Configure Release Please

/configure:release-please

Check and configure release-please against project standards.

When to Use This Skill

Context

• Workflow file: !find . -path '*/.github/workflows/*' -maxdepth 3 -name 'release-please*'
• Config file: !find . -maxdepth 1 -name 'release-please-config.json'
• Manifest file: !find . -maxdepth 1 -name '.release-please-manifest.json'
• Package files: !find . -maxdepth 1 \( -name 'package.json' -o -name 'pyproject.toml' -o -name 'Cargo.toml' -o -name 'go.mod' \)
• Workflows dir: !find . -maxdepth 1 -type d -name '.github/workflows'

Skills referenced: git-plugin:release-please-protection (protected files), git-plugin:release-please-configuration (monorepo strategy); standards tables live in REFERENCE.md

Parameters

Parse from command arguments:

• --check-only: Report status without offering fixes
• --fix: Apply all fixes automatically

Execution

Execute this release-please configuration check:

Step 1: Fetch latest action version

Run this command to get the current release-please-action version dynamically:

curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/googleapis/release-please-action/releases/latest | jq -r '.tag_name'

References:

• release-please-action releases
• release-please CLI releases

Step 2: Detect project type

Determine appropriate release-type from detected package files:

• node: Has package.json (default for frontend/backend apps)
• python: Has pyproject.toml without package.json
• helm: Infrastructure with Helm charts
• simple: Generic projects

Step 3: Analyze compliance

Workflow file checks:

• Action version: googleapis/release-please-action@v4
• Token: Uses a non-GITHUB_TOKEN release token. Accept either pattern:
  • GitHub App token (preferred) — actions/create-github-app-token mints a token from app-id: ${{ vars.RELEASE_PLEASE_APP_ID }} / private-key: ${{ secrets.RELEASE_PLEASE_PRIVATE_KEY }}, passed as token: ${{ steps.app-token.outputs.token }}. Treat this as compliant — do not flag it to switch to MY_RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN.
  • PAT (legacy) — token: ${{ secrets.MY_RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN }}.
• Trigger: Push to main branch
• Permissions: contents: write, pull-requests: write

Config file checks:

• Valid release-type for project
• changelog-sections includes feat and fix
• Appropriate plugins (e.g., node-workspace for Node projects)

Manifest file checks:

• Valid JSON structure
• Package paths match config

Step 4: Generate compliance report

Print a formatted compliance report showing file status and configuration check results. If --check-only is set, stop here.

For the report format, see REFERENCE.md.

Step 5: Apply configuration (if --fix or user confirms)

1. Missing workflow: Create from standard template
2. Missing config: Create with detected release-type
3. Missing manifest: Create with initial version 0.0.0
4. Outdated action: Update to v4
5. Wrong token: Use the GitHub App-token pattern (preferred) or MY_RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN — never GITHUB_TOKEN. A workflow already on create-github-app-token is compliant; leave it as-is.

For both token templates (App-token preferred, PAT legacy), see REFERENCE.md.

Step 6: Update standards tracking

Update .project-standards.yaml:

components:
  release-please: "2025.1"

Agentic Optimizations

Important Notes

• Release token (not GITHUB_TOKEN) — a release PR needs a token that can trigger other workflows. Two patterns, App-token preferred:
  • GitHub App token (preferred) — actions/create-github-app-token reads RELEASE_PLEASE_APP_ID (a repo/org variable) and RELEASE_PLEASE_PRIVATE_KEY (a secret). For the laurigates org these credentials are pushed by gitops to repos flagged release_please = true, so this is the standard that matches every other repo.
  • MY_RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN PAT (legacy) — a personal-access-token secret in repository settings. Still valid, but diverges from the org standard.
• CHANGELOG.md is managed by release-please - never edit manually
• Version fields in package.json/pyproject.toml are managed automatically
• Works with conventional-pre-commit hook for commit validation

See Also

• /configure:pre-commit - Ensure conventional commits hook
• /configure:all - Run all compliance checks
• release-please-protection skill - Protected file rules