@chof64/ex

Everything in here is experimental.

View project on GitHub

Release It

Overview

Release It is a tool that helps automate the release process of a project. It can be used to create releases, update changelogs, and publish releases to various platforms.

This document will delve on how to use the release-it GitHub Action workflow that I’ve created to automate the release process of a project. How to use release-it my way.

The Problem

I’m about to start a new project and I want to try and implement an automated versioning and release process. I’ve tried different implementation of this in the past, but it didn’t really work out as I wanted it to.

Semantic-release was one of the tools, but there was a lot of configuration and setup involved. I wanted something simpler and easier to use.

I have used release-it in the past and I liked how simple it was to use. I decided to use it again, but this time I wanted to automate the process using GitHub Actions.

This time, I also wanted a bit more control on the versioning. Where I can set when to do a major, minor, or patch release.

The Solution

I created a GitHub Action workflow that uses the release-it package to automate the release process. The workflow is simple and easy to use. It only requires a few configurations to get started.

  • Self contained: The workflow is self-contained and doesn’t require the release-it package to be installed in the project. This makes it easier to use in different projects, perhaps projects that don’t even use npm.
  • Simple: It requires minimal configuration and can be set up quickly. All you need is the GitHub Action workflow file and a release-it configuration file.
  • Bump based on PR labels: The workflow can be configured to bump the version based on the labels of the PRs merged into the main branch. This gives more control on when to do a major, minor, or patch release. Make sure to have major, minor, and patch labels in the PR before merging; it defaults to patch if no labels are found.
  • Cached NPM packages: The workflow caches the NPM packages to speed up the build process.

How to Use

To use the release-it GitHub Action workflow, you need to add the workflow file to your project and create a release-it configuration file.

Step 1: Add the Workflow File

Create a .github/workflows/release-it.yml file in your project by copying:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chof64/ex/refs/heads/main/.github/workflows/release.yml

  • Note: Make sure to update your repository settings to allow GitHub Actions read and write access to the repository. Settings > Actions > General > Workflow permissions > Read and write permissions.

Step 2: Create the Release-it Configuration File

Create a release-it.json file in the root of your project by copying:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chof64/ex/refs/heads/main/release-it.json

Step 3: Make sure to have the following labels in your PRs

  • release: major
  • release: minor
  • release: patch

Updates

  • Add prefix to PR labels.
  • Make the workflow more flexible, bump based on conventional commits if no labels are found.