releases-action

A GitHub action to create a release from branch when pushing a new tag.

Other notable packages that did not satisfy my use case:

• https://github.com/softprops/action-gh-release (can not release from branch)
• https://github.com/release-it/release-it (npm package rather than an action, but still could not release from branch)
• https://github.com/aaiezza/create-release (too bloated with features/libraries I don't need, and relies on deprecated auth method)

Usage 1

name: Tag it with defaults

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - "*"

jobs:
  create-release:
    permissions:
      contents: write
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0  # need this for all history for all branches and tags
      - name: Create Release
        id: create_release
        uses: nickatnight/releases-action@v5
        if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

    outputs:
      ReleaseTag: ${{ steps.create_release.outputs.release_tag }}

  # pass in as env variable
  explore-essos:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: [create-release]
    env:
      RELEASE_TAG: ${{ needs.create-release.outputs.ReleaseTag }}
    steps:
      ...

Usage 2

name: Tag it with parameters

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - "*"

jobs:
  create-release:
    permissions:
      contents: write
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: checkout
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - name: Create Release
        id: create_release
        uses: nickatnight/releases-action@v5
        if: startsWith(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
        with:
          branch: "main"
          name: "Gryffindor Release"
          message: "Yer a wizard Harry"
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

    outputs:
      ReleaseTag: ${{ steps.create_release.outputs.release_tag }}

  # pass in as env variable
  conquer-muggles:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: [create-release]
    env:
      RELEASE_TAG: ${{ needs.create-release.outputs.ReleaseTag }}
    steps:
      ...

Supported Parameters

Parameter	Description	Default
branch	Which branch do we want to release from?	master
name	Name of the release	name of tag
message	Body of the release	autogenerated
draft	Is this a draft?	false
prerelease	Is this a prerelease?	false
tag	Name of tag	GITHUB_REF