Release your extension with GitHub Actions

Manually releasing your extension can be time-consuming and error-prone. In this guide, you'll configure your extension to use GitHub Actions to automatically create a release when you create a new tag.

INFO

GitHub template repository azot-extension-example already includes a GitHub Actions workflow.

1. In the root directory of your extension, create a file called release.yml under .github/workflows with the following content:

name: Release Azot extension

permissions:
  contents: write

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*'

jobs:
  release:
    name: Create Release
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          node-version: 'lts/*'
          cache: 'npm'

      - run: npm ci

      - name: Get package version
        id: package_version
        run: echo "version=$(node -p "require('./package.json').version")" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"

      - name: Build and Pack
        id: pack_artifact
        run: |
          npm run build
          npm pack
          ARTIFACT_FILE=$(ls -1 *.tgz | head -n 1)
          echo "artifact_path=$ARTIFACT_FILE" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
          echo "Created artifact: $ARTIFACT_FILE"

      - name: Create GitHub Release
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        run: |
          PRERELEASE_FLAG=""
          if [[ "${{ github.ref_name }}" == *-* ]]; then
            PRERELEASE_FLAG="--prerelease"
          fi

          gh release create ${{ github.ref_name }} \
            --title "v${{ steps.package_version.outputs.version }}" \
            --generate-notes \
            $PRERELEASE_FLAG \
            "${{ steps.pack_artifact.outputs.artifact_path }}" \
            "package.json"

2. In your terminal, commit the workflow.

git add .github/workflows/release.yml
git commit -m "Add release workflow"
git push origin main

3. Browse to your repository on GitHub and select the Settings tab. Expand the Actions menu in the left sidebar, navigate to the General menu, scroll to the Workflow permissions section, select the Read and write permissions option, and save.

4. Create a tag that matches the version in the package.json file.

git tag -a 1.0.1 -m "1.0.1"
git push origin 1.0.1

• -a creates an annotated tag.
• -m specifies the name of your release. For Azot extensions, this must be the same as the version.

5. Browse to your repository on GitHub and select the Actions tab. Your workflow might still be running, or it might have finished already.

6. When the workflow finishes, go back to the main page for your repository and select Releases in the sidebar on the right side. The workflow has created a draft GitHub release and uploaded the required assets as binary attachments.

7. Select Edit (pencil icon) on the right side of the release name.

8. Add release notes to let users know what happened in this release, and then select Publish release.

You've successfully set up your extension to automatically create a GitHub release whenever you create a new tag.

• If this is the first release for this extension, you're now ready to Submit your extension.
• If this is an update to an already published extension, your users can now update to the latest version.