)

Playwright Test Results (private-cloud - depot-ubuntu-latest-arm-16)

 3 passed

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 3 tests across 3 suites
 37.1 seconds
 3e25f55
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✅ private-cloud · depot-ubuntu-latest-16 — run #19446 (attempt 1)

Playwright Test Results (private-cloud - depot-ubuntu-latest-16)

 3 passed

Details

 3 tests across 3 suites
 56.4 seconds
 3e25f55
 🔄 Run: #19446 (attempt 1)

✅ private-cloud · depot-ubuntu-latest-arm-16 — run #19446 (attempt 1)

Playwright Test Results (private-cloud - depot-ubuntu-latest-arm-16)

 1 passed

Details

 1 test across 1 suite
 35.1 seconds
 3e25f55
 🔄 Run: #19446 (attempt 1)

[github-actions]

Visual Regression

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[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 98.64%. Comparing base (a35dcd1) to head (e831228).

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    #8310      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   98.78%   98.64%   -0.14%     
==========================================
  Files        1605     1606       +1     
  Lines       64417    64434      +17     
==========================================
- Hits        63633    63560      -73     
- Misses        784      874      +90     

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