rlsbl

Release orchestration and project scaffolding for npm, PyPI, Go, and 15 more release targets.

Install

From PyPI:

uv tool install rlsbl

From npm (wrapper):

npm i -g rlsbl

Quick start

rlsbl scaffold          # set up CI/CD, hooks, changelog, pipelines
# ... develop, commit ...
rlsbl release init      # scaffold .rlsbl/releases/unreleased.toml
# ... edit bump type, targets, pipelines ...
rlsbl release run       # bump, tag, push, publish, create GitHub Release
rlsbl watch <sha>       # monitor CI for that release

Commands

All commands auto-detect targets (versioning) from project files (package.json, pyproject.toml, go.mod) and pipelines (publishing) from .rlsbl/config.json. Targets handle version bumps; pipelines handle where releases are published.

| Command | Description | | --- | --- | | check | Run project checks registered via the check framework and report results | | status | Display the current project version, branch, last release tag, unreleased commit count, and changelog coverage. Outputs plain text by default or structured JSON with the --json flag. | | scaffold | Generate or update CI/CD workflows, git hooks, changelog, and license files. Safe to run repeatedly -- three-way merges template changes with your customizations. Existing files with no stored merge base are healed from their last scaffold commit before merging. | | check-name | Query npm, PyPI, crates.io, or other registries to check whether one or more package names are available. Accepts multiple names as positional arguments and respects a configurable delay between checks. | | claim-name | Claim a name on a package registry by publishing a minimal placeholder package. Runs check-name first, then publishes if available. | | discover | Search GitHub for repositories tagged with the rlsbl topic and list them. Use --mine to filter results to only your own repositories. Requires the gh CLI to be authenticated. | | watch | Poll GitHub Actions CI workflow runs for a specific commit SHA and report pass or fail status. Defaults to HEAD if no SHA is provided. Useful after rlsbl release to monitor the publish pipeline. | | pre-push-check | Verify that CHANGELOG.md contains an entry matching the current project version. Designed to run as a git pre-push hook to prevent pushing releases without documented changes. | | prs | List all open pull requests for the current repository using the GitHub CLI. Shows PR number, title, author, and branch for a quick overview of pending work. | | push | Push the current branch to origin with preflight checks: branch guard (refuses release branches), changelog coverage validation with actionable remediation hints, and behind-remote detection. Use rlsbl release run for release branches. | | unreleased | List commits between the latest release tag and HEAD, and check whether each has a corresponding changelog entry. Outputs a coverage report in plain text or JSON to help prepare the next release. | | targets | List all release targets detected in the current project directory, showing which ecosystems (npm, PyPI, Go, Cargo, etc.) are active based on manifest files found. | | record-gif | Record an animated GIF demo of rlsbl commands using the vhs terminal recorder. Configurable width, height, font size, and duration for consistent, reproducible demo recordings. | | deploy | Run the configured deployment pipeline for the project. Supports named deploy targets and dry-run preview of what would be deployed. Branch restrictions are always enforced. | | commit | Commit one or more files with an Autogenerated trailer, marking the commit as machine-generated so it is automatically exempted from changelog coverage checks. | | release | Release orchestration commands. Provides 9 subcommands covering the full release lifecycle: run, resume, init, retry, edit, undo, deprecate, yank, and scrub. | | release run | Bump version, validate the JSONL changelog, run tests and lint, commit, tag, push, and create a GitHub Release. Reads the bump type (patch, minor, major, or hotfix) and target selection from .rlsbl/releases/unreleased.toml, which can be scaffolded with rlsbl release init. Supports dry-run preview, non-interactive mode with --yes, and --allow-dirty to skip the clean working tree check. | | release resume | Resume a previously failed release from where it left off. Reads the in-progress state file (.rlsbl/releases/in-progress.json, or .rlsbl-monorepo/releasables//releases/in-progress.json for releasable releases), validates that the current branch matches the saved state, and re-enters the release flow, skipping already-completed steps. | | release init | Scaffold a .rlsbl/releases/unreleased.toml file by auto-detecting project targets. The generated file contains a default bump type (patch), an include list of all detected targets, and per-target configuration sections for Flutter targets. | | release retry | Dispatch CI/CD workflows for a completed release via gh workflow run. Reads the dispatch list and ref from .rlsbl/releases/retry.toml, which is auto-scaffolded with sensible defaults if missing. Verifies the GitHub Release exists before dispatching. Each workflow in the dispatch list is triggered against the configured ref (defaults to the release tag). | | release edit | Sync the GitHub Release notes for a given version with the corresponding CHANGELOG.md entry. Defaults to the current version if none is specified. Use --dry-run to preview changes without updating GitHub. | | release undo | Revert a release. Without --version, reverts the latest release (deletes GitHub Release, removes git tag, reverts version bump commit). With --version, reverts a non-latest release if it is provably unpublished (probes registries for evidence, deletes GitHub Release + tag only, un-finalizes changelog). | | release deprecate | Mark a past release as deprecated. Sets the GitHub Release pre-release flag and prepends a deprecation notice to the release notes. Use --reason to explain why and --use to suggest a replacement version. | | release yank | Remove a published version from package registries. Probes each configured target's registry to determine publication status, then executes registry-specific removal: npm deprecate, cargo yank, Go retract, or PyPI manual checklist. Also marks the GitHub Release as pre-release with a yank notice. | | release scrub | Scrub sensitive content from git history and update release metadata to match the rewritten commits. Supports 3 modes: match (--pattern), file (--file), or recipe (--recipe). After rewriting, remaps commit hashes in JSONL changelog files, regenerates CHANGELOG.md, force-pushes, and recreates GitHub Releases on the new tags. | | changelog | Structured changelog management using JSONL entries with 3 entry types (feature, fix, breaking). Add and generate CHANGELOG.md from per-commit changelog entries stored in unreleased.jsonl for precise, auditable release notes. | | changelog add | Append a structured changelog entry to the project's unreleased.jsonl file. Each entry includes a human-readable description, an entry type (feature, fix, or breaking), and optional commit hashes linking it to specific changes. The file is auto-committed by default. Use --no-user-facing to mark internal changes that should not appear in the published changelog. | | changelog generate | Compile all validated JSONL changelog entries into a formatted CHANGELOG.md file. Groups entries by type (features, fixes, breaking changes) under the appropriate version heading, preserving existing changelog content for previous releases. Use --dry-run to preview the generated Markdown output without writing to disk, which is useful for reviewing before committing. | | changelog amend | Append a changelog entry to a released version's JSONL file. Temporarily unlocks the read-only file, appends the entry, re-locks it, regenerates CHANGELOG.md, and syncs GitHub Release notes. Use --no-validate-hashes to skip hash validation for old or amended commits. | | changelog edit | Modify an existing changelog entry in unreleased or released JSONL files. Finds the entry by commit hash or entry ID, applies field changes (type, description, user-facing status), and rewrites the file atomically. For released files, temporarily unlocks the read-only file, regenerates CHANGELOG.md, and syncs GitHub Release notes. | | changelog remap | Remap stale commit hashes in JSONL changelog files using a mapping of old SHAs to new SHAs. Reads the mapping from a file (--map-file), the safegit rewrite journal (--from-journal), or stdin (--stdin). At least one source is required. Auto-commits with Autogenerated trailer. | | monorepo | Manage monorepo workspaces with multiple independently-versioned projects. Initialize workspaces, add or remove projects, sync CI workflows, check name availability, and analyze dependency graphs. Provides 16 monorepo subcommands plus a release subgroup, and supports all 18 release targets in a single workspace.toml. | | monorepo init | Create a new monorepo workspace by generating the .rlsbl-monorepo directory and an empty workspace.toml configuration file at the current directory. This must be run at the repository root before adding individual projects with the add subcommand. Each workspace tracks multiple independently-versioned projects that share a single git repository. | | monorepo add | Register a project directory in the monorepo workspace.toml configuration. The path argument specifies the project's location relative to the repo root. Supports 6 optional settings: display name, target registry, glob patterns for change detection, subtree remote URL, inter-project dependencies, and a library flag to mark shared code packages. | | monorepo remove | Unregister a project from the monorepo workspace.toml by its path. This removes the project entry from the workspace configuration file but does not delete any files, directories, or git history on disk. The project's code remains intact and can be re-added later with the add subcommand if needed. | | monorepo list | Display all projects registered in the monorepo workspace.toml file. For each project, shows the project name, relative path from the repo root, target registry for publishing, and any configured options such as watch patterns, subtree remotes, inter-project dependencies, and whether the project is marked as a library. | | monorepo sync | Inline every project's CI jobs into a single generated ci-router.yml (and publish jobs into publish.yml) in the shared .github/workflows directory at the repository root. Jobs are inlined rather than routed via reusable-workflow calls because GitHub rejects workflows that reference 20 or more reusable workflows. Stale per-project workflow copies at the root are removed via saferm. | | monorepo status | Show the current version, last release tag, and number of unreleased commits for every project in the monorepo workspace. Provides a quick overview of which projects have pending changes and are ready for their next release. Projects with zero unreleased commits are shown as up-to-date. | | monorepo check-names | Check package name availability on a target registry for all projects in the monorepo workspace. Queries the registry API for each project name and reports whether it is available or already taken. Supports optional prefix and suffix arguments to test naming conventions like scoped packages, with a configurable delay between registry queries to avoid rate limiting. | | monorepo outdated | Scan all projects in the monorepo workspace for intra-workspace dependencies that reference older versions than what is currently available in the workspace. Lists each outdated dependency with the referenced version and the latest available version, helping identify which downstream projects need a version bump after upstream releases. | | monorepo snapshot | Generate a committed JSON artifact at .rlsbl-monorepo/snapshot.json summarizing all packages, versions, dependencies, and graph structure. Use --check to verify the snapshot is up-to-date without regenerating it (exits 1 if stale). | | monorepo mirror | Initialize a subtree mirror repository for a monorepo project by performing a full git subtree split of the project's history, pushing the extracted tree to the configured subtree_remote URL, cloning the resulting standalone mirror repository, running rlsbl scaffold to generate CI workflows for independent publishing, and pushing the scaffolded mirror to its remote. | | monorepo graph | Export the monorepo dependency graph in JSON, DOT (Graphviz), or indented text tree format. Supports filtering by a root package (transitive deps) or reverse package (transitive rdeps), with optional depth limiting. Use --output to write to a file instead of stdout. | | monorepo impact | Analyze the impact of changes to a package, file, or git diff range on the monorepo dependency graph. Shows direct and transitive dependents, test scope, and release candidates. Supports package names, file paths, and --since for git-based change detection. | | monorepo extract | Extract a package from the monorepo into a new standalone repository. Clones the monorepo, runs git filter-repo to keep only the package's history, migrates changelog entries, creates .rlsbl/ config in the new repo, and removes the project from workspace.toml. | | monorepo absorb | Absorb an external repository as a package in the monorepo. Runs git subtree add to import the source repo's history under the package name, adds the project to workspace.toml, and migrates changelog entries from the source repo's .rlsbl/changes/ directory. | | monorepo extract-releasable | Extract all member packages of a releasable into a new repository. If the releasable has one member, creates a single-project repo. If it has multiple members, creates a new monorepo with workspace.toml. Migrates changelog entries for each member and removes all extracted projects from the source workspace. | | monorepo cleanup | Remove per-package release-state residue from releasable member packages: .rlsbl/changes/, .rlsbl/releases/, .rlsbl/bases/, .rlsbl/lint/, .rlsbl/version, per-package CHANGELOG.md, and .rlsbl/config.json when identical to the releasable-level config. Per-package hooks/ directories are preserved (live feature), and members whose path is the workspace root are exempt. Deletions go through saferm (audit trail, recoverable) and are committed automatically. Requires an explicit-mode workspace ([[releasables]] in workspace.toml). Detect residue first with rlsbl check --name releasable-residue. | | monorepo migrate-releasable | Migrate a releasable from per-package release state to the releasable model. Detects current state, consolidates per-package changelogs and versions into the releasable directory, creates a releasable-format migration tag, and removes orphaned per-package .rlsbl/changes/ and .rlsbl/releases/ directories. Requires the workspace to be in explicit mode (with [[releasables]] in workspace.toml). | | monorepo rename-releasable | Rename a releasable group. Rewrites the [[releasables]] name and every member's releasable field in workspace.toml (preserving comments), moves the releasable's state directory, drops the stale changelog validation cache, re-runs monorepo sync to regenerate publish gate prefixes, and commits everything as one commit. When the tag_format contains {name}, a boundary alias tag for the current version is created at the old tag's commit and pushed; historical releases stay under the old prefix. Idempotent: a crash between the commit and the tag push is healed by re-running. | | dev | Developer utilities for locally working with rlsbl projects, including editable installs that mirror the project's release target (pypi -> uv tool install -e, npm -> npm link, go -> go install). | | dev install | Install the project locally for development using the detected target's editable install command. --global (default) installs system-wide across 8 supported targets (pypi, npm, go, cargo, zig, swift, deno, hex), while --venv installs into the project's local environment instead. In monorepo mode, pair with --all, --include, or --exclude. Use --uninstall to reverse a previous install. | | dev sync | Overlay local editable checkouts of sibling projects onto this project's locked environment. Reads dev-sources.toml.local-only for overlay entries, runs uv sync --inexact excluding overlaid packages, then uv pip install -e per entry. Requires UV_NO_SYNC=1 in the environment to prevent bare uv run from reverting overlays. | | dev status | Report the state of local dev-sync overlays: for each package recorded in the dev-overlays sentinel, show its declared editable checkout path and version alongside the venv's actual install (editable at the expected path, WIPED back to a registry wheel, or missing entirely). Exits 1 if any overlay drifted so scripts and pre-run guards can detect a silent wipe by a bare uv sync or uv run; exits 0 when all overlays are intact or none are declared. |

Global flags: --help, --version, --dry-run, --yes, --quiet.

Release flow

When you run rlsbl release run:

1. Reads .rlsbl/releases/unreleased.toml for bump type (patch/minor/major) and target selection
2. Verifies gh CLI is installed and authenticated
3. Checks working tree is clean (use --allow-dirty to override)
4. Fetches origin and verifies local branch is not behind remote
5. Reads the current version from the primary project file
6. Computes the new version; confirms the tag does not already exist
7. Validates JSONL changelog via the check system
8. Runs .rlsbl/hooks/pre-checks.sh if present (user-owned, non-zero aborts)
9. Runs built-in tests and lint
10. Runs .rlsbl/hooks/pre-release.sh if present (scaffold-managed, non-zero aborts)
11. Acquires advisory lockfile (.rlsbl/lock) to prevent concurrent operations
12. Writes the new version to all detected project files and .rlsbl/version
13. Commits the version bump (uses safegit if available)
14. Tags and pushes to origin
15. Finalizes JSONL changelog (renames unreleased.jsonl, generates CHANGELOG.md)
16. Creates a GitHub Release with the changelog entry as notes
17. Runs publish pipelines (configured in .rlsbl/config.json under pipelines)
18. Runs .rlsbl/hooks/post-release.sh if present (non-fatal)
19. Prints Watch CI: rlsbl watch <sha>

Use --dry-run to preview without changes. Use --yes for non-interactive mode (CI, AI agents).

Create the release file with rlsbl release init, which auto-detects project targets and scaffolds the TOML file.

First release: if the current version has never been tagged, release publishes it as-is (bump type is ignored).

Pre-release versions (e.g. 1.0.0-beta.1) are supported.

Scaffold

rlsbl scaffold              # create or update CI/CD for all detected registries
rlsbl scaffold --force      # overwrite managed files (user-owned files still preserved)
rlsbl scaffold --no-commit  # skip auto-commit of scaffolded files

Created files are committed automatically by default.

| File | Purpose | |------|---------| | .github/workflows/ci.yml | CI workflow (lint, test) | | .github/workflows/publish.yml | Publish on GitHub Release (OIDC) | | CHANGELOG.md | Version changelog | | LICENSE | MIT license (author and year filled in) | | .gitignore | Standard ignores for the ecosystem | | CLAUDE.md | AI assistant instructions | | .claude/settings.json | Claude Code settings | | .rlsbl/hooks/pre-checks.sh | User-customizable pre-checks validation | | .rlsbl/hooks/pre-release.sh | User-customizable pre-release validation | | .rlsbl/hooks/post-release.sh | User-customizable post-release actions | | .git/hooks/pre-push | Captures push refs, runs rlsbl check --tag prepush | | .rlsbl/bases/ | Three-way merge bases for scaffold |

Three-way merge: Bases are stored at scaffold time. On re-run, user customizations and template updates merge via git merge-file. Conflicts get git-style conflict markers.

User-owned files (CHANGELOG.md, LICENSE, hooks) are never overwritten, even with --force.

Customizing CI without conflicts: Instead of editing ci.yml or publish.yml (which can produce merge conflicts on re-scaffold), put extra jobs in a separate workflow file scaffold never touches:

• .github/workflows/ci-custom.yml -- runs alongside ci.yml
• .github/workflows/publish-custom.yml -- runs alongside publish.yml

See docs/ci-customization.md for an example.

Runs config migrations when .rlsbl/config-schema.json exists.

Check system

rlsbl includes 63 checks across 9 tags.

| Tag | Checks | Description | |-----|--------|-------------| | project | 14 | Version, name, license, description consistency; config schema; stale private hook; publish-mode workflow; npm mismatch; target/dunder version readability; selfdoc drift; scaffold conflicts | | release | 5 | Local/remote tag, GitHub Release, branch sync, scaffold conflicts | | changelog | 9 | Hash resolution, range, coverage, orphans, schema, user-facing, batch limits, entry | | workspace | 14 | CI router, CI sync, targets, unregistered, stale entries, dev-only/unversioned boundaries, dead packages, subtree remote, buildability, gitignore, root conflict, Go companion tags, workspace tests | | quality | 9 | Dead modules, circular deps, library/ruff lint, deps runtime-test-only/dev-in-lib, scaffold vars, test suite, Maven Central metadata | | prepush | 6 | Changelog coverage, gitignore guard, manual-push warning, tests, scaffold conflicts | | (untagged) | 4 | Layers violations, deps unused/undeclared/stale |

rlsbl check --all              # run all checks
rlsbl check --tag changelog    # run checks by tag
rlsbl check --name lock        # run a single check

Undo

rlsbl release undo         # interactive: confirms before each destructive step
rlsbl release undo --yes   # non-interactive: auto-confirms, auto-pushes

Reverts the last release:

1. Deletes the GitHub Release
2. Deletes the git tag (remote + local)
3. Reverts the version bump commit (if HEAD matches the tag)
4. Pushes the revert commit (with confirmation, or automatic with --yes)

On partial failure, prints a structured summary table with remediation commands for each failed step.

Pre-push hook

The .git/hooks/pre-push hook captures push refs from git and runs rlsbl check --tag prepush, which enforces:

1. Changelog coverage -- every pushed commit must have a JSONL entry
2. Gitignore guard -- rlsbl-managed files must not be gitignored
3. Manual push warning -- warns when pushing to a release branch outside rlsbl release
4. Test suite -- runs project tests (single-project) or affected project tests (monorepo)

Old hooks that call rlsbl pre-push-check still work but show a deprecation warning. Run rlsbl scaffold to update to the current hook format.

To reinstall manually:

echo '#!/usr/bin/env bash' > .git/hooks/pre-push
echo 'export RLSBL_PUSH_STDIN="$(cat)"' >> .git/hooks/pre-push
echo 'exec rlsbl check --tag prepush' >> .git/hooks/pre-push
chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-push

Ecosystem tagging

scaffold and release add an "rlsbl" keyword to project manifests and set the rlsbl topic on the GitHub repository, making projects discoverable via rlsbl discover.

To disable:

| Method | Scope | |--------|-------| | --no-tag flag | Single invocation | | {"tag": false} in .rlsbl/config.json | This project | | {"tag": false} in ~/.rlsbl/config.json | All projects |

Monorepo

Manage multi-package workspaces with rlsbl monorepo:

• monorepo init / monorepo add / monorepo remove -- workspace management
• monorepo sync -- synchronize CI workflows
• monorepo graph -- export dependency graph (JSON, DOT, text)
• monorepo snapshot -- committed JSON artifact of workspace state
• monorepo impact -- change analysis across the dependency graph
• monorepo release run -- batch release in topological order

Supports architectural layer rules via [layers] in workspace.toml for enforcing dependency direction.

Environment variables

| Variable | Default | Description | |----------|---------|-------------| | RLSBL_PUSH_TIMEOUT | 120 | Timeout in seconds for git push operations | | RLSBL_VERSION | -- | Set when running pre-release and post-release hooks; contains the version being released | | RLSBL_DIST_DIR | -- | Set when running custom_assets build commands; points to the distribution directory for output files | | GITHUB_TOKEN | -- | Used by gh CLI for GitHub API calls; discover works unauthenticated for public repos |

First publish

| Registry | Setup | Then | |----------|-------|------| | npm | Add NPM_TOKEN secret to GitHub repo (Settings > Secrets > Actions) | CI publishes on GitHub Release | | PyPI | Set up Trusted Publishing (OIDC, no tokens needed) | CI publishes via OIDC | | Go | Push tag -- Go modules are published by the tag itself | pkg.go.dev indexes automatically |

Requirements

• Python 3.11+
• GitHub CLI (gh), installed and authenticated
• git
• Node 24+ (for npm CI/publish templates)

License

MIT