/configure:release-please

Check and configure release-please against project standards.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when... Use another approach when...

Setting up release-please for a new project from scratch Manually editing CHANGELOG.md or version fields — use conventional commits instead

Auditing existing release-please configuration for compliance Creating a one-off release — use gh release create directly

Upgrading release-please-action to the latest version Debugging a failed release PR — check GitHub Actions logs directly

Ensuring workflow uses correct token (MY_RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN) Managing npm/PyPI publishing — configure separate publish workflows

Adding a new package to a monorepo release-please configuration Writing conventional commit messages — use /git:commit skill

Context

• Workflow file: !find .github/workflows -maxdepth 1 -name 'release-please*'

• Config file: !find . -maxdepth 1 -name 'release-please-config.json'

• Manifest file: !find . -maxdepth 1 -name '.release-please-manifest.json'

• Package files: !find . -maxdepth 1 ( -name 'package.json' -o -name 'pyproject.toml' -o -name 'Cargo.toml' -o -name 'go.mod' )

• Workflows dir: !find . -maxdepth 1 -type d -name '.github/workflows'

Skills referenced: release-please-standards , release-please-protection

Parameters

Parse from command arguments:

• --check-only : Report status without offering fixes

• --fix : Apply all fixes automatically

Execution

Execute this release-please configuration check:

Step 1: Fetch latest action version

Run this command to get the current release-please-action version dynamically:

curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/googleapis/release-please-action/releases/latest | jq -r '.tag_name'

References:

• release-please-action releases

• release-please CLI releases

Step 2: Detect project type

Determine appropriate release-type from detected package files:

• node: Has package.json (default for frontend/backend apps)

• python: Has pyproject.toml without package.json

• helm: Infrastructure with Helm charts

• simple: Generic projects

Step 3: Analyze compliance

Workflow file checks:

• Action version: googleapis/release-please-action@v4

• Token: Uses MY_RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN secret (not GITHUB_TOKEN)

• Trigger: Push to main branch

• Permissions: contents: write , pull-requests: write

Config file checks:

• Valid release-type for project

• changelog-sections includes feat and fix

• Appropriate plugins (e.g., node-workspace for Node projects)

Manifest file checks:

• Valid JSON structure

• Package paths match config

Step 4: Generate compliance report

Print a formatted compliance report showing file status and configuration check results. If --check-only is set, stop here.

For the report format, see REFERENCE.md.

Step 5: Apply configuration (if --fix or user confirms)

• Missing workflow: Create from standard template

• Missing config: Create with detected release-type

• Missing manifest: Create with initial version 0.0.0

• Outdated action: Update to v4

• Wrong token: Update to use MY_RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN

For standard templates, see REFERENCE.md.

Step 6: Update standards tracking

Update .project-standards.yaml :

components: release-please: "2025.1"

Agentic Optimizations

Context Command

Quick compliance check /configure:release-please --check-only

Auto-fix all issues /configure:release-please --fix

Check latest action version curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/googleapis/release-please-action/releases/latest | jq -r '.tag_name'

Verify config JSON jq . release-please-config.json

Verify manifest JSON jq . .release-please-manifest.json

Check workflow exists find .github/workflows -name 'release-please*'

Important Notes

• Requires MY_RELEASE_PLEASE_TOKEN secret in repository settings

• CHANGELOG.md is managed by release-please - never edit manually

• Version fields in package.json/pyproject.toml are managed automatically

• Works with conventional-pre-commit hook for commit validation

See Also

• /configure:pre-commit

• Ensure conventional commits hook

• /configure:all

• Run all compliance checks

• release-please-protection skill - Protected file rules