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.

• Usage
• Why
• Configuration
  • Example with all inputs
  • Outputs

See action.yml.

• Use major version (recommended by GitHub): uses: codfish/semantic-release-action@v1
• Use latest version: uses: codfish/semantic-release-action@v1
• Use specific version: uses: codfish/[email protected]

Note: You can speed up runs by using pre-built docker images as well.

- uses: docker://codfish/semantic-release-action:v1
  env:
    GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}

Basic Usage:

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@master

  - uses: codfish/semantic-release-action@v1
    env:
      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}

Using output variables set by semantic-release-action:

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@master

  # you'll need to add an `id` in order to access output variables
  - uses: codfish/semantic-release-action@v1
    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 }}

Only run an action if a new version was created:

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@master

  # you'll need to add an `id` in order to access output variables
  - uses: codfish/semantic-release-action@v1
    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@master

  - uses: codfish/semantic-release-action@v1
    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.

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.

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. The action will automatically use any semantic-release configuration found 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.

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

steps:
  - run: codfish/semantic-release-action@v1
    with:
      dry_run: true
      branches: |
        [
          '+([0-9])?(.{+([0-9]),x}).x',
          'master',
          '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}'
      extends: '@semantic-release/apm-config'
      plugins: |
        ['@semantic-release/commit-analyzer', '@semantic-release/release-notes-generator', '@semantic-release/npm', '@semantic-release/github']
    env:
      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}

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:

Environment Variables: