npm-release

Overview

This skill covers the bespoke tag-triggered release workflow for the @astroblocks/astro-blocks package. Releases are driven by pushing a Git tag: the release-tag.yml GitHub Actions workflow validates the tag format, checks it matches package.json, extracts the changelog entry via scripts/extract-changelog-entry.mjs, runs tests, publishes to npm with provenance, and creates a GitHub Release. This skill is the single source of truth for how to author a valid changelog entry, choose the correct tag format, and confirm dist-tag placement after publish.

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Release Types

Type	Tag format	npm dist-tag
Stable	vX.Y.Z	latest only
Pre-release	vX.Y.Z-alpha.N	latest and alpha

Rules:

• The v prefix is mandatory — the tag regex is ^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+(-alpha\.[0-9]+)?$ (workflow line 46).
• The tag version MUST match package.json#version exactly (without the v prefix). Mismatch → workflow fails.
• Pre-releases get both latest and alpha dist-tags (see workflow publish_npm job, lines 116–138).
• Never publish a stable version with an -alpha.N suffix.

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Changelog Contract

The scripts/extract-changelog-entry.mjs script parses CHANGELOG.md to extract the release title and body. Getting this wrong silently aborts the release job.

Header format (line 40–43 of the script)

## [X.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD

• Square brackets around the version are required.
• The date separator - (space-hyphen-space) is required.
• The regex is: ^## \[{version}\] - \d{4}-\d{2}-\d{2}\s*$
• The section ends at the next ## [ header or EOF (script line 57–58).

### Title sub-heading (script lines 68–98)

This is mandatory. The extractor looks for a line that matches /^### Title\s*$/ (case-sensitive, trimmed). If it is missing the script throws:

CHANGELOG entry X.Y.Z is missing required '### Title' heading.

If the heading exists but has no content after it, the script throws:

CHANGELOG entry X.Y.Z has '### Title' but no title content.

The title text is all lines between ### Title and the next ### or ## heading, joined with a space and trimmed (script lines 91–94). This becomes the GitHub Release title.

The ### Title block must come first in the entry, before ### Added, ### Changed, etc. Everything else (all non-Title lines) becomes the release body.

Minimal valid CHANGELOG entry

## [1.2.0] - 2026-05-01

### Title

Short, descriptive release title here

### Added

- New feature description.

### Fixed

- Bug fix description.

Common subsection names

### Added, ### Changed, ### Fixed, ### Removed, ### Deprecated, ### Security — standard Keep a Changelog conventions. Order is convention; only ### Title is machine-required.

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Dist-Tag Strategy

The workflow (publish_npm job) always publishes with --tag latest --provenance (line 116), then applies alpha as a second dist-tag if IS_PRERELEASE=true (lines 131–138):

stable  (IS_PRERELEASE=false):  latest ✓   alpha ✗
alpha   (IS_PRERELEASE=true):   latest ✓   alpha ✓

To verify placement after a release:

npm view @astroblocks/astro-blocks dist-tags

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Provenance Requirement

npm publish --provenance is mandatory and handled by the workflow — the id-token: write permission (workflow line 13) enables npm provenance attestation. Never publish this package manually without --provenance. Publishing without it produces an unattested release that cannot be verified by consumers.

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BUSL-1.1 Release Notes Caveats

The package license is Business Source License 1.1. Release notes (GitHub Release body, npm description, changelog entries) MUST NOT contain language that implies:

• The package is open-source.
• The package is free to use commercially without a license.
• The package will remain BUSL-1.1 forever (there is a Change Date after which Apache-2.0 applies).

Safe phrasing: "available under BUSL-1.1". Unsafe: "open-source", "free for everyone", "MIT licensed".

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Pre-Release Checklist (inline)

Work through this checklist before running npm version. All items must pass.

• features.json — review user-facing scope changes; update src/meta/features.json and run npm run features:validate.
• Changelog entry committed — add ## [X.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD block at the top of CHANGELOG.md, with a ### Title sub-heading and at least one content sub-section. Commit this before running npm version (npm enforces a clean working tree).
• Clean working tree — git status must show nothing uncommitted. npm version aborts if the tree is dirty.
• Playwright Chromium installed — the version hook runs both screenshot scripts via Playwright. Run npx playwright install chromium if not already done.
• Run npm version — npm version <major|minor|patch|X.Y.Z> -m "chore(release): %s".
  • preversion runs npm test (build + unit tests) — aborts on failure.
  • Bumps package.json#version.
  • version regenerates img/dashboard.*, img/page_editor.*, img/media-library.png, img/image-picker.png via screenshots:readme and screenshots:media, then stages img/.
  • Creates the release commit (package.json + img/) and the vX.Y.Z tag automatically.
  • Do NOT create the tag manually — npm already created it.
• Push — git push --follow-tags. This triggers release-tag.yml.
• Workflow passes — confirm validate_release and publish_npm jobs both succeed.
• Dist-tag confirmed — npm view @astroblocks/astro-blocks dist-tags; verify latest (and alpha for pre-releases) point to the new version.

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Common Failure Modes

Symptom	Root cause	Fix
CHANGELOG entry not found for version X.Y.Z	Missing ## [X.Y.Z] header, or brackets/date separator wrong	Correct header to ## [X.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD
missing required '### Title' heading	No ### Title block in the entry	Add ### Title + one line of title content
has '### Title' but no title content	### Title exists but is empty	Add a non-empty title line after ### Title
Tag '$TAG' does not match expected format	Tag missing v prefix or bad semver	Use vX.Y.Z or vX.Y.Z-alpha.N
Tag version does not match package.json version	Tag and package.json#version are out of sync	Update package.json version before tagging

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Compact Rules

• Tag format is vX.Y.Z (stable) or vX.Y.Z-alpha.N (pre-release); v prefix is mandatory.
• Tag version MUST equal package.json#version; mismatch fails the workflow before publishing.
• Every CHANGELOG entry needs ## [X.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD header — brackets and - separator are required.
• Every CHANGELOG entry MUST have a ### Title sub-heading with non-empty content; missing it aborts the release.
• Publish always uses --provenance; never publish this package without it.
• Pre-releases get both latest and alpha dist-tags; stable releases get latest only.
• Release notes MUST NOT imply open-source or commercial-free terms; package is BUSL-1.1 licensed.
• Version bump mechanism: use npm version <type> -m "chore(release): %s" — do NOT hand-edit package.json version or create the tag manually. npm's preversion hook runs tests, the version hook regenerates all screenshots and stages img/, then npm creates the release commit and tag.
• Screenshots are automatic: img/dashboard.*, img/page_editor.*, img/media-library.png, img/image-picker.png are regenerated by the version hook on every release. Do not include them as a manual checklist item.
• Clean tree required: commit the CHANGELOG entry before running npm version; npm aborts if the working tree is dirty.
• Consumer AGENTS.consumer.md sync (MANDATORY): Any PR that changes public API (package.json#exports), integration config options, block schema field types (defineBlockSchema), auth flow, admin routes, or environment variables MUST update AGENTS.consumer.md in the same PR. Reviewer must confirm. Release is blocked if public surface changed but AGENTS.consumer.md was not touched.