Custom Commit Type Release Rules for semantic-release

Customizing Release Rules

By default, semantic-release only triggers releases for feat (minor) and fix (patch) commits. You can add custom rules to include other commit types or change the default behavior.

Configuration with Custom Rules

{
  "branches": ["main"],
  "plugins": [
    ["@semantic-release/commit-analyzer", {
      "preset": "angular",
      "releaseRules": [
        {"type": "feat", "release": "minor"},
        {"type": "fix", "release": "patch"},
        {"type": "perf", "release": "patch"},
        {"type": "refactor", "release": "patch"},
        {"type": "docs", "release": "patch"},
        {"type": "style", "release": false},
        {"type": "test", "release": false},
        {"type": "ci", "release": false},
        {"type": "chore", "release": false},
        {"type": "revert", "release": "patch"}
      ]
    }],
    "@semantic-release/release-notes-generator",
    "@semantic-release/npm",
    "@semantic-release/github"
  ]
}

Release Rule Properties

Each rule can match on multiple properties:

Property	Description	Example
type	Conventional Commit type	"feat", "fix"
scope	Commit scope	"core", "api"
subject	Regex pattern for subject	"/^URGENT/"
release	Release type or false	"major", "minor", "patch"

Scope-Based Rules

You can trigger different release types based on the commit scope:

{"type": "feat", "scope": "api", "release": "major"},
{"type": "feat", "scope": "ui", "release": "minor"}

Disabling Releases for Specific Types

Setting "release": false prevents commits of that type from triggering any release. This is useful for documentation-only changes, test additions, or CI configuration changes that don't affect the published package.

Important Note on Ordering

Rules are evaluated in order. The first matching rule wins. Place more specific rules (with scope) before general rules (without scope).