semantic-release

What is semantic-release?

The semantic-release npm package automates the versioning and package publishing process based on semantic versioning (SemVer) principles. It analyzes commits since the last release to determine the type of version change (major, minor, or patch) and generates a changelog. It then publishes the new version to npm and can also update GitHub/GitLab releases.

What are semantic-release's main functionalities?

Automated Version Management

Automatically analyzes commits, determines the next semantic version, generates a changelog, and publishes the package. The code snippet shows a basic configuration in a package.json file.

"release": {
  "branches": ["main"],
  "plugins": [
    "@semantic-release/commit-analyzer",
    "@semantic-release/release-notes-generator",
    "@semantic-release/npm",
    "@semantic-release/github"
  ]
}

Customizable Plugins

semantic-release's behavior can be customized with plugins. This example configures the commit analyzer and release notes generator to use the Angular preset.

"plugins": [
  ["@semantic-release/commit-analyzer", {
    "preset": "angular"
  }],
  ["@semantic-release/release-notes-generator", {
    "preset": "angular"
  }],
  "@semantic-release/npm",
  "@semantic-release/github"
]

Continuous Integration (CI) Configuration

Integrates with CI tools like GitHub Actions to automate the release process. This example shows a GitHub Actions workflow that sets up a job for semantic-release.

{
  "name": "semantic-release",
  "on": {
    "push": {
      "branches": ["main"]
    }
  },
  "jobs": {
    "release": {
      "runs-on": "ubuntu-latest",
      "steps": [
        {
          "name": "Checkout repository",
          "uses": "actions/checkout@v2"
        },
        {
          "name": "Setup Node.js",
          "uses": "actions/setup-node@v1",
          "with": {
            "node-version": "12"
          }
        },
        {
          "name": "semantic-release",
          "uses": "semantic-release-plus/docker@v1",
          "env": {
            "GITHUB_TOKEN": "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}",
            "NPM_TOKEN": "${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Other packages similar to semantic-release

standard-version

Similar to semantic-release, standard-version automates versioning and CHANGELOG generation based on commit messages, following the Conventional Commits specification. Unlike semantic-release, it does not automatically publish to npm or create GitHub/GitLab releases, focusing instead on versioning and changelog generation.

release-it

release-it is a CLI tool for automating versioning and package publishing, similar to semantic-release. It supports plugins for extending functionality but requires more manual configuration for things like generating changelogs and determining version bumps based on commit messages.

lerna

While primarily a tool for managing monorepos, Lerna also offers features for automated package publishing similar to semantic-release. It can increment package versions and publish to npm, but it's more focused on managing dependencies and versions across multiple packages in a monorepo.

README

📦🚀 semantic-release

Fully automated version management and package publishing

semantic-release automates the whole package release workflow including: determining the next version number, generating the release notes, and publishing the package.

This removes the immediate connection between human emotions and version numbers, strictly following the Semantic Versioning specification and communicating the impact of changes to consumers.

Trust us, this will change your workflow for the better. – egghead.io

Highlights

• Fully automated release
• Enforce Semantic Versioning specification
• New features and fixes are immediately available to users
• Notify maintainers and users of new releases
• Use formalized commit message convention to document changes in the codebase
• Publish on different distribution channels (such as npm dist-tags) based on git merges
• Integrate with your continuous integration workflow
• Avoid potential errors associated with manual releases
• Support any package managers and languages via plugins
• Simple and reusable configuration via shareable configurations

How does it work?

Commit message format

semantic-release uses the commit messages to determine the consumer impact of changes in the codebase. Following formalized conventions for commit messages, semantic-release automatically determines the next semantic version number, generates a changelog and publishes the release.

By default, semantic-release uses Angular Commit Message Conventions. The commit message format can be changed with the preset or config options of the @semantic-release/commit-analyzer and @semantic-release/release-notes-generator plugins.

Tools such as commitizen or commitlint can be used to help contributors and enforce valid commit messages.

The table below shows which commit message gets you which release type when semantic-release runs (using the default configuration):

Commit message	Release type
fix(pencil): stop graphite breaking when too much pressure applied	Patch Fix Release
feat(pencil): add 'graphiteWidth' option	Minor Feature Release
perf(pencil): remove graphiteWidth option BREAKING CHANGE: The graphiteWidth option has been removed. The default graphite width of 10mm is always used for performance reasons.	Major Breaking Release (Note that the BREAKING CHANGE: token must be in the footer of the commit)

Automation with CI

semantic-release is meant to be executed on the CI environment after every successful build on the release branch. This way no human is directly involved in the release process and the releases are guaranteed to be unromantic and unsentimental.

Triggering a release

For each new commit added to one of the release branches (for example: master, next, beta), with git push or by merging a pull request or merging from another branch, a CI build is triggered and runs the semantic-release command to make a release if there are codebase changes since the last release that affect the package functionalities.

semantic-release offers various ways to control the timing, the content and the audience of published releases. See example workflows in the following recipes:

• Using distribution channels
• Maintenance releases
• Pre-releases

Release steps

After running the tests, the command semantic-release will execute the following steps:

Step	Description
Verify Conditions	Verify all the conditions to proceed with the release.
Get last release	Obtain the commit corresponding to the last release by analyzing Git tags.
Analyze commits	Determine the type of release based on the commits added since the last release.
Verify release	Verify the release conformity.
Generate notes	Generate release notes for the commits added since the last release.
Create Git tag	Create a Git tag corresponding to the new release version.
Prepare	Prepare the release.
Publish	Publish the release.
Notify	Notify of new releases or errors.

Requirements

In order to use semantic-release you need:

• To host your code in a Git repository
• Use a Continuous Integration service that allows you to securely set up credentials
• A Git CLI version that meets our version requirement installed in your Continuous Integration environment
• A Node.js version that meets our version requirement installed in your Continuous Integration environment

Documentation

• Usage
  • Getting started
  • Installation
  • CI Configuration
  • Configuration
  • Plugins
  • Workflow configuration
  • Shareable configurations
• Extending
  • Plugins
  • Shareable configuration
• Recipes
  • CI configurations
  • Git hosted services
  • Release workflow
• Developer guide
  • JavaScript API
  • Plugins development
  • Shareable configuration development
• Support
  • Resources
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Troubleshooting
  • Node version requirement
  • Node Support Policy

Get help

• GitHub Discussions
• Stack Overflow
• Twitter

Badge

Let people know that your package is published using semantic-release and which commit-convention is followed by including this badge in your readme.

[![semantic-release: angular](https://img.shields.io/badge/semantic--release-angular-e10079?logo=semantic-release)](https://github.com/semantic-release/semantic-release)

Team

Gregor Martynus	Pierre Vanduynslager	Matt Travi

Alumni

Stephan Bönnemann	Rolf Erik Lekang	Johannes Jörg Schmidt	Finn Pauls	Christoph Witzko