Automate releases with Conventional Commit Messages.
-
Create a
.github/workflows/release-please.yml
file with these contents:
on
:
push
:
branches
:
-
main
permissions
:
contents
:
write
pull-requests
:
write
name
:
release-please
jobs
:
release-please
:
runs-on
:
ubuntu-latest
steps
:
-
uses
:
googleapis/release-please-action@v4
with
:
#
this assumes that you have created a personal access token
#
(PAT) and configured it as a GitHub action secret named
#
`MY_RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN` (this secret name is not important).
token
:
${{ secrets.MY_RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN }}
#
this is a built-in strategy in release-please, see "Action Inputs"
#
for more options
release-type
:
simple
Specifying a
release-type
configuration is the most straight-forward
configuration option, but allows for no further customization. For advanced
configuration options, see the
Advanced Configuration section
-
Merge the above action into your repository and make sure new commits follow
the
Conventional Commits
convention,
release-please
will start creating Release PRs for you.
Advanced Release Configuration
For any advanced configuration, please set up a
manifest config
and then configure this action as follows:
#
...(same as above)
steps
:
-
uses
:
googleapis/release-please-action@v4
with
:
#
this assumes that you have created a personal access token
#
(PAT) and configured it as a GitHub action secret named
#
`MY_RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN` (this secret name is not important).
token
:
${{ secrets.MY_RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN }}
#
optional. customize path to release-please-config.json
config-file
:
release-please-config.json
#
optional. customize path to .release-please-manifest.json
manifest-file
:
.release-please-manifest.json
input
|
description
|
token
|
A GitHub secret token, the action defaults to using the special
secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN
|
release-type
|
If specified, defines the release strategy to use for the repository. Reference
Release types supported
|
path
|
create a release from a path other than the repository's root
|
target-branch
|
branch to open pull release PR against (detected by default)
|
config-file
|
Path to the release-please config in the repository. Defaults to
release-please-config.json
|
manifest-file
|
Path to the release-please versions manifest. Defaults to
.release-please-manifest.json
|
repo-url
|
GitHub repository name in the form of
<owner>/<repo>
. Defaults to the repository the action is running in.
|
github-api-url
|
Override the GitHub API URL.
|
github-graphql-url
|
Override the GitHub GraphQL URL
|
fork
|
If
true
, send the PR from a fork. This requires the
token
to be a user that can create forks (e.g. not the default
GITHUB_TOKEN
)
|
include-component-in-tag
|
If true, add prefix to tags and branches, allowing multiple libraries to be released from the same repository
|
proxy-server
|
Configure a proxy servier in the form of
<host>:<port>
e.g.
proxy-host.com:8080
|
skip-github-release
|
If
true
, do not attempt to create releases. This is useful if splitting release tagging from PR creation.
|
skip-github-pull-request
|
If
true
, do not attempt to create release pull requests. This is useful if splitting release tagging from PR creation.
|
release-please
requires a GitHub token to access the GitHub API. You configure this token via
the
token
configuration option.
Warning
If using GitHub Actions, you will need to specify a
token
for your workflows to run on
Release Please's releases and PRs.
By default, Release Please uses the built-in
GITHUB_TOKEN
secret. However, all resources created
by
release-please
(release tag or release pull request) will not trigger future GitHub actions workflows,
and workflows normally triggered by
release.created
events will also not run.
From GitHub's
docs
:
When you use the repository's
GITHUB_TOKEN
to perform tasks, events triggered by the
GITHUB_TOKEN
will not create a new workflow run. This prevents you from accidentally creating recursive workflow runs.
You will want to configure a GitHub Actions secret with a
Personal Access Token
if you want GitHub Actions CI checks to run on Release Please PRs.
This workflow will need the following permissions in your workflow file:
permissions
:
contents
:
write
pull-requests
:
write
You may also need to set "Allow GitHub Actions to create and approve pull requests" under
repository Settings > Actions > General.
For more information about permissions:
Release Please automates releases for the following flavors of repositories:
release type
|
description
|
dart
|
A repository with a pubspec.yaml and a CHANGELOG.md
|
elixir
|
An elixir repository with a mix.exs and a CHANGELOG.md
|
expo
|
An Expo based React Native repository, with a package.json, app.json and CHANGELOG.md
|
go
|
Go repository, with a CHANGELOG.md
|
helm
|
A helm chart repository with a Chart.yaml and a CHANGELOG.md
|
java
|
A strategy that generates SNAPSHOT version after each release
|
krm-blueprint
|
A kpt package, with 1 or more KRM files and a CHANGELOG.md
|
maven
|
Strategy for Maven projects, generates SNAPSHOT version after each release and updates
pom.xml
automatically
|
node
|
A Node.js repository, with a package.json and CHANGELOG.md
|
ocaml
|
An OCaml repository, containing 1 or more opam or esy files and a CHANGELOG.md
|
python
|
A Python repository, with a setup.py, setup.cfg, version.py and CHANGELOG.md
and optionally a pyproject.toml and a <project>/__init__.py
|
php
|
A php composer package with composer.json and CHANGELOG.md
|
ruby
|
A Ruby repository, with version.rb and CHANGELOG.md
|
rust
|
A Rust repository, with a Cargo.toml (either as a crate or workspace) and a CHANGELOG.md
|
sfdx
|
A repository with a
sfdx-project.json
and a CHANGELOG.md
|
simple
|
A repository with a version.txt and a CHANGELOG.md
|
terraform-module
|
A terraform module, with a version in the README.md, and a CHANGELOG.md
|
New types of releases can be
added here
.
You can also find them in the
release-please repository
.
Properties that are available after the action executed.
output
|
description
|
releases_created
|
true
if any release was created,
false
otherwise
|
paths_released
|
A JSON string of the array of paths that had releases created (
[]
if )
|
prs_created
|
true
if any pull request was created or updated
|
pr
|
A JSON string of the
PullRequest object
(unset if no release created)
|
prs
|
A JSON string of the array of
PullRequest objects
(unset if no release created)
|
If you have a root component (path is
.
or unset), then the action will also output:
output
|
description
|
release_created
|
true
if a root component release was created,
false
otherwise
|
upload_url
|
Directly related to
Create a release
API
|
html_url
|
Directly related to
Create a release
API
|
tag_name
|
Directly related to
Create a release
API
|
major
|
Number representing major semver value
|
minor
|
Number representing minor semver value
|
patch
|
Number representing patch semver value
|
sha
|
SHA that a GitHub release was tagged at
|
If you have a monorepo or a component with
path
different than the root (
.
)
directory, then your outputs will have the
path
prefixed to the output name.
This prefix allows you to distinguish values for different releases.
output
|
description
|
<path>--release_created
|
true
if the release was created,
false
otherwise
|
<path>--upload_url
|
Directly related to
Create a release
API
|
<path>--html_url
|
Directly related to
Create a release
API
|
<path>--tag_name
|
Directly related to
Create a release
API
|
<path>--major
|
Number representing major semver value
|
<path>--minor
|
Number representing minor semver value
|
<path>--patch
|
Number representing patch semver value
|
<path>--sha
|
sha that a GitHub release was tagged at
|
If the path contains
/
you can access the outputs by using javascript like property access
steps.release.outputs[<path>--...]
e.g.:
run
:
npm publish --workflow packages/my-module
if
:
${{ steps.release.outputs['packages/my-module--release_created'] }}
Release Please automates CHANGELOG generation, the creation of GitHub releases,
and version bumps for your projects. Release Please does so by parsing your
git history, looking for
Conventional Commit messages
,
and creating release PRs.
Rather than continuously releasing what's landed to your default branch,
release-please maintains Release PRs:
These Release PRs are kept up-to-date as additional work is merged. When you're
ready to tag a release, simply merge the release PR.
How should I write my commits?
Release Please assumes you are using
Conventional Commit messages
.
The most important prefixes you should have in mind are:
fix:
which represents bug fixes, and correlates to a
SemVer
patch.
feat:
which represents a new feature, and correlates to a SemVer minor.
feat!:
, or
fix!:
,
refactor!:
, etc., which represent a breaking change
(indicated by the
!
) and will result in a SemVer major.
Supporting multiple release branches
release-please
has the ability to target not default branches. You can even use separate release strategies (
release-type
).
To configure, simply configure multiple workflows that specify a different
target-branch
:
Configuration for
main
(default) branch (
.github/workflows/release-main.yaml
):
on
:
push
:
branches
:
-
main
-
1.x
name
:
release-please
jobs
:
release-please
:
runs-on
:
ubuntu-latest
steps
:
-
uses
:
googleapis/release-please-action@v4
with
:
release-type
:
node
#
The short ref name of the branch or tag that triggered
#
the workflow run. For example, `main` or `1.x`
target-branch
:
${{ github.ref_name }}
Automating publication to npm
With a few additions, the Release Please action can be made to publish to
npm when a Release PR is merged:
on
:
push
:
branches
:
-
main
name
:
release-please
jobs
:
release-please
:
runs-on
:
ubuntu-latest
steps
:
-
uses
:
googleapis/release-please-action@v4
id
:
release
with
:
release-type
:
node
#
The logic below handles the npm publication:
-
uses
:
actions/checkout@v4
#
these if statements ensure that a publication only occurs when
#
a new release is created:
if
:
${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
-
uses
:
actions/setup-node@v4
with
:
node-version
:
12
registry-url
:
'
https://registry.npmjs.org
'
if
:
${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
-
run
:
npm ci
if
:
${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
-
run
:
npm publish
env
:
NODE_AUTH_TOKEN
:
${{secrets.NPM_TOKEN}}
if
:
${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
So that you can keep 2FA enabled for npm publications, we recommend setting
registry-url
to your own
Wombat Dressing Room
deployment.
Creating major/minor tags
If you are using release-please to publish a GitHub action, you will
likely want to tag a major and minor tag during a release, i.e., if you
are releasing
v2.8.3
, you will also want to update tags
v2
and
v2.8
. This allows your
users to pin to
v2
, and get updates to your library without updating their
workflows.
The
release-please-action
has the outputs
major
,
minor
, and
release_created
to facilitate this. These outputs can be used conditionally,
like so:
on
:
push
:
branches
:
-
main
name
:
release-please
jobs
:
release-please
:
runs-on
:
ubuntu-latest
steps
:
-
uses
:
googleapis/release-please-action@v4
id
:
release
with
:
release-type
:
node
-
uses
:
actions/checkout@v4
-
name
:
tag major and minor versions
if
:
${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
run
:
|
git config user.name github-actions[bot]
git config user.email 41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com
git remote add gh-token "https://${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}@github.com/googleapis/release-please-action.git"
git tag -d v${{ steps.release.outputs.major }} ||
true
git tag -d v${{ steps.release.outputs.major }}.${{ steps.release.outputs.minor }} ||
true
git push origin :v${{ steps.release.outputs.major }} ||
true
git push origin :v${{ steps.release.outputs.major }}.${{ steps.release.outputs.minor }} ||
true
git tag -a v${{ steps.release.outputs.major }} -m "Release v${{ steps.release.outputs.major }}"
git tag -a v${{ steps.release.outputs.major }}.${{ steps.release.outputs.minor }} -m "Release v${{ steps.release.outputs.major }}.${{ steps.release.outputs.minor }}"
git push origin v${{ steps.release.outputs.major }}
git push origin v${{ steps.release.outputs.major }}.${{ steps.release.outputs.minor }}
Attaching files to the GitHub release
You can attach additional files, such as release artifacts, to the GitHub release that is created. The
gh
CLI tool, which is installed on all runners, can be used for this.
This example uses the
gh
tool to attach the file
./artifact/some-build-artifact.zip
:
on
:
push
:
branches
:
-
main
name
:
release-please
jobs
:
release-please
:
runs-on
:
ubuntu-latest
steps
:
-
uses
:
googleapis/release-please-action@v4
id
:
release
with
:
release-type
:
node
-
name
:
Upload Release Artifact
if
:
${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}
env
:
GITHUB_TOKEN
:
${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
run
:
gh release upload ${{ steps.release.outputs.tag_name }} ./artifact/some-build-artifact.zip
If you were setting the
command
option, you will likely need to modify your configuration.
Command
|
New Configuration
|
Description
|
github-release
|
skip-github-pull-request: true
|
This command was used for only tagging releases. Now we tell release-please to skip opening release PRs.
|
release-pr
|
skip-github-release: true
|
This command was used for only opening release PRs. Now we tell release-please to skip tagging releases.
|
manifest
|
do not set
release-type
option
|
This command told release-please to use a manifest config file. This is now the default behavior unless you explicitly set a
release-type
.
|
manifest-pr
|
skip-github-release: true
and do not set
release-type
option
|
This command told release-please to use a manifest config file and only open the pull reuqest.
|
If you were previously configuring advanced options via GitHub action inputs, you
will need to configure via the release-please manifest configuration instead. Below,
you can see a mapping of the old option to the new option:
Old Option
|
New Option
|
Notes
|
path
|
$.packages
|
The root
packages
field is an object where the key is the
path
being configured
|
changelog-path
|
$.packages[path].changelog-path
|
Package-only option
|
component
|
$.packages[path].component
|
Package-only option
|
package-name
|
$.packages[path].package-name
|
Package-only option
|
always-link-local
|
$.always-link-local
|
Root-only option
|
bootstrap-sha
|
$.bootstrap-sha
|
Root-only option
|
commit-search-depth
|
$.commit-search-depth
|
Root-only option
|
group-pull-request-title-pattern
|
$.group-pull-request-title-pattern
|
Root-only option
|
last-release-sha
|
$.last-release-sha
|
Root-only option
|
plugins
|
$.plugins
|
Root-only option
|
release-search-depth
|
$.release-search-depth
|
Root-only option
|
sequential-calls
|
$.sequential-calls
|
Root-only option
|
skip-labeling
|
$.skip-labeling
|
Root-only option
|
signoff
|
$.signoff
|
Root-only option
|
bump-minor-pre-major
|
$.bump-minor-pre-major
or
$.packages[path].bump-minor-pre-major
|
Root or per-package option
|
bump-patch-for-minor-pre-major
|
$.bump-path-for-minor-pre-major
or
$.packages[path].bump-path-for-minor-pre-major
|
Root or per-package option
|
changelog-host
|
$.changelog-host
or
$.packages[path].changelog-host
|
Root or per-package option
|
changelog-notes-type
|
$.changelog-type
or
$.packages[path].changelog-type
|
Root or per-package option
|
changelog-types
|
$.changelog-sections
or
$.packages[path].changelog-sections
|
Root or per-package option
|
extra-files
|
$.extra-files
or
$.packages[path].extra-files
|
Root or per-package option
|
include-v-in-tag
|
$.include-v-in-tag
or
$.packages[path].include-v-in-tag
|
Root or per-package option
|
labels
|
$.label
or
$.packages[path].label
|
Root or per-package option
|
monorepo-tags
|
$.include-component-in-tag
or
$.packages[path].include-component-in-tag
|
Root or per-package option
|
prerelease
|
$.prerelease
or
$.packages[path].prerelease
|
Root or per-package option
|
pull-request-header
|
$.pull-request-header
or
$.packages[path].pull-request-header
|
Root or per-package option
|
pull-request-title-pattern
|
$.pull-request-title-pattern
or
$.packages[path].pull-request-title-pattern
|
Root or per-package option
|
release-as
|
$.release-as
or
$.packages[path].release-as
|
Root or per-package option
|
release-labels
|
$.release-label
or
$.packages[path].release-label
|
Root or per-package option
|
release-type
|
$.release-type
or
$.packages[path].release-type
|
Root or per-package option
|
separate-pull-requests
|
$.separate-pull-requests
or
$.packages[path].separate-pull-requests
|
Root or per-package option
|
skip-github-release
|
$.skip-github-release
or
$.packages[path].skip-github-release
|
Root or per-package option
|
snapshot-labels
|
$.snapshot-label
or
$.packages[path].snapshot-label
|
Root or per-package option
|
tag-separator
|
$.tag-separator
or
$.packages[path].tag-separator
|
Root or per-package option
|
version-file
|
$.version-file
or
$.packages[path].version-file
|
Root or per-package option
|
versioning-strategy
|
$.versioning
or
$.packages[path].versioning
|
Root or per-package option
|
Apache Version 2.0