How to Automate GitHub Releases with Automatic Releases GitHub Action

name: "pre-release"
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - "master"

jobs:
  pre-release:
    name: "Pre Release"
    runs-on: "ubuntu-latest"

    steps:
      - name: "Build & test"
        run: echo "done!"

      - uses: "marvinpinto/action-automatic-releases@latest"
        with:
          repo_token: "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"
          automatic_release_tag: "latest"
          prerelease: true
          title: "Development Build"
          files: |
            LICENSE.txt
            *.jar

automatic-releases-action

A GitHub Action to automate the release process with changelogs and asset uploads.

Automatic Releases GitHub Action simplifies the process of creating GitHub releases by automatically uploading assets, generating changelogs, handling pre-releases, and associating releases with tags.

Usage Example: Generate Release on Tag Push​

This example triggers a release workflow whenever a tag matching the pattern v* is pushed. It uploads assets like LICENSE.txt and .jar files, generates a changelog, and creates a release associated with the tag.

name: "tagged-release"
on:
  push:
    tags:
      - "v*"

jobs:
  tagged-release:
    name: "Tagged Release"
    runs-on: "ubuntu-latest"

    steps:
      - name: "Build & test"
        run: echo "done!"

      - uses: "marvinpinto/action-automatic-releases@latest"
        with:
          repo_token: "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"
          prerelease: false
          files: |
            LICENSE.txt
            *.jar

How to Provide GitHub Token​

The repo_token input is required to authenticate with GitHub and perform actions like creating releases and uploading assets. It should be stored in your GitHub repository secrets as GITHUB_TOKEN.

with:
  repo_token: "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"

How to Mark a Release as a Draft​

The draft input determines whether to mark the release as a draft. If set to true, the release will not be published immediately.

with:
  draft: true

How to Mark a Release as a Pre-release​

The prerelease input allows you to mark the release as a pre-release, which is useful for testing and preview builds.

with:
  prerelease: true

How to Set the Automatic Release Tag​

The automatic_release_tag input specifies the tag name to associate with the automatic release. For example, you can use latest for development builds or vX.X.X for stable releases.

with:
  automatic_release_tag: latest

How to Set a Custom Release Title​

The title input lets you specify a custom release title. If no title is provided, the action defaults to using the tag name as the title.

with:
  title: "Development Build"

How to Upload Files as Release Assets​

The files input allows you to specify a list of files to upload as part of the release. You can use glob patterns to match multiple files (e.g., *.jar).

with:
  files: |
    LICENSE.txt
    *.jar

Outputs​

The action provides several outputs that can be accessed in subsequent steps:

• automatic_releases_tag: The tag name for the release that was just processed.
• upload_url: The URL for uploading additional assets to the release.

Example of accessing the output:

steps:
  - id: release
    uses: marvinpinto/action-automatic-releases@latest
    with:
      repo_token: "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"

  - name: "Log Release Tag"
    run: echo "Tag: ${{ steps.release.outputs.automatic_releases_tag }}"

Event Triggers​

You can trigger this action on various GitHub events such as:

• Push to specific branches (e.g., master).
• Push of a new tag.
• Nightly releases based on cron schedules.

Example of triggering on tag push:

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - "v*"