semantic-release/docs/support/FAQ.md

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the package.json’s version not updated in my repository?

semantic-release takes care of updating the package.json’s version before publishing to npm.

By default, only the published package will contains the version, which is the only place where it is really required, but the updated package.json will not be pushed to the Git repository

However, the @semantic-release/git plugin can be used to push the updated package.json as well as other files to the Git repository.

How can I use a npm build script that requires the package.json’s version ?

The package.json’s version will be updated by the semantic-release command just before publishing to npm, therefore it won't be available for scripts ran before the semantic-release command.

As semantic-release uses the npm CLI to publish, all npm hook scripts will be executed. Therefore you can run your build script in the prepublishOnly hook. It will be executed after the semantic-release command update the package.json’s version and before publishing.

Is there a way to preview which version would currently get published?

Yes with the dry-run options which prints to the console the next version to be published and the release notes.

Can I use semantic-release with Yarn?

If you are using a local semantic-release installation and run multiple CI jobs with different versions, the yarn install command will fail with Node < 8 as semantic-release require Node >= 8. See yarnpkg/rfcs#69.

In order to run semantic-release with Yarn you would need to:

• Use a global semantic-release installation
• Make sure to install and run the semantic-release command only in a CI jobs running with Node >= 8

If your CI environment provides nvm you can switch to Node 8 before installing and running the semantic-release command:

$ nvm install 8 && yarn install -g semantic-release && semantic-release

See the CI configuration recipes for more details on specific CI environments.

Can I use semantic-release to publish non-JavaScript packages?

Yes, semantic-release is a Node CLI application but it can be used to publish any type of packages.

To publish a non-JavaScript package you would need to:

• Use a global semantic-release installation
• Set semantic-release options via CLI arguments or rc file
• Make sure your CI job executing the semantic-release command has access to Node >= 8 to execute the semantic-release command

See the CI configuration recipes for more details on specific CI environments.

Can I use semantic-release with any CI service?

Yes, semantic-release can be used with any CI service, as long as it provides:

• A way to set authentication via environment variables
• A way to guarantee that the semantic-release command is executed only after all the tests of all the jobs in the CI build pass

See the CI configuration recipes for more details on specific CI environments.

Can I run semantic-release on my local machine rather than on a CI server?

Yes, you can by explicitly setting the --no-ci CLI option option. You will also have to set the required authentication via environment variables on your local machine, for example:

$ NPM_TOKEN=<your_npm_token> GH_TOKEN=<your_github_token> npm run semantic-release --no-ci

However this is not the recommended approach, as running unit and integration tests on an independent machine before publishing software is a crucial part of the release workflow.

Can I use semantic-release with GitLab?

Yes, with the @semantic-release/gitlab-config shareable configuration.

See the GitLab CI recipes for the CI configuration.

Can I use semantic-release with any Git hosted environment?

By default semantic-release uses the @semantic-release/github plugin to publish a GitHub release. For other Git hosted environment the @semantic-release/git and @semantic-release/changelog plugins can be used via plugins configuration.

See the @semantic-release/git @semantic-release/changelog plugins documentation for more details.

Can I skip the release to the npm registry?

Yes, the publishing to the npm registry can be disabled with the npmPublish option of the @semantic-release/npm plugin. In addition the tarballDir option allow to generate the package tarball in order to publish it to your repository with the @semantic-release/git or to a GitHub release with the @semantic-release/github plugin.

See the @semantic-release/npm plugin documentation for more details.

Can I use .npmrc options?

Yes, all the npm configuration options are supported via the .npmrc file at the root of your repository.

See the @semantic-release/npm plugin documentation for more details.

How can I set the access level of the published npm package?

The npm access option can be set in the .npmrc file at the root of your repository:

access=public

Or with the publishConfig.access key in your project's package.json:

{
  "publishConfig": {
    "access": "public"
  }
}

Can I use semantic-release to publish a package on Artifactory?

Any npm compatible registry is supported with the @semantic-release/npm plugin. For Artifactory versions prior to 5.4, the legacy authentication has to be used (with NPM_USERNAME, NPM_PASSWORD and NPM_EMAIL environment variables).

See npm registry authentication for more details.

See Artifactory - npm Registry documentation for Artifactiry configuration.

Can I manually trigger the release of a specific version?

You can trigger a release by pushing to your Git repository. You deliberately cannot trigger a specific version release, because this is the whole point of semantic-release.

Is it really a good idea to release on every push?

It is indeed a great idea because it forces you to follow best practices. If you don’t feel comfortable releasing every feature or fix on your master you might not treat your master branch as intended.

From Understanding the GitHub Flow:

Branching is a core concept in Git, and the entire GitHub Flow is based upon it. There's only one rule: anything in the master branch is always deployable.

If you need more control over the timing of releases, see Triggering a release for different options.

Can I set the initial release version of my package to 0.0.1?

This is not supported by semantic-release as it's not considered a good practice, mostly because Semantic Versioning rules applies differently to major version zero.

In early development phase when your package is not ready for production yet we recommend to publish releases on a distribution channel (for example npm’s dist-tags) or to develop on a dev branch and merge it to master periodically. See Triggering a release for more details on those solutions.

See “Introduction to SemVer” - Irina Gebauer for more details on Semantic Versioning and the recommendation to start at version 1.0.0.

Can I trust semantic-release with my releases?

semantic-release has a full unit and integration test suite that tests npm publishes against the npm-registry-couchapp.

In addition the verify conditions step verifies that all necessary conditions for proceeding with a release are met, and a new release will be performed only if all your tests pass.

Why does semantic-release require Node version >= 8?

semantic-release is written using the latest ECMAScript 2017 features, without transpilation which requires Node version 8 or higher.

See Node version requirement for more details and solutions.