Introduction

The JS API is what the GitHub Action is built on — and what you reach for when you need more: a release script for a different CI, a custom step order, or an adapter for a project type nobody has written yet.

Install the core package and the addons for your stack:

pnpm

pnpm add @simple-release/core @simple-release/pnpm @simple-release/github

npm

npm i @simple-release/core @simple-release/npm @simple-release/github

yarn

yarn add @simple-release/core @simple-release/npm @simple-release/github

A release is a chain of steps on a Releaser:

release.js

import { Releaser } from '@simple-release/core'
import { PnpmProject } from '@simple-release/pnpm'
import { GithubHosting } from '@simple-release/github'

await new Releaser({
  project: new PnpmProject(),
  hosting: new GithubHosting({
    token: process.env.GITHUB_TOKEN
  })
})
  .bump()
  .commit()
  .tag()
  .push()
  .publish()
  .release()
  .run()

Running it on a repository with unreleased feat and fix commits bumps the version in package.json, prepends the new section to CHANGELOG.md, commits, tags, pushes, publishes the package, and creates a GitHub release.

Concepts

Concept	Description
Manifest	Reads and writes the project version — package.json for the bundled addons, any file format for yours.
Project	Knows how to bump and publish a project: single package or monorepo, npm, pnpm, or anything else.
Hosting	Creates releases and pull requests on the git hosting — GitHub out of the box.
Releaser	Chains the release steps together: checkout, bump, commit, tag, push, publish, release.
Config	Loads the .simple-release config file and instantiates addons from queries.

Platform agnostic

Nothing in the core is tied to JavaScript projects. The version lives in a manifest adapter, the bump and publish logic lives in a project adapter — implement those two for your platform and the whole pipeline works: changelogs, monorepos, maintenance branches, the GitHub Action.

The following pages build a small example alongside the API reference: a release adapter for a Python package with its version in pyproject.toml, published with twine — to show that “any platform” is meant literally.