Streamline Your NPM Publishing Workflow with Github Actions

The Manual Approach

Before we dive into automation, let’s take a look at the traditional manual process of publishing an NPM package. This involves:

• Compiling your code to a supported JS version
• Updating the package version
• Publishing it to the NPM registry

While this approach gives you control over the release process, it can be time-consuming and prone to errors.

Automating Releases with Github Actions

Github actions offer a powerful way to automate your release workflow. By creating a Github action, you can trigger a release event that:

• Compiles your code
• Updates the package version
• Publishes it to NPM

This approach eliminates the need for manual intervention, making it ideal for projects with multiple contributors.

Semi-Automated Publishing

In our semi-automated approach, we’ll create a Github action that listens for release events and triggers the publishing process. This involves:

npm version [major|minor|patch]
git push --tags
npm publish

This approach still requires human intervention to create releases, but it simplifies the publishing process and reduces errors.

Fully-Automated Publishing with Semantic-Release

For larger projects, a fully-automated approach using semantic-release can be a game-changer. This package automates the entire release workflow, including:

• Determining the next version number
• Generating release notes
• Publishing the package to NPM

By using semantic-release with Github actions, you can create a seamless release process that requires minimal human intervention.

The Power of Github Actions

Github actions offer a wide range of possibilities for automating your workflow. From:

• Running tests on every push
• Deploying to your server

Github actions can help you streamline your development process. With a vast ecosystem of third-party actions, you can find a solution to almost any problem.

Get Started with Github Actions

Start exploring Github actions today and take your development workflow to the next level!

Learn more about Github Actions