Setting Up Release-Please

This skill guides you through setting up release-please in a repository.

Before You Start

Ask the user (if not clear from context):

1. What language/framework? (determines

   release-type

   )
2. Single package or monorepo?
3. Current version of the package(s)?

Setup Steps

1. Create GitHub Actions Workflow

Create

.github/workflows/release-please.yml

:

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write

name: release-please

jobs:
  release-please:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: googleapis/release-please-action@v4
        with:
          release-type: <type>  # See references/release-types.md

If the user needs CI to run on release PRs (common), they need a PAT:

        with:
          token: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN }}

2. Create Config Files (for advanced setups)

For monorepos or custom config, create manifest files instead of using

release-type

input.

release-please-config.json:

{
  "packages": {
    ".": {
      "release-type": "<type>"
    }
  }
}

.release-please-manifest.json:

{
  ".": "<current-version>"
}

Then update the workflow to omit

release-type

:

- uses: googleapis/release-please-action@v4
  with:
    token: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN }}

3. Bootstrap Existing Repository

For repos with existing releases, set the current version in

.release-please-manifest.json

to match the latest release tag.

If there's extensive commit history, add

bootstrap-sha

to config to limit changelog scope:

{
  "bootstrap-sha": "<commit-sha-before-first-desired-commit>",
  "packages": { ... }
}

Common Setup Patterns

Node.js Package

• release-type: node

• Updates

  package.json

  and

  CHANGELOG.md

Python Package

• release-type: python

• Updates

  pyproject.toml

  /

  setup.py

  and

  CHANGELOG.md

Go Module

• release-type: go

• Updates

  CHANGELOG.md

  only (version from tags)

Monorepo

• Use manifest config with multiple packages
• Consider

  node-workspace

  or

  cargo-workspace

  plugins
• See

  references/manifest-config.md

Post-Setup Checklist

Tell the user:

1. Commit and push the new files
2. Start using conventional commits:

   feat:

   ,

   fix:

   ,

   feat!:

3. Use squash-merge for PRs (cleaner changelogs)
4. Release-please will create a Release PR after releasable commits
5. Merge the Release PR to create the GitHub release

Reference Files

Read these for detailed options:

• references/release-types.md

  - All supported languages

• references/github-actions.md

  - Action inputs, outputs, examples

• references/manifest-config.md

  - Full config options, plugins, monorepos