Release Please Configuration

What it does

This skill configures the release-please tool to automate version management and release creation across your repositories. It allows AI agents to define specific release rules, such as determining how versions are incremented based on commit types or which branches trigger releases.

When to use it

• Automating semantic versioning updates for multiple projects simultaneously without manual intervention.
• Enforcing strict release policies where only specific labels (e.g., breaking-change) trigger major version bumps.
• Managing release trains across different branch strategies, such as mainline development versus feature branches.
• Generating standardized changelogs that aggregate changes from various commit messages into a single release note.

Key capabilities

• Defines custom versioning rules for incrementing major, minor, and patch numbers.
• Configures trigger conditions based on branch names or specific labels attached to commits.
• Generates release pull requests with formatted changelogs automatically.
• Supports integration with various package managers and hosting platforms like GitHub and GitLab.

Example prompts

• "Configure release-please to bump the major version only when a commit contains the label 'breaking-change'."
• "Set up a release configuration that creates separate release pull requests for each subdirectory in a monorepo."
• "Generate a release-please config file that triggers releases on every merge to the main branch and formats changelogs using Conventional Commits."

Tips & gotchas

Ensure your repository contains commit messages following the Conventional Commits specification, as release-please relies heavily on these patterns to determine version increments. Always review generated release pull requests before merging to verify that the automated versioning logic aligns with your project's release strategy.