Release That

An opinionated GitHub Action to ease the release of a repository using semantic versioning

Minimal setup to enable semantic release on any repository

Step 1: Add the following content inside .github/workflows/release-that.yaml file

name: Release that
on: [push]
jobs:
  release-that:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      id-token: write
      contents: write
      issues: write
      pull-requests: write
    steps:
      - name: Checkout sources
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Release That
        uses: rlespinasse/release-that@v1

Step 2: Enjoy your automatic release system

Inputs

`dry-run`

Whether to make a release in dry-run mode. The outputs act like a release was published.

- uses: rlespinasse/release-that@v1
  with:
    dry-run: true

`without-prefix`

Remove prefix from released version, like v1.0.0 -> 1.0.0 (doesn't apply to major tag)

- uses: rlespinasse/release-that@v1
  with:
    without-prefix: true

`major-tag`

Activate the publication a major tag based on released version. Possible values true, false, and auto. If this tag already exists, it will be overwritten.

- uses: rlespinasse/release-that@v1
  with:
    major-tag: true

By default, the value is auto to activate it (like true) on some conditions, otherwise, it's skip (like false).

the repository is a GitHub Action due to metadata file presence action.yml or action.yaml (to follow GitHub Action recommandation)
do not hesitate to propose the next condition through issue or pull-request

`github-token`

Whether to use a Personal Access Token instead of the default GitHub Token for release

- uses: rlespinasse/release-that@v1
  with:
    github-token: ${{ secrets.YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN }}

By default ${{ github.token }} is used to make a release. Due to limitation for security concerns, if you want to build a workflows that react when a new release is made, you must use a Personal Access Token.

On repositories created before 2023-02-02, the default token was enough to let this action do its job. Now, new repository will always need to setup permissions to work properly. Please refer to setup documentation.

Tip

If you get a error on your workflow run about EGITNOPERMISSION Cannot push to the Git repository., you can add persist-credentials: false to fix it

- name: Checkout sources
  uses: actions/checkout@v4
  with:
    persist-credentials: false

Outputs

major_tag_published: Whether a major tag was published (true or false)
major_tag: Value of the published major tag, otherwise empty (e.g. v1)

And the following outputs from cycjimmy/semantic-release-action (see Under the wood section).

new_release_published: Whether a new release was published (true or false)
new_release_version: Version of the new release. (e.g. 1.3.0)
new_release_major_version: Major version of the new release. (e.g. 1)
new_release_minor_version: Minor version of the new release. (e.g. 3)
new_release_patch_version: Patch version of the new release. (e.g. 0)
last_release_version: Version of the previous release, if there was one. (e.g. 1.2.0)

Under the wood

This is a wrapper around cycjimmy/semantic-release-action action with

No mandatory configuration like package.json or .releaserc files
Support of Default branches
- with the addition of vN.x kind of branches
Auto-publication of a GitHub release with changelog based on the commit history