How do I install the Release Please Setup skill?

Run npx skillmds add majiayu000/release-please-setup in your terminal (requires Node.js), paste this page's agent-chat prompt into Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-connected agent, or download the SKILL.md file and copy it into your agent's skills directory.

Is Release Please Setup safe to use?

This skill has not completed SkillMD's automated safety review yet. Capability flags: makes network calls, reads secrets. SkillMD never runs a skill's scripts for you; review the SKILL.md before installing.

Which AI agents work with Release Please Setup?

This skill is tagged as working with Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex. SKILL.md is an open format, so most agents that read a skills directory can load it too.

Is Release Please Setup free to use?

Yes. Installing skills from SkillMD is free, and the skill stays under its author's original license.

Who published Release Please Setup?

majiayu000 (@majiayu000) published this skill. Their other Agent Skills are listed on their SkillMD profile.

Release Please Setup by majiayu000 — Agent Skill

Name: Release Please Setup
Rating: 4.5 (4 reviews)
Author: majiayu000

Release Please Setup

Scaffold or migrate a repository onto release-please. Generates release-please-config.json, .release-please-manifest.json, and a release-please.yml workflow, plus an opt-in menu of tag-keyed deploy/publish templates (Docker/ECR matrix, frontend host deploy, npm OIDC publish, GitHub Release asset, Fly.io deploy, generic). Supports monorepo (mutual exclude-paths matrix), single-package, and mixed-language (node/simple/python) repos. Use when user runs /release-please-setup, mentions "release please", "set up release please", "automate releases", "conventional-commit releases", "monorepo release automation", or "migrate to release-please".

majiayu000 89d3a9e 2 files · 6.4 KB Updated Sep 9, 2026 567 repo stars

File contents

Release-Please Setup

Scaffold or migrate a repository onto release-please. The skill generates release-please-config.json and .release-please-manifest.json from a monorepo package scan, then guides you through wiring the release-please.yml workflow and optionally an opt-in deploy/publish template from the six provided in templates/.

Two modes

Mode	When to use
Greenfield (default)	New repo with no prior tags. All packages start at `0.0.0` (or `--initial <ver>`).
`--migrate`	Existing repo with hand-maintained `<component>-v*` tags. Manifest is seeded from detected file versions; existing deploy workflows keep working unchanged.

Quick start

# SCRIPTS = absolute path to this skill's scripts/ directory
# Always dry-run first — no files are written
python3 SCRIPTS/release_please_setup.py --root . --dry-run            # greenfield
python3 SCRIPTS/release_please_setup.py --root . --migrate --dry-run  # migrate
python3 SCRIPTS/release_please_setup.py --root . --migrate            # write files

CLI flags: --root (repo root), --globs (comma-separated package globs; default packages/*,backend/*,frontend/*), --migrate (migration mode), --single (force single-package config), --initial (starting version; default 0.0.0), --dry-run (print output, no writes), --out-dir (write location; default --root).

Then:

Copy templates/release-please.yml into .github/workflows/.
Set the REPO_TOKEN secret — see CONTRACT.md. ⚠️ GITHUB_TOKEN-created tags do not trigger other workflows; a PAT is required for deploy templates to fire.
Pick a deploy template (optional).

Deploy template menu

Template	Use for
`deploy-fly.yml`	Fly.io app deploy
`publish-npm-oidc.yml`	npm Trusted Publishing (OIDC, no token)
`release-asset.yml`	Build artifact → GitHub Release (e.g. `.vsix`, `.zip`)
`deploy-docker-matrix.yml`	Docker image → Amazon ECR / any registry
`deploy-frontend-host.yml`	Gated frontend deploy (Amplify, Vercel, Netlify)
`deploy-generic.yml`	Any build + deploy command
None	Release-please only — add deploy later

Fill all __TOKEN__ placeholders before committing; see WORKFLOW.md for the complete placeholder reference table.

Output structure

<repo-root>/
├── release-please-config.json       ← written by the script
├── .release-please-manifest.json    ← written by the script
└── .github/workflows/
    ├── release-please.yml            ← copy from templates/
    └── deploy-<component>.yml        ← copy from templates/ (optional)

Monorepo: each package gets include-component-in-tag: true, tag-separator: "-", and a mutual exclude-paths matrix (tags like user-service-v1.2.0). Single-package: minimal config, tags are v<semver>.

Common issues

Release PR not created — check commits follow Conventional Commits, you are on the default branch, and the workflow has contents: write + pull-requests: write permissions.
Deploy didn't fire — the REPO_TOKEN gotcha; see CONTRACT.md and TROUBLESHOOTING.md.
Wrong version after migration — discovery missed the version; edit .release-please-manifest.json manually.

References

WORKFLOW.md — Greenfield and migration runbooks + placeholder reference table
EXAMPLES.md — Three worked examples (acme monorepo, papia-studio migration, single-package)
CONTRACT.md — Tag format, REPO_TOKEN gotcha, job outputs, trigger variants
TROUBLESHOOTING.md — Error reference

---name: release-please-setupdescription: Scaffold or migrate a repository onto release-please. Generates release-please-config.json, .release-please-manifest.json, and a release-please.yml workflow, plus an opt-in menu of tag-keyed deploy/publish templates (Docker/ECR matrix, frontend host deploy, npm OIDC publish, GitHub Release asset, Fly.io deploy, generic). Supports monorepo (mutual exclude-paths matrix), single-package, and mixed-language (node/simple/python) repos. Use when user runs /release-please-setup, mentions "release please", "set up release please", "automate releases", "conventional-commit releases", "monorepo release automation", or "migrate to release-please".--- # Release-Please Setup Scaffold or migrate a repository onto [release-please](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please). The skill generates `release-please-config.json` and `.release-please-manifest.json` from a monorepo package scan, then guides you through wiring the `release-please.yml` workflow and optionally an opt-in deploy/publish template from the six provided in `templates/`. ## Two modes | Mode | When to use | |---|---| | **Greenfield** (default) | New repo with no prior tags. All packages start at `0.0.0` (or `--initial <ver>`). | | **`--migrate`** | Existing repo with hand-maintained `<component>-v*` tags. Manifest is seeded from detected file versions; existing deploy workflows keep working unchanged. | ## Quick start ```bash # SCRIPTS = absolute path to this skill's scripts/ directory # Always dry-run first — no files are written python3 SCRIPTS/release_please_setup.py --root . --dry-run # greenfield python3 SCRIPTS/release_please_setup.py --root . --migrate --dry-run # migrate python3 SCRIPTS/release_please_setup.py --root . --migrate # write files ``` **CLI flags:** `--root` (repo root), `--globs` (comma-separated package globs; default `packages/*,backend/*,frontend/*`), `--migrate` (migration mode), `--single` (force single-package config), `--initial` (starting version; default `0.0.0`), `--dry-run` (print output, no writes), `--out-dir` (write location; default `--root`). **Then:** 1. Copy `templates/release-please.yml` into `.github/workflows/`. 2. Set the `REPO_TOKEN` secret — see CONTRACT.md. ⚠️ GITHUB_TOKEN-created tags do **not** trigger other workflows; a PAT is required for deploy templates to fire. 3. Pick a deploy template (optional). ## Deploy template menu | Template | Use for | |---|---| | `deploy-fly.yml` | Fly.io app deploy | | `publish-npm-oidc.yml` | npm Trusted Publishing (OIDC, no token) | | `release-asset.yml` | Build artifact → GitHub Release (e.g. `.vsix`, `.zip`) | | `deploy-docker-matrix.yml` | Docker image → Amazon ECR / any registry | | `deploy-frontend-host.yml` | Gated frontend deploy (Amplify, Vercel, Netlify) | | `deploy-generic.yml` | Any build + deploy command | | None | Release-please only — add deploy later | Fill all `__TOKEN__` placeholders before committing; see WORKFLOW.md for the complete placeholder reference table. ## Output structure ``` <repo-root>/ ├── release-please-config.json ← written by the script ├── .release-please-manifest.json ← written by the script └── .github/workflows/ ├── release-please.yml ← copy from templates/ └── deploy-<component>.yml ← copy from templates/ (optional) ``` Monorepo: each package gets `include-component-in-tag: true`, `tag-separator: "-"`, and a mutual `exclude-paths` matrix (tags like `user-service-v1.2.0`). Single-package: minimal config, tags are `v<semver>`. ## Common issues - **Release PR not created** — check commits follow [Conventional Commits](https://conventionalcommits.org), you are on the default branch, and the workflow has `contents: write` + `pull-requests: write` permissions. - **Deploy didn't fire** — the REPO_TOKEN gotcha; see CONTRACT.md and TROUBLESHOOTING.md. - **Wrong version after migration** — discovery missed the version; edit `.release-please-manifest.json` manually. ## References - [WORKFLOW.md](WORKFLOW.md) — Greenfield and migration runbooks + placeholder reference table - [EXAMPLES.md](EXAMPLES.md) — Three worked examples (acme monorepo, papia-studio migration, single-package) - [CONTRACT.md](CONTRACT.md) — Tag format, REPO_TOKEN gotcha, job outputs, trigger variants - [TROUBLESHOOTING.md](TROUBLESHOOTING.md) — Error reference

Frequently asked questions