[SPIKE] Explore extracting release script in a package by romaricpascal · Pull Request #2685 · alphagov/govuk-prototype-kit

romaricpascal · 2026-09-25T15:30:04Z

Explore how release scripts could be move in their own package for reuse across multiple repositories

This avoids the workflow to rely on `github.workspace`

The workflow no longer needs a relative path and we can switch to a JS script transparently

Not much gain besides being regrouped with the rest of the release. The script can now receive the path to the CHANGELOG file to accomodate the CHANGELOG not being in the folder of the package whose version is being updated.

Avoids relying on GitHub actions script to run a single function

The function is only used in that script so makes sense for it to be there

romaricpascal · 2026-10-02T17:33:07Z


          # Save the new version number for access in future steps
-          echo "PACKAGE_VERSION=$(npm pkg get version | jq -r)" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo "PACKAGE_VERSION=$(npm pkg get version | jq -r)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT


note Using $GITHUB_OUTPUT leads to using env in further steps, which makes visible where the environment variable comes from compared to outputting to $GITHUB_ENV. It also restricts the PACKAGE_VERSION environment to the steps that need it.

romaricpascal · 2026-10-02T17:35:17Z

-            generateReleaseNotes('CHANGELOG.md', `v${process.env.PACKAGE_VERSION}`, { actor: '${{ github.actor }}', runId: '${{ github.run_id }}' })
+        run: npm exec extract-release-notes > release-notes-body
+        env:
+          PACKAGE_VERSION: v${{ steps.npm-version.outputs.PACKAGE_VERSION}}


note Not a big fan of that one, but worked for the spike. Thinking it'd be preferable that:

extract-release-notes takes on a non-prefixed version number

reading the packages version number is its own step, shared by build-release and publish-to-github

romaricpascal · 2026-10-02T17:36:36Z

-            await generateReleaseNotes('CHANGELOG.md', '${{ steps.create-github-tag.outputs.GH_TAG }}')
+        run: npm exec extract-release-notes > release-notes-body
+        env:
+          PACKAGE_VERSION: ${{ steps.create-github-tag.outputs.GH_TAG }}


note See previous note, but this should work off a non-prefixed version number read from package.json rather than the GitHub tag.

romaricpascal · 2026-10-02T17:38:16Z

+
+if (require.main === module) {
+  (async () => {
+    const changelogPath = resolve(process.argv[2] ?? 'CHANGELOG.md')


note Possibly a silly one, the CHANGELOG would always be at the root of the repository, it's the package which might be in a nested folder.

romaricpascal · 2026-10-02T17:39:08Z

-            const { generateReleaseNotes } = await import('${{ github.workspace }}/scripts/release/changelog-release-helper.js')
-
-            generateReleaseNotes('CHANGELOG.md', `v${process.env.PACKAGE_VERSION}`, { actor: '${{ github.actor }}', runId: '${{ github.run_id }}' })
+        run: npm exec extract-release-notes > release-notes-body


note Making the script log rather than write to file allows to keep mentions of release-notes-body to this file.

romaricpascal · 2026-10-02T17:48:31Z

+ * @returns {Array<number>} - Indexes in the changelog identifying start and end lines
+ */
+function getChangelogLineIndexes (changelogLines, heading = undefined) {
+  const startHeading = `## ${heading ?? 'Unreleased'}`


note This expects the heading to include the 'v' and does a similar formatting as updateChangelog so it might be worth extracting a function that ensures headings are formatted as expected both when injected and looked for.

romaricpascal · 2026-10-02T17:52:48Z

note This file only explores the shape a configuration file would take. If we had an actual package shared across repositories, the config file would be in the repository being released.

romaricpascal · 2026-10-02T17:53:20Z

+const { outdent } = require('outdent')
+
+module.exports = {
+  githubRepository: 'alphagov/govuk-prototype-kit',


note We can probably extract that from the package.json file, which would also ensure the git metadata is filled correctly.

romaricpascal · 2026-10-02T17:53:52Z

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+const semver = require('semver')
+
+const { versionIsAPrerelease, getPrereleaseIdentifier } = require('./changelog-release-helper.js')


note Those could possibly live in this package 🤔

romaricpascal · 2026-10-02T17:55:10Z

    "lint:fix": "npm run lint -- --fix",
    "prepack": "npm ls --all",
-    "postversion": "node scripts/release/update-changelog.js",
+    "postversion": "update-changelog",


note Having @govuk-prototype-kit/release provide scripts in its bin field allows to invoke them directly. We'll likely want to have a clear naming here to help figure the provenance.

romaricpascal force-pushed the spike-release-script-package branch 6 times, most recently from e72a2bc to 04ce14b Compare September 28, 2026 08:36

romaricpascal added 2 commits October 2, 2026 16:25

Set up a separate @govuk-prototype-kit/release package as a workspace

bcd0ff9

Move changelog-release-helper in release package

589e3bc

This avoids the workflow to rely on `github.workspace`

romaricpascal force-pushed the spike-release-script-package branch 2 times, most recently from 7e2b38f to 3c8b56a Compare October 2, 2026 16:53

romaricpascal added 4 commits October 2, 2026 17:58

Make generate-npm-tag a command of @govuk-prototype-kit/release

3999e57

The workflow no longer needs a relative path and we can switch to a JS script transparently

Add extract-release-notes command to extract the release notes

d4814c8

Avoids relying on GitHub actions script to run a single function

Move updateChangelog into update-changelog script

33a4e5b

The function is only used in that script so makes sense for it to be there

romaricpascal force-pushed the spike-release-script-package branch 2 times, most recently from 65b30f1 to 386465e Compare October 2, 2026 17:18

romaricpascal added 2 commits October 2, 2026 18:22

fixup! Add extract-release-notes command to extract the release notes

794fbe6

[WIP] Extract code to validate a version bump

46cb63e

romaricpascal force-pushed the spike-release-script-package branch from 386465e to 46cb63e Compare October 2, 2026 17:22

romaricpascal mentioned this pull request Oct 2, 2026

Release v15.0.0-test.0 #2718

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romaricpascal commented Oct 2, 2026

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[SPIKE] Explore extracting release script in a package - #2685

[SPIKE] Explore extracting release script in a package#2685
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		@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
		const semver = require('semver')

		const { versionIsAPrerelease, getPrereleaseIdentifier } = require('./changelog-release-helper.js')

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