bump-release

Bump Release

Release one package or several packages with version bumps, changelog entries, commits, and tags. Supports single-package repos, workspace monorepos, regular releases, beta releases, and dry runs.

Arguments

• packages: Optional monorepo package names or directories, such as evm or evm-safe. Omit in single-package repos.
• version: Optional explicit semver, such as 2.0.0. Only valid for one target package.
• --beta: Create or advance a -beta.X prerelease.
• --dry-run: Preview the release plan without modifying files, committing, or tagging.

Fast Planner

Run the bundled planner before manual inspection. It is read-only and gives one JSON fact base for package discovery, previous tags, scoped changed files, dependency edges, and dirty-tree status. In pnpm workspaces, it uses pnpm list -r --depth -1 --json when available and falls back to local workspace-glob discovery. Bun and npm-style package.json workspaces use the local glob discovery, including negative workspace patterns.

Resolve <skill-dir> from the loaded SKILL.md path:

node "<skill-dir>/scripts/plan-release.mjs" [--cwd <repo>] [--beta] [--dry-run] [--version <semver>] [--package <name-or-dir>]...

Map user arguments directly:

• Pass every package selector as --package <selector>.
• Pass an explicit version as --version <semver>.
• Pass --beta and --dry-run when requested.

If the helper exits 2, stop: the cwd is not a git repo or has no root package.json. If it exits 64, read the JSON errors when present, report the invalid arguments, and stop.

Workflow

1. Run the planner - Use the JSON output as the source of truth for mode, packages, targets, previousTags, changedFiles, includedFiles, excludedFiles, dependencyEdges, needsSelection, and workingTree.
2. Require a clean tree - If workingTree.clean is false, stop and show the short status. Do not invoke the commit skill or commit unrelated work unless the user explicitly asks.
3. Resolve targets - If needsSelection is true, ask the user which workspace packages to release. If package selectors are unknown or ambiguous, stop and ask for exact package names or directories.
4. Reject invalid version scope - If an explicit version was supplied for more than one target package, stop. Explicit versions are single-package only.
5. Plan versions - Determine a candidate version for each target package. For explicit versions, beta suffixing, and prerelease transitions, follow the Version Examples table below. For a regular release from a stable version with no explicit version, inspect relevant net changes and choose patch, minor, or major by Semantic Versioning.
6. Skip no-op releases - For regular releases, if a target has no includedFiles and no dependency-range cascade, report that there are no relevant release changes and do not bump it.
7. Cascade dependents - Use dependencyEdges to find workspace packages whose dependencies or peerDependencies point at bumped packages. Check ranges with a structured semver parser or package manager API when available, not ad hoc string comparison. If the new version is outside the declared range, update the range and add the dependent to the release plan. Treat dependency range widening as patch by default; treat peer dependency major changes as major unless the user confirms otherwise.
8. Confirm inferred versions - For non-dry-run regular releases without explicit versions, ask the user to confirm inferred versions. For multi-package releases, include requested packages and cascaded dependents in the same release-plan confirmation when the agent UI allows it.
9. Preview dry runs - For --dry-run, print the package order, current versions, planned versions, changelog/tag/commit actions, dependency range updates, and skipped files. Stop before edits.
10. Write changelogs - For regular releases only, read references/common-changelog.md after the final package set is known, then apply the Changelog Rules below. Bound diff inspection per target using its includedFiles against previousTags[package].tag.
11. Edit release files - Update each target package's CHANGELOG.md and package.json. For beta releases, skip CHANGELOG.md. Update any cascaded dependent ranges before committing the dependent release.
12. Format once - After all release edits, run formatting once. If a justfile exists, inspect just --list and prefer the narrowest relevant write recipe; use broad recipes such as just full-write only when no narrower established recipe covers the touched files. Without a suitable recipe, use the repo's established formatter commands or leave formatting unchanged.
13. Commit and tag in dependency order - Process dependencies before dependents. Use one commit and one annotated tag per package:
    • Single-package commit: docs: release <version>
    • Monorepo commit: docs: release <package> <version>
    • Single-package tag: v<version> unless existing tags use bare semver.
    • Monorepo tag: follow existing tag patterns from previousTags; default to <package-dir>@<version>.

Changelog Rules

Regular releases must generate entries in CHANGELOG.md following references/common-changelog.md.

• Use categories in this order: Changed, Added, Removed, Fixed.
• Start every entry with a present-tense imperative verb.
• Reference PRs when available; fall back to commit links.
• Merge related commits into one user-facing entry.
• Include only production-impacting changes: exclude tests, CI/CD, dev tooling, style-only churn, and devDependencies; for package.json, include only dependencies and peerDependencies changes.
• If package.json has a files field, include only changes under those package files/directories, plus production dependency changes in package.json.

Beta releases do not update changelogs.

Script Reference

Script	Purpose
scripts/plan-release.mjs	Read-only release discovery and scoped diff facts

Planner output fields to use:

• packages and targets: package identity, directory, name, version, files, dependency names, and peer dependency names.
• previousTags: per-package previous release tag and tag patterns used.
• changedFiles, includedFiles, excludedFiles: scoped file lists for changelog and no-op decisions.
• dependencyEdges: workspace dependency and peer dependency relationships.
• workingTree: dirty-tree status that must be clean before release edits.
• needsSelection and errors: package-selection or argument problems to resolve before proceeding.

Examples

# Regular release
/bump-release

# Preview without writes
/bump-release --dry-run

# Beta release
/bump-release --beta

# Monorepo package release
/bump-release evm

# Multi-package monorepo release
/bump-release evm evm-safe

# Explicit single-package version
/bump-release 2.0.0

# Explicit beta version
/bump-release 2.0.0-beta.1

Version Examples

Current Version	Release Type	New Version
1.2.3	Regular	1.2.4 (patch)
1.2.3	Beta	1.2.4-beta.1
1.2.3-beta.1	Beta	1.2.3-beta.2
1.2.3-beta.5	Regular	1.2.3
1.2.3	2.0.0	2.0.0
1.2.3	2.0.0 + Beta	2.0.0-beta.1

Resources

• references/common-changelog.md - Read only for regular releases after the final stable release package set is known.