litejs-release

LiteJS Release Helper

Automates package releases: version bump, changelog, commit, tag, and publish instructions.

Command

lj release [version]    # full form
lj r [version]          # shorthand

What It Does (in order)

1. git fetch + verify upstream is ancestor of HEAD
2. rm -rf node_modules && npm install
3. lj lint
4. npm outdated (local deps)
5. npm outdated -g (global deps, if configured)
6. Bump version in configured files (date-based YY.MM.0 or increment last segment)
7. Verify git tag v<version> does not exist
8. lj build
9. lj test --brief test/index.js
10. Generate changelog from commits, grouped into categories
11. Open $EDITOR (default: vim) for review
12. git commit -a + git tag -a v<version>
13. Print version and npm publish command

Options

Flag	Default	Effect
--no-build	build	Skip build step
--no-install	install	Skip node_modules reinstall
--no-lint	lint	Skip linting
--no-test	test	Skip tests
--no-update	update	Skip outdated check
--no-upstream	upstream	Skip upstream check
--no-global	global=""	Skip global outdated check
--rewrite	false	Amend the last release tag instead of creating new
--set-version	["package.json#version"]	Files to update version in. file#path notation, supports JSON (dot path) and TOML ([section].key)

Options can also be set in package.json#litejs or .github/litejs.json.

Version Files

By default, only package.json#version is updated. Use --set-version to update additional files:

lj r --set-version="package.json#version" --set-version="tree-sitter.toml#package.version"

Or in .github/litejs.json:

{
  "release": {
    "setVersion": ["package.json#version", "tree-sitter.toml#package.version"]
  }
}

Supported formats:

• JSON — dot-separated path: manifest.json#metadata.version
• TOML — section + key: config.toml#package.version matches version under [package]

Version Bumping

• If current month/year is newer than last version: bumps to YY.MM.0 (e.g. 26.2.0)
• Otherwise: increments last segment (e.g. 26.1.0 -> 26.1.1)
• Explicit version: lj r 1.2.3 overrides auto-calculation
• Pre-release versions (4+ dot-segments like 1.2.3-beta.1) always increment last segment

Changelog Categories

Commits since last tag are grouped by subject line matching:

Category	Pattern
New Features	/\badd\b/i
Removed Features	/\b(remove|drop)\b/i
API Changes	/\bapi\b/i
Breaking Changes	/\bbreak[ei]/i
Fixes	/fix\b/i
Enhancements	catch-all

The generated message looks like:

Release v26.2.0

New Features:

 - Add foo support (Author Name)

Fixes:

 - Fix bar edge case (Author Name)

After Release

After the command completes it prints:

VERSION: 26.2.0
PUBLISH: npm publish

For pre-release versions it prints npm publish --tag next.

Full release cycle

lj r                    # creates commit + tag locally
git push && git push --tags   # triggers CI
# CI runs tests, verifies tag signature, creates GitHub release, publishes to npm

Rewrite Mode

lj r --rewrite amends the last release — rebases onto previous tag, cherry-picks, then git commit --amend and git tag -f.

CI Integration

LiteJS repos use a shared GitHub Actions workflow (litejs/.github/.github/workflows/release.yml) triggered by refs/tags/v*:

1. Verify SSH signature on tag
2. Create GitHub release from tag message
3. npm publish --provenance --access public (tagged latest or next)

Requires: RELEASE_SIGNERS variable and NPM_TOKEN secret in GitHub repo settings.

Troubleshooting

Each step can fail independently. The error message tells you which --no-* flag to use to skip it:

fatal: dependencies can not be installed! Ignore with --no-install option.

Common quick release (skipping slow steps):

lj r --no-install --no-update --no-global