Release Please Action

Automate releases with Conventional Commit Messages.

Setting up this action

1. If you haven't already done so, create a .github/workflows folder in your repository (this is where your actions will live).

2. Now create a .github/workflows/release-please.yml file with these contents:

    on:
      push:
        branches:
          - main
    name: release-please
    jobs:
      release-please:
        runs-on: ubuntu-latest
        steps:
          - uses: GoogleCloudPlatform/release-please-action@v2.3.0
            with:
              token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
              release-type: node
              package-name: release-please-action

3. 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.

Configuration

input	description
token	A GitHub secret token, you will most likely want to use the special secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN
release-type	What type of project is this a release for? Reference Release types supported; new types of releases can be added here
package-name	A name for the artifact releases are being created for (this might be the name field in a setup.py or package.json)
bump-minor-pre-major	Should breaking changes before 1.0.0 produce minor bumps? Default No
path	create a release from a path other than the repository's root
monorepo-tags	add prefix to tags and branches, allowing multiple libraries to be released from the same repository.
changelog-types	A JSON formatted String containing to override the outputted changlog sections

output	description
release_created	true if the release was created, false otherwise
upload_url	Directly related to Create a release API
tag_name	Directly related to Create a release API
fork	Should the PR be created from a fork (does not work with secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN)

Release types supported

Release Please automates releases for the following flavors of repositories:

release type	description
node	A Node.js repository, with a package.json and CHANGELOG.md
python	A Python repository, with a setup.py, setup.cfg, and CHANGELOG.md
ruby	A Ruby repository, with version.rb and CHANGELOG.md
terraform-module	A terraform module, with a version in the README.md, and a CHANGELOG.md
simple	A repository with a version.txt and a CHANGELOG.md

How release please works

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.

What's a Release PR?

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.

Overriding the Changelog Sections

To output more commit information in the changelog, a JSON formatted String can be added to the Action using the changelog-types input parameter. This could look something like this:

    on:
      push:
        branches:
          - main
    name: release-please
    jobs:
      release-please:
        runs-on: ubuntu-latest
        steps:
          - uses: GoogleCloudPlatform/release-please-action@v2.3.0
            with:
              token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
              release-type: node
              package-name: release-please-action
              changelog-types: '[{"type":"feat","section":"Features","hidden":false},{"type":"fix","section":"Bug Fixes","hidden":false},{"type":"chore","section":"Miscellaneous","hidden":false}]'

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: GoogleCloudPlatform/release-please-action@v2.3.0
        id: release
        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          release-type: node
          package-name: test-release-please
      # The logic below handles the npm publication:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
        # 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@v1
        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.

License

Apache Version 2.0