Semantic Versioning and Release Workflow

Intermediate12 minTrending

Use npm version commands to automate semantic versioning, generate git tags, and create a consistent release workflow for your packages.

Prerequisites

-npm package with git initialized
-Understanding of semantic versioning

Steps

Check the current version

View the current version of your package.

$ npm version

Bump a patch version

Increment the patch version for backward-compatible bug fixes.

$ npm version patch -m 'chore(release): v%s'

npm version automatically updates package.json, creates a git commit, and tags it. The %s placeholder is replaced with the new version.

Bump a minor version

Increment the minor version for backward-compatible new features.

$ npm version minor -m 'chore(release): v%s'

Bump a major version

Increment the major version for breaking changes.

$ npm version major -m 'chore(release): v%s'

Major version bumps signal breaking changes. Document all breaking changes in your changelog before releasing.

Create a prerelease version

Publish beta or RC versions for testing before stable release.

$ npm version prerelease --preid=beta -m 'chore(release): v%s'

This creates versions like 1.0.1-beta.0, 1.0.1-beta.1. Publish with 'npm publish --tag beta' to avoid affecting the latest tag.

Publish with the correct dist-tag

Release the new version with the appropriate tag.

$ npm publish --tag latest

Full Script

full-script.sh

#!/bin/bash
# npm Version and Release Workflow
set -euo pipefail

BUMP_TYPE=${1:?"Usage: $0 <patch|minor|major|prerelease> [--preid=beta]"}

echo "=== Current Version ==="
CURRENT=$(npm pkg get version | tr -d '"')
echo "v$CURRENT"

echo ""
echo "=== Pre-Release Checks ==="
npm run lint 2>/dev/null && echo "Lint: passed" || echo "Lint: skipped"
npm test 2>/dev/null && echo "Tests: passed" || echo "Tests: skipped"
npm run build 2>/dev/null && echo "Build: passed" || echo "Build: skipped"

echo ""
echo "=== Bumping Version ==="
if [ "$BUMP_TYPE" = "prerelease" ]; then
  NEW_VERSION=$(npm version prerelease --preid=${2:-beta} -m "chore(release): v%s")
else
  NEW_VERSION=$(npm version "$BUMP_TYPE" -m "chore(release): v%s")
fi
echo "New version: $NEW_VERSION"

echo ""
echo "=== Next Steps ==="
echo "1. Review: git log --oneline -3"
echo "2. Push:   git push origin main --follow-tags"
if [[ "$BUMP_TYPE" == "prerelease" ]]; then
  echo "3. Publish: npm publish --tag beta"
else
  echo "3. Publish: npm publish"
fi

FAQ

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#!/bin/bash # npm Version and Release Workflow set -euo pipefail BUMP_TYPE=${1:?"Usage: $0 <patch|minor|major|prerelease> [--preid=beta]"} echo "=== Current Version ===" CURRENT=$(npm pkg get version | tr -d '"') echo "v$CURRENT" echo "" echo "=== Pre-Release Checks ===" npm run lint 2>/dev/null && echo "Lint: passed" || echo "Lint: skipped" npm test 2>/dev/null && echo "Tests: passed" || echo "Tests: skipped" npm run build 2>/dev/null && echo "Build: passed" || echo "Build: skipped" echo "" echo "=== Bumping Version ===" if [ "$BUMP_TYPE" = "prerelease" ]; then NEW_VERSION=$(npm version prerelease --preid=${2:-beta} -m "chore(release): v%s") else NEW_VERSION=$(npm version "$BUMP_TYPE" -m "chore(release): v%s") fi echo "New version: $NEW_VERSION" echo "" echo "=== Next Steps ===" echo "1. Review: git log --oneline -3" echo "2. Push: git push origin main --follow-tags" if [[ "$BUMP_TYPE" == "prerelease" ]]; then echo "3. Publish: npm publish --tag beta" else echo "3. Publish: npm publish" fi