This action creates a release branch for your GitHub Actions which will be automatically tagged and released. The release version can be defined in package.json.

Based on the tgymnich/publish-github-action action, but I wanted further customization and control over the release process (i.e.: adding ncc output and not committing node_modules directory).

Please refer to the release page for the latest release notes.

• 🔐 Verified Commits - Uses GitHub API to create verified commits (when commit_node_modules is false)
• 🏷️ Annotated Tags - Creates annotated tags via Git CLI with atomic updates (no downtime)
• 🌐 Multi-instance Support - API URL defaults to the environment you are running in; works with GitHub.com, GitHub Enterprise Server, and GHE.com
• 📦 Flexible Build - Automatically installs production dependencies and supports custom build commands
• 🗂️ Selective Commits - Choose which files to include (dist, node_modules, or both)

• ✅ Verified commits (signed by GitHub) when commit_node_modules: false - Uses GitHub API for commits; tags are created locally via Git CLI
• ❌ Unverified commits when commit_node_modules: true - Uses Git CLI due to API limitations with large file counts

The action automatically handles clean builds and file management:

• Dist folder cleaning: When commit_dist_folder: true and npm_package_command is specified, the dist/ folder is cleaned before building to ensure no stale files persist
• Automatic file deletion: The action removes .github/ files from release commits and properly handles renamed/deleted files in the dist/ folder

The action requires specific permissions depending on features used:

Example with all permissions:

permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write # only needed if using draft_release_pr_reminder
  issues: write # only needed if using comment_on_linked_issues

name: 'Publish GitHub Action'
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

jobs:
  publish:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
      - name: install ncc
        run: npm i -g @vercel/ncc
      - uses: joshjohanning/publish-github-action@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          npm_package_command: npm run package
          commit_node_modules: false
          commit_dist_folder: true
          publish_minor_version: false
          publish_release_branch: false
          create_release_as_draft: false
          draft_release_pr_reminder: true