Automating Semantic Versioning Releases

I decided to write these notes for making releases of React apps, though it should be noted that this should work for any JavaScript/Node code that utilizes a package.json file.

The following screenshot shows JS project additions used to semi-automate the Semantic Versioning release process:

Use the Automation Scripts when Making a Release

You are "making a release" when you are at a good point to merge code from the dev branch into master.

These merges should always be done via Pull Requests

When you're ready to make a release, follow these steps:

1. Commit and push all of the relevant code to the dev branch.

2. Decide what kind of version change this is: Major (large changes, like language version upgrades or version-breaking package upgrades), Minor (new features, non-breaking upgrades), Patch (changes, bug fixes, etc.)

3. Run the release script with the following command (specifying major/minor/patch):

   yarn release patch

4. Open a Pull Request (PR) on GitHub to merge the most recent state of dev into master.

5. Have someone review the PR.

6. After the PR is accepted and merged, you (or the reviewer) can run the post-merge script with the command:

   yarn post-merge

Add Automation to a new JS Project

1. Install semver with the following command:

   yarn add --dev semver

2. Under the repository's root directory, add a scripts folder if one doesn't exist.

3. Create a new file under the scripts directory called bump-version.js with the following content:

   const fs = require('fs');
   const execSync = require('child_process').execSync;
   const semver = require('semver');
   const packageJson = require('../package.json');
   
   // Get the current version
   const currentVersion = packageJson.version;
   
   // Get the type of version bump (major, minor, patch) from the command line arguments
   const bumpType = process.argv[2];
   
   if (!['major', 'minor', 'patch'].includes(bumpType)) {
     console.error('Please specify the version type: major, minor, or patch');
     process.exit(1);
   }
   
   // Calculate the new version
   const newVersion = semver.inc(currentVersion, bumpType);
   console.log(`Bumping version from ${currentVersion} to ${newVersion}`);
   
   // Update the version in package.json
   packageJson.version = newVersion;
   fs.writeFileSync('./package.json', JSON.stringify(packageJson, null, 2) + '\n');
   
   // Commit and tag the new version
   execSync(`git add package.json`, { stdio: 'inherit' });
   execSync(`git commit -m "chore(release): ${newVersion}"`, { stdio: 'inherit' });
   execSync(`git tag v${newVersion}`, { stdio: 'inherit' });
   execSync(`git push --follow-tags`, { stdio: 'inherit' });
   
   console.log(`Successfully released version ${newVersion}`);

4. Add a line to the scripts: section of the package.json with the following content:

   "release": "node ./scripts/bump-version.js",

5. Create a new file under the scripts directory called post-merge-tag.js with the following content:

   const { execSync } = require('child_process');
   const fs = require('fs');
   const semver = require('semver');
   
   // Function to execute a shell command and display output
   const runCommand = (command) => {
     try {
       execSync(command, { stdio: 'inherit' });
     } catch (error) {
       console.error(`Failed to execute command: ${command}`);
       process.exit(1);
     }
   };
   
   // Read version from package.json
   const packageJson = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync('./package.json', 'utf8'));
   const version = packageJson.version;
   
   // Validate the version using semver
   if (!semver.valid(version)) {
     console.error('Invalid version in package.json');
     process.exit(1);
   }
   
   // Pull latest changes from the current branch
   runCommand('git pull');
   
   // Checkout master branch
   runCommand('git checkout master');
   
   // Pull latest changes from master
   runCommand('git pull');
   
   // Push the corresponding version tag (e.g., vX.Y.Z)
   runCommand(`git push origin v${version}`);
   
   console.log(`Successfully pushed tag v${version} to origin`);

6. Add a line to the scripts: section of the package.json with the following content:

   "post-merge": "node ./scripts/post-merge-tag.js",