semantic-release
Advanced tools
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.
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 }}"
}
}
]
}
}
}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 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.
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 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
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 | |
feat(pencil): add 'graphiteWidth' option | |
perf(pencil): remove graphiteWidth optionBREAKING CHANGE: The graphiteWidth option has been removed.The default graphite width of 10mm is always used for performance reasons. | (Note that the BREAKING CHANGE: token must be in the footer of the commit) |
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.
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:
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. |
In order to use semantic-release you need:
Let people know that your package is published using semantic-release and which commit-convention is followed by including this badge in your readme.
[](https://github.com/semantic-release/semantic-release)
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Gregor Martynus | Pierre Vanduynslager | Matt Travi |
 |  |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stephan Bönnemann | Rolf Erik Lekang | Johannes Jörg Schmidt | Finn Pauls | Christoph Witzko |
FAQs
Automated semver compliant package publishing
The npm package semantic-release receives a total of 1,083,270 weekly downloads. As such, semantic-release popularity was classified as popular.
We found that semantic-release demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 4 open source maintainers collaborating on the project.
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