Release 'em!

CLI release tool for multiple packages, built on Release It!

Release 'em! automates the tedious tasks of software releases. It does all of the great things that Release It! does, like bump versions, tag source repos, changelogs, etc., and also coordinates this across multiple packages, keeping local dependency versions in sync across your packages.

It works especially well when used in conjunction with yarn workspaces. It also works equally well with both mono- and multi-repo configurations.

Installation

It is recommended that Release 'em! is either installed globally or used programmatically (see below).

yarn add --global release-em

Usage

release-em <releaseDirectory> [releaseDirectory] [...] [options]

Multiple directories can be specified. Any valid glob expression can be used. Directories must be immediate children of the workspace root.

Use of the --validate option is highly recommended! It will perform an initial dry run and prevent partially completed releases due to minor errors like unstaged changes in a package.

Use the --verbose option to see what local dependencies are affected in each package.

Release 'em! will terminate on the first error encountered.

Options are as follows:

-c	--config	Specify the configuration file path
-d	--dry-run	Do not touch or write anything, but show the commands
-h	--help	Print these options
-i	--increment	Increment "major", "minor", "patch", or "pre*" version; or specify version [default: "patch"]
-I	--interactive	Prompt each change
-n	--no-commit	Don't create a git commit or tag for released packages
-p	--prerelease-id	Tag to use for prerelease versions
-r	--release	Create a github release for packages being released
-t	--target-path	Specify the path of the workspace to release
	--validate	Perform a quiet dry run first for validation
-v	--version	Print version number
-V	--verbose	Verbose output

Using With Mono-Repo Configurations

By default, Release 'em! will create a git commit in each package directory. For mono-repo configurations, this would create multiple commits in the same repo. Use the --no-commit option to prevent this from happening.

Note that no checks for uncommitted / unstaged changes in the repository are made when this option is enabled, and changes are not committed, tagged or pushed.

Enabling Automatic Github Releases

Automatic creation of github releases using the --github-release option requires the configuration of a github personal access token. Follow the Release It! instructions for obtaining and configuring a token, skipping "Configure github.release: true".

Examples

release-em tools.*

Release a new patch for packages in directories starting with tools.. Any dependant packages in the workspace will have the dependency sections of their package.json updated accordingly.

release-em tools.* libraries.* -i premajor -p alpha -t packages

Release a new alpha version of packages in directories starting with tools. or libraries. in the packages directory.

release-em !+(app|admin) -i minor --validate

Release a new minor version of everything except the app or admin packages, performing a validation run before any changes are made.

Configuration

Release 'em! uses the default Release It! configuration for packages being released (bump version, publish, tag, changelog), as well as updating local dependency versions for packages in the workspace not being released.

Additional configuration can be specified by either adding a release-em section to the workspace root package.json file:

{
  "private": true,
  "workspaces": [
    "app*"
  ],
  "release-em": {
    "preReleaseId": "alpha"
  }
}

by creating a file named release-em.json:

{
  "preReleaseId": "alpha"
}

or release-em.js:

module.exports = {
  preReleaseId: "alpha"
}

The complete list of configuration options appears below:

Name	Default	Description
commonConfig		Release It! specific configuration for all packages
configPath	'release-em'	Specify the configuration file path
dryRun	false	Do not touch or write anything, but show the commands
githubRelease	false	Create a github release for packages being released
increment	'patch'	Increment "major", "minor", "patch", or "pre*" version; or specify version
interactive	false	Prompt each change
noCommit	false	Don't create a git commit or tag for released packages
nonReleaseConfig		Release It! specific options for packages not being released
preReleaseId		Prerelease tag name, e.g. "alpha"
releaseConfig		Release It! specific options for packages being released
releasePaths		An array of directory names of packages to release. Use * as a wildcard.
targetPath	'.'	Specify the path of the workspace to release
validate	false	Perform a quiet dry run first for validation
verbose	false	Verbose output

The Release It! configuration for individual packages can be set by creating a .release-it.json or a release-it section in the package.json file for each package. Be aware that the options specified in Release 'em! configuration will override these individual settings.

Please see the Release It! documentation and default options for details on configuring Release It!

Examples

By default, Release 'em! won't create git commits for packages not being published. To create a commit for these packages as well using the workspace root package.json file:

{
  "private": true,
  "workspaces": [
    "app",
    "tools.*"
  ],
  "release-em": {
    "nonReleaseConfig": {
      "git": {
        "commit": true,
        "commitMessage": "Update dependencies",
        "tag": false,
        "push": true    
      }
    }
  }
}

To customise the commit message for released packages using a Javascript configuration file:

const os = require('os')

module.exports = {
  releaseConfig: {
    git: {
      commitMessage: `Release \${version} at ${new Date().toUTCString()} from ${os.hostname()}`
    }
  }
}

Using Release 'em! Programmatically

Release 'em! has a very simple API, exposing a single function expecting an object with configuration data, as described above. The function returns a promise that will resolve with an array of the results for each call to Release It! or reject with the reason for failure.

const release = require('release-em')
const results = await release({
  preReleaseId: 'beta',
  increment: 'premajor'
})
console.log(JSON.stringify(results, null, 2))

Credits

All the folks involved with Release It!

Thanks for your hard work and dedication to the community!