Release Kit

A minimal CLI tool for automating release workflows with changelog generation, semantic versioning, and GitHub releases.

Installation

npm i -D @arianrhodsandlot/release-kit

Usage

The tool provides three main commands accessible via release-kit or the shorthand rk:

Create Release

Automates the full release process:

npx release-kit release
# or
npx rk release

This command:

1. Pulls latest changes from remote
2. Checks if changelog is up to date (generates if needed)
3. Prompts to commit changelog changes
4. Creates a git tag with the new version
5. Pushes the tag and commits to remote

Update Changelog

Automatically updates your changelog based on commits since the last release:

npx release-kit changelog
# or
npx rk changelog

This command:

• Reads commits since the last tagged version
• Groups them by type (feat, fix, etc.)
• Updates CHANGELOG.md with a new version entry
• Uses the date of generation and next semantic version

Commit Format: Uses conventional commits format (type: message)

• feat: commits appear under "Added" section
• fix: commits appear under "Fixed" section

Generate Release Notes

Extract release notes from the changelog for a specific version:

npx release-kit release-notes
# or with specific version
npx release-kit release-notes --version v1.0.0

This creates a release-notes.md file with the content for the specified version (or latest if not specified).

Version Determination

The tool automatically determines the next version using semantic versioning:

• Major version bump: Commits containing !: (breaking changes)
• Minor version bump: Commits starting with feat:
• Patch version bump: All other commits

Requirements

• Git repository
• package.json file
• changelog.md file following Keep a Changelog format
• pnpm (for checking current published version)

License

MIT