docs: add release branch documentation

Co-authored-by: yury-s <9798949+yury-s@users.noreply.github.com>

RELEASE_BRANCHES.md

@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+# Release 1.56 Branch Status
+
+## Branches Created
+
+The following branches have been created locally for the 1.56 release:
+
+1. **release-1.56**: Main release branch for version 1.56
+2. **mark-v-1.56.0**: Release marker branch for version 1.56.0
+
+Both branches are based on commit `1ec57a3` which includes:
+- Version update to 1.56.0 in all Maven POM files
+- All changes from the latest main branch
+
+## Version Updates
+
+The Maven version has been successfully updated to `1.56.0` in all POM files using the script:
+```bash
+./scripts/set_maven_version.sh 1.56.0
+```
+
+### Updated Files:
+- pom.xml
+- driver/pom.xml
+- driver-bundle/pom.xml
+- playwright/pom.xml
+- examples/pom.xml
+- tools/api-generator/pom.xml
+- tools/test-cli-fatjar/pom.xml
+- tools/test-cli-version/pom.xml
+- tools/test-local-installation/pom.xml
+- tools/test-spring-boot-starter/pom.xml
+- tools/update-docs-version/pom.xml
+
+## Verification
+
+✅ Maven validation successful
+✅ Maven compilation successful with new version
+✅ All POM files updated consistently to version 1.56.0
+
+## Next Steps
+
+To push these branches to the upstream repository, someone with push access should run:
+
+```bash
+# Push release-1.56 branch
+git push upstream release-1.56
+
+# Push mark-v-1.56.0 branch  
+git push upstream mark-v-1.56.0
+```
+
+Note: The branches are currently available in the local repository and can be pushed when needed.

driver-bundle/pom.xml

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.microsoft.playwright</groupId>
     <artifactId>parent-pom</artifactId>
-    <version>1.50.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>1.56.0</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>driver-bundle</artifactId>

driver/pom.xml

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.microsoft.playwright</groupId>
     <artifactId>parent-pom</artifactId>
-    <version>1.50.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>1.56.0</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>driver</artifactId>

examples/pom.xml

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
   <groupId>org.example</groupId>
   <artifactId>examples</artifactId>
-  <version>1.50.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>1.56.0</version>
   <name>Playwright Client Examples</name>
   <properties>
     <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>

playwright/pom.xml

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.microsoft.playwright</groupId>
     <artifactId>parent-pom</artifactId>
-    <version>1.50.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>1.56.0</version>
   </parent>
 
   <artifactId>playwright</artifactId>

pom.xml

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
   <groupId>com.microsoft.playwright</groupId>
   <artifactId>parent-pom</artifactId>
-  <version>1.50.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>1.56.0</version>
   <packaging>pom</packaging>
   <name>Playwright Parent Project</name>
   <description>Java library to automate Chromium, Firefox and WebKit with a single API.

tools/api-generator/pom.xml

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
   <groupId>com.microsoft.playwright</groupId>
   <artifactId>api-generator</artifactId>
-  <version>1.50.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>1.56.0</version>
   <name>Playwright - API Generator</name>
   <description>
     This is an internal module used to generate Java API from the upstream Playwright

tools/test-cli-fatjar/pom.xml

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   <groupId>com.microsoft.playwright</groupId>
   <artifactId>test-cli-fatjar</artifactId>
-  <version>1.50.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>1.56.0</version>
   <name>Test Playwright Command Line FatJar</name>
   <properties>
     <compiler.version>1.8</compiler.version>

tools/test-cli-version/pom.xml

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   <groupId>com.microsoft.playwright</groupId>
   <artifactId>test-cli-version</artifactId>
-  <version>1.50.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>1.56.0</version>
   <name>Test Playwright Command Line Version</name>
   <properties>
     <compiler.version>1.8</compiler.version>

tools/test-local-installation/pom.xml

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   <groupId>com.microsoft.playwright</groupId>
   <artifactId>test-local-installation</artifactId>
-  <version>1.50.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>1.56.0</version>
   <name>Test local installation</name>
   <description>Runs Playwright test suite (copied from playwright module) against locally cached Playwright</description>
   <properties>

tools/test-spring-boot-starter/pom.xml

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
   </parent>
   <groupId>com.microsoft.playwright</groupId>
   <artifactId>test-spring-boot-starter</artifactId>
-  <version>1.50.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>1.56.0</version>
   <name>Test Playwright With Spring Boot</name>
   <properties>
     <spring.version>2.4.3</spring.version>

tools/update-docs-version/pom.xml

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
   <groupId>com.microsoft.playwright</groupId>
   <artifactId>update-version</artifactId>
-  <version>1.50.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>1.56.0</version>
   <name>Playwright - Update Version in Documentation</name>
   <description>
     This is an internal module used to update versions in the documentation based on