Basic npm Package Release with semantic-release

Setting Up semantic-release for an npm Package

The most common semantic-release configuration uses four core plugins to automate the entire release process for an npm package.

Minimal Configuration

{
  "branches": ["main"],
  "plugins": [
    "@semantic-release/commit-analyzer",
    "@semantic-release/release-notes-generator",
    "@semantic-release/npm",
    "@semantic-release/github"
  ]
}

How Each Plugin Works

1. commit-analyzer reads your git commits since the last release and determines whether the next release should be a major, minor, or patch version based on the Conventional Commits format.

2. release-notes-generator creates human-readable release notes grouped by commit type (Features, Bug Fixes, etc.).

3. npm updates the version field in package.json and publishes the package to the npm registry.

4. github creates a GitHub Release with the generated release notes and tags the commit.

Commit Format

semantic-release expects commits following the Conventional Commits specification:

Commit Message	Release Type
fix: correct typo in README	Patch (0.0.x)
feat: add dark mode support	Minor (0.x.0)
feat!: redesign API endpoints	Major (x.0.0)
BREAKING CHANGE: remove v1 API	Major (x.0.0)

CI Configuration

This config works with any CI system. For GitHub Actions, you need to set the GITHUB_TOKEN and NPM_TOKEN environment variables as secrets.