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publishit-cli

v1.0.0

Published

A CLI tool to automate versioning, changelog, GitHub release, and npm publish workflows.

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Links

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Maintainers

ptkelanatechsolutionsptkelanatechsolutions

Keywords

publishitpublish-itpublishit-clicligitgithubreleaseworkflowautomationnpmpublishversionversioningsemverchangelogconventional-commits

Readme

publishit

A CLI tool to automate GitHub releases, npm publishing workflows, changelog generation, and versioning — all from a single command.

Table of Contents

Installation

Global (recommended)

npm i -g publishit-cli

Local

npm i publishit-cli

Then use it via:

npx publishit <command>

Quick Start

# 1. Generate GitHub release workflow
publishit generate github

# 2. Generate npm publish workflow
publishit generate npm

# 3. Preview what will happen before pushing
publishit push --preview

# 4. Stage, commit, tag, generate changelog, and push
publishit push

Commands

publishit push

The main command. It does the following in order:

  1. Checks .git — verifies you are inside a Git repository.
  2. Checks package.json — verifies the file exists and has name and version fields.
  3. Checks staging area — shows staged and unstaged files.
    • If there are unstaged files, you will be prompted to select which ones to add to staging.
  4. Commit message — opens your system editor to write a commit message (supports multiline).
  5. Checks tags — detects the latest tag and calculates the next version based on your commit messages.
    • If no tags exist, it will suggest creating the first tag from package.json version.
  6. Generates CHANGELOG — writes or updates CHANGELOG.md from commit history.
  7. Updates versions — bumps version in package.json and package-lock.json.
  8. Creates release commit — commits CHANGELOG.md, package.json, and package-lock.json with message chore: release vX.X.X.
  9. Creates tag — tags the release commit (so CHANGELOG is included in the tag).
  10. Pushes — pushes the current branch and all tags to origin.
publishit push

publishit push --preview

Runs a dry-run of publishit push. Nothing is committed, tagged, or pushed. It shows:

  • Staged and unstaged files
  • The next tag and version bump type (MAJOR / MINOR / PATCH)
  • The new version number
  • A preview of the CHANGELOG entry
  • The branch and remote that will be pushed to
publishit push --preview

publishit generate github

Generates .github/workflows/release.yaml in the current directory.

This workflow:

  • Triggers on git push with a tag matching v*
  • Extracts the changelog entry for the tag version from CHANGELOG.md
  • Checks if a release for the tag already exists (skips if it does)
  • Creates a GitHub Release with the changelog as the release description

If the file already exists, you will be prompted to:

  • Overwrite — replace the existing file
  • Rename — create a new file with a custom name
  • Skip — do nothing
publishit generate github

Prerequisite: Go to your repository Settings > Actions > General > Workflow permissions and set it to Read and write permissions.

publishit generate npm

Generates .github/workflows/publish.yaml in the current directory.

This workflow:

  • Triggers on git push with a tag matching v*
  • Checks if NPM_TOKEN secret is set (skips with instructions if not)
  • Checks if the version is already published on npm (skips if it is)
  • Publishes the package to npm with --access public

If the file already exists, you will be prompted to overwrite, rename, or skip.

publishit generate npm

Prerequisite: Add your npm Access Token as a repository secret named NPM_TOKEN.

  1. Go to your repository Settings
  2. Under Security and quality, select Secrets and variables > Actions
  3. Select the Secrets tab
  4. Under Repository secrets, click New repository secret
  5. Set Name to NPM_TOKEN
  6. Set Secret to your npm Access Token (type: Automation)

Commit Message Rules

publishit follows the Conventional Commits specification to automatically determine the next version bump.

Format

<type>[optional scope][optional !]: <description>

[optional body]

[optional footer(s)]

Version Bump Rules

| Bump | Trigger | | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | MAJOR | Any commit with ! after the type/scope: feat!:, fix(auth)!: | | MAJOR | Any commit with BREAKING CHANGE: in the footer | | MINOR | Commits with type feat | | PATCH | Everything else (fix, chore, docs, refactor, perf, test, style, build, ci, revert) |

Examples

PATCH bump — any type that is not feat and has no breaking change:

fix(auth): resolve token expiry issue

Updated the token refresh logic to handle edge cases.
docs: update installation steps
refactor(parser): simplify commit log parsing

MINOR bump — type must be feat:

feat(cli): add --preview flag to push command
feat: support pnpm lockfile version update

MAJOR bump — using ! after type or scope:

feat(api)!: redesign authentication workflow
fix!: remove support for Node.js 14

MAJOR bump — using BREAKING CHANGE: in footer:

feat(auth): migrate to OAuth2

Replaced the legacy session-based auth system with OAuth2.

BREAKING CHANGE: existing session tokens are no longer valid.
All clients must re-authenticate using the new OAuth2 endpoints.

Multiline body with footer:

docs: rewrite contributing guide

- add commit message format section
- add branching strategy

REVIEWED BY: team-lead

Note: The chore: release vX.X.X commit created automatically by publishit is excluded from CHANGELOG generation and version bump detection.

Changelog Format

publishit generates and maintains a CHANGELOG.md file in your project root following the Keep a Changelog format.

Each version entry groups commits by their type and separates them with ---:

## [1.2.0] - 2026-05-07

add new login flow ([abc1234](https://github.com/owner/repo/commit/abc1234...))

### Added

- implement email/password login
- add token refresh on expiry

REVIEWED BY: team

---

fix null pointer on logout ([def5678](https://github.com/owner/repo/commit/def5678...))

### Fixed

HOTFIX: critical null reference in session cleanup

---

CHANGELOG sections

| Commit type | Section | | ---------------------- | ---------------- | | feat | Added | | fix | Fixed | | refactor | Changed | | revert | Reverted | | perf | Performance | | docs | Documentation | | style | Styling | | test | Testing | | chore, build, ci | Maintenance | | Breaking changes | Breaking Changes |

GitHub Workflows

release.yaml

Triggered on push of any tag matching v*. Creates a GitHub Release using the CHANGELOG entry for that version as the release description.

.github/workflows/release.yaml

Generated by: publishit generate github

publish.yaml

Triggered on push of any tag matching v*. Publishes the package to the npm registry if NPM_TOKEN is set and the version has not been published before.

.github/workflows/publish.yaml

Generated by: publishit generate npm

Dependencies

| Package | Version | Purpose | | --------------------------------------------------------------- | ------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | @inquirer/prompts | 8.4.2 | Interactive CLI prompts — checkbox for file selection, confirm dialogs, select menus, text input, and editor for commit messages | | ora | 9.4.0 | Terminal spinner / loading indicators shown during git operations, changelog generation, and push |

Project Requirements

  • Node.js >= 18
  • Git installed and configured
  • A Git repository with a remote named origin
  • A package.json with name and version fields

Uninstall / Removing

Uninstall

npm rm -g publishit-cli

Clear npm cache (optional)

npm cache clean --force