Release Please Development

Configure automated versioning, changelog generation, and releases using Google's release-please.

Quick Reference

• Single Package Pattern - Simple repos with one version
• Multi-Package Pattern - Monorepos with independent versions
• Configuration Options - All available settings

Overview

Release-please automates:

• Version bumping based on conventional commits
• CHANGELOG.md generation
• GitHub release creation
• Version updates in files (package.json, Chart.yaml, etc.)

Core Files

.github/
├── release-please-config.json    # Package configuration
├── release-please-manifest.json  # Current version tracking
└── workflows/
    └── release.yaml              # GitHub Actions workflow

When to Use Each Pattern

Basic Setup

1. Create Config File

.github/release-please-config.json:

{
  "release-type": "simple",
  "packages": {
    ".": {
      "changelog-path": "CHANGELOG.md"
    }
  }
}

2. Create Manifest

.github/release-please-manifest.json:

{
  ".": "0.0.1"
}

3. Add GitHub Workflow

.github/workflows/release.yaml:

name: Release

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: googleapis/release-please-action@v4
        with:
          config-file: .github/release-please-config.json
          manifest-file: .github/release-please-manifest.json

Release Types

Updating Extra Files

Use extra-files to update versions in arbitrary files:

{
  "packages": {
    ".": {
      "extra-files": [
        {
          "type": "json",
          "path": "manifest.json",
          "jsonpath": "$.version"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code Plugin Marketplaces

For marketplaces with multiple plugins sharing a single version:

{
  "release-type": "simple",
  "packages": {
    ".": {
      "changelog-path": "CHANGELOG.md",
      "extra-files": [
        {
          "type": "json",
          "path": ".claude-plugin/marketplace.json",
          "jsonpath": "$.plugins[0].version"
        },
        {
          "type": "json",
          "path": ".claude-plugin/marketplace.json",
          "jsonpath": "$.plugins[1].version"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Add a jsonpath entry for each plugin in the marketplace. When adding new plugins, update both:

1. .claude-plugin/marketplace.json - add the plugin entry
2. .github/release-please-config.json - add jsonpath for the new plugin's version

Conventional Commits

Release-please uses commit prefixes to determine version bumps:

How It Works

1. Push commits to main with conventional commit messages
2. Release-please creates/updates a release PR
3. Merge the release PR to create a GitHub release
4. Tags and changelog are automatically generated

See Also

• Single Package Example - Detailed single-package setup
• Multi-Package Example - Monorepo configuration
• Configuration Reference - All options explained