Add ESF release issue template

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/release-checklist.md

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+---
+name: Release checklist
+about: "Checklist for releasing a new version of Elastic Serverless Forwarder."
+
+---
+
+# Elastic Serverless Forwarder Release Checklist
+
+Version: `vX.Y.Z`
+
+## Version Bump PR
+
+Create a single PR with the following changes:
+
+* [ ] Update version-specific documentation in `docs/reference/` (if needed)
+* [ ] Bump version in `share/version.py` to `X.Y.Z`
+* [ ] Update `CHANGELOG.md` with all changes for this release
+* [ ] Verify linting and tests pass: `make lint && make license && make test`
+
+## Merge and Deployment
+
+* [ ] Review and merge the version bump PR to `main` branch
+
+## Automated Release Process
+
+After merging, verify the automated workflows complete successfully:
+
+* [ ] `create-tag` workflow completes (creates `lambda-vX.Y.Z` tag)
+* [ ] `releases-production` workflow completes
+  * [ ] Lambda package uploaded to S3 bucket `esf-dependencies`
+  * [ ] New version published to AWS Serverless Application Repository (SAR)
+
+## Post-release
+
+* [ ] Create GitHub release for tag `lambda-vX.Y.Z`
+  * [ ] Use changelog entries as release notes
+* [ ] Verify the new version is available in SAR
+* [ ] Announce release in appropriate channels
+
+## Notes
+
+- The `create-tag` workflow triggers automatically when `share/version.py` is merged to `main`
+- The `releases-production` workflow triggers automatically after `create-tag` completes
+- GitHub release creation is a manual step for release notes and announcements only