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.
📦🚀 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
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:
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:
Documentation
- Usage
- Extending
- Recipes
- Developer guide
- Support
Get help
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)
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