release-police

Interactive release workflow CLI with configurable steps. Automates version bumping, testing, and publishing with beautiful prompts.

Features

• Interactive prompts with beautiful CLI UI
• Configurable via TypeScript, JavaScript, or package.json
• Dry-run mode to preview changes
• Skip individual steps via CLI flags
• Automatic remote sync detection
• Customizable test, build, and changelog commands
• GitHub release creation (draft or published)

Installation

npm install -D release-police

Or run directly:

npx release-police

Quick Start

# Run with defaults
npx release-police

# Preview what would happen
npx release-police --dry-run

# Skip tests
npx release-police --skip-tests

# Pre-select version type
npx release-police --version-type minor

Configuration

Generate a config file with all options:

npx release-police init

Or create release.config.ts manually:

import { defineConfig } from 'release-police';

export default defineConfig({
  // Branches that allow releases (default: ['main', 'master'])
  releaseBranches: ['main', 'master', 'release/*'],

  // Commands to run (set to null to skip)
  commands: {
    test: 'npm run test:all',     // default
    install: 'npm install',        // run after pulling
    build: null,                   // optional pre-release build
    changelog: null,               // optional changelog generation
  },

  // Git settings
  git: {
    pullStrategy: 'rebase',        // 'rebase' | 'merge' | 'ff-only'
    requireCleanWorkingDir: true,
  },

  // GitHub integration (optional)
  github: {
    release: false,        // Create GitHub release after push
    draft: true,           // Create as draft
    generateNotes: true,   // Auto-generate release notes
  },

  // Enable/disable steps
  steps: {
    checkBranch: true,
    syncRemote: true,
    runTests: true,
    commitChanges: true,
    versionBump: true,
    push: true,
    githubRelease: false,  // Matches github.release
  },
});

Alternative: Configure in package.json

For simple configurations, add to your package.json:

{
  "releasePolice": {
    "commands": {
      "test": "npm test"
    },
    "releaseBranches": ["main"]
  }
}

CLI Options

| Command/Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | init | Create a release.config.ts file with all options | | --dry-run | Preview what would happen without making changes | | --skip-tests | Skip the test step | | --skip-sync | Skip remote sync step | | --skip-push | Skip push to remote (local version bump only) | | --github-release | Create GitHub release after push | | --version-type <type> | Pre-select version bump: patch, minor, or major | | -c, --config <path> | Path to config file |

Workflow Steps

1. Branch Check - Verify you're on an allowed release branch
2. Remote Sync - Fetch and pull latest changes if behind
3. Run Tests - Execute your test command
4. Commit Changes - Stage and commit uncommitted changes
5. Version Bump - Interactive version selection (patch/minor/major)
6. Push - Push commits and tags to remote
7. GitHub Release - Create GitHub release (optional)

Programmatic Usage

import { runRelease, defineConfig, loadConfig } from 'release-police';

// Run with CLI options
await runRelease({
  dryRun: true,
  skipTests: false,
});

// Load and inspect config
const config = await loadConfig();
console.log(config.commands.test);

Examples

Custom test command

// release.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from 'release-police';

export default defineConfig({
  commands: {
    test: 'npm run lint && npm run test:unit && npm run test:e2e',
  },
});

Skip changelog (use AI-generated instead)

// release.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from 'release-police';

export default defineConfig({
  commands: {
    changelog: null, // Skip - generate with Claude Code instead
  },
});

CI-friendly release

# In CI, skip interactive prompts
npx release-police --version-type patch --skip-push

GitHub Release Integration

Create a GitHub release automatically after pushing:

// release.config.ts
import { defineConfig } from 'release-police';

export default defineConfig({
  github: {
    release: true,       // Enable GitHub release creation
    draft: true,         // Create as draft (recommended)
    generateNotes: true, // Auto-generate notes from commits
  },
});

Or via CLI flag:

npx release-police --github-release

Requirements: GitHub CLI must be installed and authenticated (gh auth login).

Why draft by default?

• Review and edit release notes before publishing
• Won't accidentally trigger CD workflows
• Matches the safe, interactive philosophy of release-police

Development

npm run build      # Build the package
npm run test       # Run tests
npm run lint       # Lint code
npm run typecheck  # Type check

License

MIT © oharu121