docs(publishing): describe how the release process works, based on si…

…milar content for vega tooltip

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -25,3 +25,15 @@ yarn run commit
 ```
 
 Consistent formatting allows us to keep the [changelog](./CHANGELOG.md) up to date automatically, and ensures future developers have a readable timeline of changes over time. For more information, see the [commitizen project page](https://github.com/commitizen/cz-cli).
+
+## How Publishing works
+
+## Publishing
+
+Publishing is handled by a 2-branch [pre-release process](https://intuit.github.io/auto/docs/generated/shipit#next-branch-default), configured in `release.yml`. All changes should be based off of the default `next` branch. Changes are published when a `release` tag is included on the PR.
+
+- To prevent a change from creating a release, use the `skip-release` label.
+- PRs made into the default branch are deployed to the `next` pre-release tag on NPM. The result can be installed with `npm install @nteract/data-explorer@next`.
+  - When merging into `next`, please use the `create a merge commit` strategy. If `rebase` is used, auto won't be able to detect which PR introduced a particular set of commits..
+- To release a new stable version, open a PR from `next` into `stable` using this [compare link](https://github.com/nteract/data-explorer/compare/stable...next).
+  - When merging from `next` into `stable`, please use the `create a merge commit` strategy.