RELEASING.md

Release Process

Releases are published to npm automatically via GitHub Actions when a version tag is pushed to main.

Prerequisites

The following secret must be set in the GitHub repo (Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions):

Secret	Description
NPM_TOKEN	npm Automation token with publish access to @authorizerdev
REPOCHANGELOG_TOKEN	GitHub token used to create the release changelog

To generate an NPM_TOKEN: npmjs.com → Account → Access Tokens → Generate New Token → Automation.

Steps

1. Ensure main is clean and up to date

   git checkout main
   git pull origin main
   git status  # should be clean

2. Bump the version in package.json

   Follow semver:

   • patch (e.g. 3.2.0 → 3.2.1) — bug fixes, CI/tooling changes
   • minor (e.g. 3.2.0 → 3.3.0) — new backwards-compatible features
   • major (e.g. 3.2.0 → 4.0.0) — breaking changes

   # Edit package.json manually, or use bumpp interactively:
   pnpm bumpp

   If using bumpp, it will prompt for the version, then commit, tag, and push automatically — skip steps 3–5.

3. Commit the version bump

   git add package.json
   git commit -m "chore: release v<version>"

4. Create the tag

   git tag v<version>

5. Push the commit and tag

   git push origin main --tags

What Happens Next

Pushing the tag triggers the .github/workflows/release.yml workflow which:

1. Installs dependencies with pnpm
2. Builds the package (pnpm build)
3. Publishes to npm (pnpm publish)
4. Creates a GitHub Release with an auto-generated changelog

Monitor the run in the Actions tab of the repository.

Beta / RC Releases

For pre-releases, use a pre-release tag:

# beta
npm version 3.3.0-beta.1
git push origin main --tags

# Then publish manually with the right tag:
pnpm publish --tag beta

Pre-release versions are not published automatically by the CI workflow — only v* tags without a pre-release suffix trigger the full pipeline.