Automated package versioning and publishing using Changesets. This workflow uses the official changesets/action to create version PRs and publish packages to npm registries.

It operates in two phases:

1. Version phase: When changeset files exist, the action creates (or updates) a version PR containing bumped package.json versions, updated changelogs, and deleted changeset files.
2. Publish phase: When no changeset files exist (i.e., the version PR has been merged), the action runs the publish command to release packages to the registry.

1. Checks out the repository. Changelog entries with PR links are generated via the GitHub API by @changesets/changelog-github, so full git history is not required.
2. Sets up Node.js from .nvmrc, enables Corepack if packageManager is set in package.json, and configures the dependency cache.
3. Runs any pre-install-commands (typically registry configuration and auth tokens).
4. Installs dependencies using the configured package manager with a locked install.
5. Runs any pre-publish-commands (build steps, type generation, tests).
6. Configures Git as github-actions[bot] for version commits.
7. Runs changesets/[email protected] which either:
   • Creates/updates a version PR (when changeset files are present), or
   • Publishes packages to the registry (when no changeset files are present).
8. Prints published package names and versions if a publish occurred.
9. Runs any post-publish-commands after a successful publish.

Your project needs Changesets configured before using this workflow:

1. Install the CLI and changelog plugin:

   yarn add -D @changesets/cli @changesets/changelog-github

2. Initialise Changesets (if not already done):

   npx changeset init

3. Configure .changeset/config.json:

   {
     "$schema": "https://unpkg.com/@changesets/[email protected]/schema.json",
     "changelog": [
       "@changesets/changelog-github",
       { "repo": "aligent/your-repo-name" }
     ],
     "commit": false,
     "fixed": [],
     "linked": [],
     "access": "restricted",
     "baseBranch": "main",
     "updateInternalDependencies": "patch",
     "ignore": []
   }

   Set "access": "public" if publishing to the public npm registry.

4. Add convenience scripts to your root package.json:

   {
     "scripts": {
       "changeset": "changeset",
       "changeset:version-and-install": "changeset version && yarn install --mode update-lockfile",
       "release": "your-publish-command"
     }
   }

The three changeset workflows (changeset-release, changeset-check, update-lockfile) work together:

1. A developer opens a PR and adds a changeset via yarn changeset.
2. changeset-check verifies that affected packages have changesets and removes its advisory comment.
3. The PR is reviewed and merged to main.
4. changeset-release detects changeset files and creates (or updates) a version PR with bumped versions and updated changelogs.
5. update-lockfile regenerates the lockfile on the version PR so CI passes.
6. A maintainer reviews and merges the version PR.
7. changeset-release runs again, finds no changeset files, and publishes the packages.

No packages are published until the version PR is explicitly merged. This gives the team a chance to review version bumps and changelog entries before anything goes out.

Basic usage (public npm, default commands):

name: Release

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  release:
    uses: aligent/workflows/.github/workflows/changeset-release.yml@main

Private registry with pre-install commands:

name: Release

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
  workflow_dispatch:

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

jobs:
  release:
    uses: aligent/workflows/.github/workflows/changeset-release.yml@main
    with:
      pre-install-commands: |
        yarn config set npmScopes.aligent.npmRegistryServer "https://npm.corp.aligent.consulting"
        yarn config set npmScopes.aligent.npmAuthToken "$NPM_TOKEN"
        yarn config set enableGlobalCache false
    secrets:
      NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_PUBLISH_TOKEN }}

Hybrid approach (Changesets for versioning, nx release publish for publishing):

jobs:
  release:
    uses: aligent/workflows/.github/workflows/changeset-release.yml@main
    with:
      publish-command: yarn release
      version-command: yarn changeset:version-and-install
      pre-install-commands: |
        yarn config set npmScopes.aligent.npmRegistryServer "https://npm.corp.aligent.consulting"
        yarn config set npmScopes.aligent.npmAuthToken "$NPM_TOKEN"
        yarn config set enableGlobalCache false
      pre-publish-commands: |
        npm config set @aligent:registry https://npm.corp.aligent.consulting/
        npm config set //npm.corp.aligent.consulting/:_authToken $NPM_TOKEN
        yarn generate-types
    secrets:
      NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_PUBLISH_TOKEN }}

With pre-publish build and test steps:

jobs:
  release:
    uses: aligent/workflows/.github/workflows/changeset-release.yml@main
    with:
      npm-registry-url: https://registry.npmjs.org/
      pre-publish-commands: |
        yarn nx run-many --target=build --all
        yarn nx run-many --target=test --all
    secrets:
      NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}