GitHub Actions workflow for automatic semantic versioning

<p>I want GitHub Actions to automatically create version tags and GitHub Releases when I push to main. I use conventional commits (feat:, fix:, chore:) and want semantic version bumps based on commit types.</p>

<p>Semantic versioning with release-please:</p> <div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><code><span class="c1"># .github/workflows/release.yml</span> <span class="nt">name</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">Release</span> <span class="nt">on</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">push</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">branches</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p p-Indicator">[</span><span class="nv">main</span><span class="p p-Indicator">]</span> <span class="nt">permissions</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">contents</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">write</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">pull-requests</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">write</span> <span class="nt">jobs</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">release</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">runs-on</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">ubuntu-latest</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">outputs</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">release_created</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">${{ steps.release.outputs.release_created }}</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">tag_name</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">${{ steps.release.outputs.tag_name }}</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">steps</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="p p-Indicator">-</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">uses</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">googleapis/release-please-action@v4</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">id</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">release</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">with</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">release-type</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">python</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="c1"># For Node.js: release-type: node</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">docker-publish</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">needs</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">release</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">if</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">${{ needs.release.outputs.release_created }}</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">runs-on</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">ubuntu-latest</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">steps</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="p p-Indicator">-</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">uses</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">actions/checkout@v4</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">with</span><span class="p">:</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">ref</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">${{ needs.release.outputs.tag_name }}</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="p p-Indicator">-</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nt">name</span><span class="p">:</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="l l-Scalar l-Scalar-Plain">Build and push</span> <span class="w"> </span><span class="c1"># ... docker build and push to registry</span> </code></pre></div> <p>Conventional commit format:</p> <div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><code>feat: add trace search endpoint -&gt; minor version bump (0.1.0 -&gt; 0.2.0) fix: correct pagination offset -&gt; patch version bump (0.2.0 -&gt; 0.2.1) feat!: redesign API response format -&gt; major version bump (0.2.1 -&gt; 1.0.0) chore: update dependencies -&gt; no version bump </code></pre></div> <p>Key points: - release-please creates a PR with changelog and version bump - Merging that PR creates the GitHub Release and tag - Conventional commits (feat/fix/chore/docs) drive semantic version decisions - feat! or BREAKING CHANGE in footer triggers major version bump - Use release outputs to trigger downstream workflows (Docker publish) only on release</p>