cngpac version

The core release command. Reads the prepare config, consumes all changenotes, bumps the package version, generates a changelog, and optionally commits, tags, pushes, publishes, and creates a GitHub release.

This command is typically run by CI, not manually.

Usage

cngpac version [options]

Alias: vrsn

Options

Each option implies the ones above it in the chain:

Option	Description	Implies
--no-build	Skip building the package after bump	—
--commit	Create a git commit with a release message	—
--tag	Create a git tag	--commit
--push	Push commit and tag to origin	--commit, --tag
--publish	Run publisher plugins (e.g., npm publish)	--push
--release	Run releaser plugins (e.g., GitHub Release)	--push

How It Works

The command runs through these steps sequentially:

1. Read Prepare Config

Reads .changenotes/prepare.json (created by prepare). Exits early if not found.

2. Enrich Changenotes

For each changenote in .changenotes/:

• Looks up the git commit that introduced the file
• Extracts all authors from the file's git history

3. Bump Version

Updates the version field in package.json to the version specified in prepare.json.

4. Build Package

If build is configured and --no-build is not passed, runs the build command, npm script, or custom plugin function to compile the package with the updated version in place.

5. Generate Changelog

Calls the changelog generator plugin with the version bump and enriched changenotes. The built-in generator produces markdown with:

• Commit links
• PR references (extracted from commit messages like (#123))
• Contributor attribution (GitHub username or git author fallback)
• Sections grouped by bump type

6. Save Changelog

If a changelog saver plugin is configured, calls it with the generated markdown.

7. Clean Up

• Deletes all consumed changenote files
• Deletes prepare.json

8. Format

Runs formatter plugins on all created, modified, or deleted file paths.

9. Git Operations (with --commit, --tag, --push)

commit: "Release my-package@1.3.0"
tag:    "my-package@1.3.0"
push:   commit + tags to origin

The commit message and tag name can be customized via the version config option.

10. Publish (with --publish)

Runs each publisher plugin. The built-in npm publisher runs npm pack followed by npm publish.

11. Release (with --release)

Runs each releaser plugin. The built-in GitHub releaser creates a GitHub Release with the changelog as the body. Pre-releases are automatically detected from the semver string.

Typical CI Usage

cngpac version --commit --tag --push --publish --release

This is the command used in the generated .github/workflows/version.yml.

Prerequisites

• A prepare.json file must exist (created by prepare)
• At least one changenote in .changenotes/