pr-semver-release-action

An opinionated GitHub action that makes it easy to create semver releases based on merging labeled PRs.

Usage

Before using this action, you should manually create a tag and release in your repository representing the initial version. This action requires that release/tag to exist in order to calculate the first release version that it creates. This version tag must be a semantic version and have a prefix that matches the version_prefix input. For example, if version_prefix is set to v, the initial version tag should be something like v0.0.0.

Single Workflow

The following example workflow can be used when there are no additional steps needed after the release is created, such as building and uploading artifacts to the release. This is a good option for publishing Terraform modules or GitHub Actions that do not need to be compiled.

Just create a workflow in your repository like this:

name: Release or Label Workflow
run-name: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' && 'Create Release Version' || 'Require PR Labels' }}

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, labeled, unlabeled, synchronize]
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  release_or_label:
    name: ${{ github.event_name == 'push' && 'release_on_push' || 'require_label' }}
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: 7Factor/pr-semver-release-action@v1
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          update_major_minor_tags: true # Optional, but recommended for Terraform modules and GitHub Actions

Separate Workflows

Often times, you may need to perform additional steps after the release is created, such as building and uploading artifacts to the release. In this case, you can create two separate workflows: one for requiring PR labels and one for creating the release.

Require PR Labels Workflow

name: Require PR Labels

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, labeled, unlabeled, synchronize]

jobs:
  require_label:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: 7Factor/pr-semver-release-action@v1
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Create Release Workflow

name: Release on Push

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  # Generally, the release should be created first, so that the release version is available to subsequent steps.
  # Additionally, if the release fails, the workflow can be retried without wasting time on other steps.
  create_release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: 7Factor/pr-semver-release-action@v1
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

  build_artifact:
    needs: [create_release] # Or skip this line to run in parallel with create_release
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
    
      # ... Steps for building ...

      - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: build-artifact
          path: ./dist # Upload the dist directory or w/e build artifacts you have

  upload_release_artifact:
    needs: [create_release, build_artifact]
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: write
    steps:
      - uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: build-artifact
          path: . # Don't specify the folder name you uploaded since that folder is part of the uploaded artifact

      - name: Upload Release Artifacts
        env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
        run: |
          zip -r artifact.zip dist/
          gh release upload ${{ needs.create_release.outputs.tag_name }} artifact.zip --repo $GITHUB_REPOSITORY

  # Deploy jobs could follow here