semantic-release-action

GitHub Action for running semantic-release. Respects any semantic-release configuration file in your repo or the release prop in your package.json. Exports environment variables for you to use in subsequent actions containing version numbers.

Note: v3 of this action uses semantic-release v22 & node v20.9. v2 uses semantic-release v20 & node v18.7.

• Usage
  • Which Version to Use
• Why
• Configuration
  • Example with all inputs
  • Outputs
• Recipes
  • Including all commit types in a release
• Maintenance

Important

Check the release notes for help migrating to v3.

Usage

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v3

  - uses: codfish/semantic-release-action@v3
    env:
      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}

Using output variables set by semantic-release-action:

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v3

  # you'll need to add an `id` in order to access output variables
  - uses: codfish/semantic-release-action@v3
    id: semantic
    env:
      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}

  - run: echo ${{ steps.semantic.outputs.release-version }}

  - run: echo "$OUTPUTS"
    env:
      OUTPUTS: ${{ toJson(steps.semantic.outputs) }}

  - uses: codfish/some-other-action@v1
    with:
      release-version: ${{ steps.semantic.outputs.release-version }}

Example: Only run an action if a new version was created.

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v3

  # you'll need to add an `id` in order to access output variables
  - uses: codfish/semantic-release-action@v3
    id: semantic
    env:
      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}

  - name: docker push version
    if: steps.semantic.outputs.new-release-published == 'true'
    run: |
      docker tag some-image some-image:$TAG
      docker push some-image:$TAG
    env:
      TAG: v$RELEASE_VERSION

Using environment variables set by semantic-release-action:

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v3

  - uses: codfish/semantic-release-action@v3
    env:
      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}

  - run: |
      echo $RELEASE_VERSION
      echo $RELEASE_MAJOR
      echo $RELEASE_MINOR
      echo $RELEASE_PATCH

If you're not publishing to npm and only want to use this action for GitHub releases, the easiest approach would simply be to add "private": true, to your package.json.

Which Version to Use

See action.yml.

steps:
  # Recommended: Docker image digest from GitHub Container Registry (best for speed & security)
  - uses: docker://ghcr.io/codfish/semantic-release-action@sha256:aeed7c9a41e4f4f8eb0887e14b38d85d2a5a3ad103603db809da36d1f94bfb3b

  # Major version of a release
  - uses: codfish/semantic-release-action@v3

  # Minor version of a release
  - uses: codfish/[email protected]

  # Specific commit
  - uses: codfish/semantic-release-action@ee5b4afec556c3bf8b9f0b9cd542aade9e486033

  # Git branch
  - uses: codfish/semantic-release-action@main

Note

Whenever you use a custom docker-based GitHub Action like this one, you may notice in your run logs, one of the first steps you'll see will be GA building the image for you. You can speed up runs by pulling pre-built docker images instead of making GitHub Actions build them on every run.

steps:
  # GitHub Container Registry
  - uses: docker://ghcr.io/codfish/semantic-release-action:v3

  # Dockerhub
  - uses: docker://codfish/semantic-release-action:v3

Tip

If you're security conscious, you can pin the docker image down to a specific digest instead of using an image tag, which is a mutable reference.

steps:
  # Docker image digest from GitHub Container Registry
  - uses: docker://ghcr.io/codfish/semantic-release-action@sha256:aeed7c9a41e4f4f8eb0887e14b38d85d2a5a3ad103603db809da36d1f94bfb3b

Where <digest> is any docker image digest you want here.

Why

It's fairly easy to run semantic-release as a "host action," aka something that runs directly on the VM.

steps:
  - run: npx semantic-release
    env:
      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}

If you're just publishing a node package, then this could still work well for you. The problem I found with this is when I was in projects where I had subsequent steps/actions in which I wanted to know whether a new version was cut.

Use Case: For instance, in an application where I'm using semantic-release to manage GitHub releases, but also building and pushing docker images. Dockerhub has a nice GitHub integration to handle this for us, but some other registries do not. If I need to cut a new release, then update a docker registry by adding a new tagged build, I'll want to run semantic-release and then build a docker image, tag it with a version and push it up. In my case I like to push up tags for latest, the semver (i.e. v1.8.3), and just the major the version (i.e. v1).

I want to know 1) if semantic-release cut a new version and 2) what the version is.

There's a number of ways to handle this, but the most elegant way I found to do it was to abstract it into it's own custom action. It abstracts away whatever logic you need to figure out what that new release number is.

This also scales well, just in case I want to add some flexibility and functionality to this action, I can easily leverage it across any project.

Configuration

You can pass in semantic-release configuration options via GitHub Action inputs using with.

It's important to note, NONE of these inputs are required. Semantic release has a default configuration that it will use if you don't provide any.

Also of note, if you'd like to override the default configuration, and you'd rather not use the inputs here, the action will automatically use any semantic-release configuration defined in your repo (.releaserc, release.config.js, release prop in package.json)

Note

Each input will take precedence over options configured in the configuration file and shareable configurations.

Input Variable	Type	Description	Default
branches	Array, String, Object	The branches on which releases should happen. Our default mimic's semantic-release's, with one major inclusion: the main branch.	['+([0-9])?(.{+([0-9]),x}).x', 'master', 'main', 'next', 'next-major', {name: 'beta', prerelease: true}, {name: 'alpha', prerelease: true}]
plugins	Array	Define the list of plugins to use. Plugins will run in series, in the order defined, for each steps if they implement it	Semantic default
extends	Array, String	List of modules or file paths containing a shareable configuration.	Semantic default
additional-packages	Array, String	Define a list of additional plugins/configurations (official or community) to install. Use this if you 1) use any plugins other than the defaults, which are already installed along with semantic-release or 2) want to extend from a shareable configuration.	[]
dry-run	Boolean	The objective of the dry-run mode is to get a preview of the pending release. Dry-run mode skips the following steps: prepare, publish, success and fail.	Semantic default
working-directory	String	The working directory to use for all semantic-release actions.	.
repository-url	String	The git repository URL	Semantic default
tag-format	String	The Git tag format used by semantic-release to identify releases.	Semantic default

Note

Any package specified in extends or additional-packages will be installed automatically for you as a convenience, allowing you to use this action without adding new dependencies to your application or install deps in a separate action step.

Note

additional-packages won't get used automatically, setting this variable will just install them so you can use them. You'll need to actually list them in your plugins and/or extends configuration for semantic-release to use them.

Note

The branch input is DEPRECATED. Will continue to be supported for v1. Use branches instead. Previously used in semantic-release v15 to set a single branch on which releases should happen.

• GitHub Actions Inputs: https://help.github.com/en/articles/metadata-syntax-for-github-actions#inputs
• Semantic Release Configuration: https://github.com/semantic-release/semantic-release/blob/master/docs/usage/configuration.md

Example with all inputs

steps:
  - run: codfish/semantic-release-action@v3
    with:
      dry-run: true
      branches: |
        [
          '+([0-9])?(.{+([0-9]),x}).x',
          'main',
          'next',
          'next-major',
          {
            name: 'beta',
            prerelease: true
          },
          {
            name: 'alpha',
            prerelease: true
          }
        ]
      repository-url: https://github.com/codfish/semantic-release-action.git
      tag-format: 'v${version}'
      working-directory: dist
      extends: '@semantic-release/apm-config'
      additional-packages: |
        ['@semantic-release/[email protected]', '@semantic-release/git']
      plugins: |
        ['@semantic-release/commit-analyzer', '@semantic-release/release-notes-generator', '@semantic-release/github', '@semantic-release/apm', '@semantic-release/git']
    env:
      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}

Outputs

semantic-release-action sets both output variables and environment variables because why not? Allows users the ability to use whichever they want. I don't know or understand every use case there might be so this is a way to cover more cases.

Docs: https://help.github.com/en/articles/metadata-syntax-for-github-actions#outputs

Output Variables

Output Variable	Description
new-release-published	Either 'true' when a new release was published or 'false' when no release was published. Allows other actions to run or not-run based on this
release-version	The new releases' semantic version, i.e. 1.8.3
release-major	The new releases' major version number, i.e. 1
release-minor	The new releases' minor version number, i.e. 8
release-patch	The new releases' patch version number, i.e. 3
release-notes	The release notes of the next release.
type	The semver export type of the release, e.g. major, prerelease, etc.
channel	The release channel of the release.
git-head	The git hash of the release.
git-tag	The version with v prefix.
name	The release name.

Environment Variables

Environment Variable	Description
NEW_RELEASE_PUBLISHED	Either 'true' when a new release was published or 'false' when no release was published. Allows other actions to run or not-run based on this
RELEASE_VERSION	The new releases' semantic version, i.e. 1.8.3
RELEASE_MAJOR	The new releases' major version number, i.e. 1
RELEASE_MINOR	The new releases' minor version number, i.e. 8
RELEASE_PATCH	The new releases' patch version number, i.e. 3
RELEASE_NOTES	The release notes of the next release in markdown.
RELEASE_TYPE	The semver export type of the release, e.g. major, prerelease, etc.
RELEASE_CHANNEL	The release channel of the release.
RELEASE_GIT_HEAD	The git hash of the release.
RELEASE_GIT_TAG	The version with v prefix.
RELEASE_NAME	The release name.

Recipes

Including all commit types in a release

By default, semantic-release only includes fix, feat, and perf commit types in the release. A lot of projects want to include all commit types in their release notes, while still using semantic-release's commit analyzer to only create releases for fix, feat, and perf commits.

- run: codfish/semantic-release-action@v3
  with:
    additional-packages: ['conventional-changelog-conventionalcommits@7']
    plugins: |
      [
        '@semantic-release/commit-analyzer',
        [
          "@semantic-release/release-notes-generator",
          {
            "preset": "conventionalcommits",
            "presetConfig": {
              "types": [
                { type: 'feat', section: 'Features', hidden: false },
                { type: 'fix', section: 'Bug Fixes', hidden: false },
                { type: 'perf', section: 'Performance Improvements', hidden: false },
                { type: 'revert', section: 'Reverts', hidden: false },
                { type: 'docs', section: 'Other Updates', hidden: false },
                { type: 'style', section: 'Other Updates', hidden: false },
                { type: 'chore', section: 'Other Updates', hidden: false },
                { type: 'refactor', section: 'Other Updates', hidden: false },
                { type: 'test', section: 'Other Updates', hidden: false },
                { type: 'build', section: 'Other Updates', hidden: false },
                { type: 'ci', section: 'Other Updates', hidden: false }
              ]
            }
          }
        ],
        '@semantic-release/npm',
        '@semantic-release/github'
      ]

This configuration uses the conventional-changelog-conventionalcommits package to generate release notes & configures @semantic-release/release-notes-generator to include all commit types. Tweaking the types array will allow you to include or exclude specific commit types & group them to your liking.

Important

This example uses the additional-packages input to install the conventional-changelog-conventionalcommits package. This is necessary because semantic-release doesn't install it by default & it's required for the customization of the presetConfig in the @semantic-release/release-notes-generator plugin.

Maintenance

Make the new release available to those binding to the major version tag: Move the major version tag (v2, v3, etc.) to point to the ref of the current release. This will act as the stable release for that major version. You should keep this tag updated to the most recent stable minor/patch release.

git tag -fa v3 -m "Update v3 tag" && git push origin v3 --force

Reference: https://github.com/actions/toolkit/blob/main/docs/action-versioning.md#recommendations