Lite Release is an all-in-one GitHub Action designed to automate the tedious parts of software releasing. It handles version bumping, selective file updates (Release vs. Snapshot), Git tagging, and GitHub Release creation—all in a single execution.

• Smart Bumping: Supports patch, minor, and major versioning.
• Dual-Phase Updates: Separate file patterns for Release (e.g., updating README and Gradle) and Snapshot (e.g., updating only Gradle).
• Version Tracking: Uses a simple version.json file to keep track of release and snapshot versions.
• Release Templating: Supports custom Markdown templates with {VERSION} placeholders for your release notes.
• Fully Customizable: Custom commit messages and release titles using patterns.
• GitHub CLI Integration: Uses the native gh tool for reliable release creation.

Create a file at .github/release/version.json (or any path you prefer) with the following structure:

{
 "versionRelease": "1.0.0",
 "versionSnapshot": "1.1.0-SNAPSHOT"
}

for versionRelease use the latest stable version, and for versionSnapshot use the next version with -SNAPSHOT suffix.

Ensure you use a Personal Access Token (PAT) if you want the commits pushed by this action to trigger other workflows (like your CI/CD build or publishing to Maven Central).

Create a workflow file (e.g., .github/workflows/release.yml):

name: Release
on:
 workflow_dispatch:
 inputs:
 bump:
 description: 'Version Bump'
 type: choice
 options: [patch, minor, major]
 default: 'patch'
jobs:
 release:
 runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 steps:
 - name: Checkout
 uses: actions/checkout@v4
 with:
 token: ${{ secrets.PAT }} # github token or PAT
 - name: Run Lite Release
 uses: Rollczi/lite-release@v0.0.4-alpha
 with:
 # GitHub token or PAT (required)
 token: ${{ secrets.PAT }}
 # version bump type (passed from workflow input) (not required but recommended)
 bump_type: ${{ github.event.inputs.bump }} # default: patch
 # Release commit - here we update all files including README (optional)
 commit_release: 'chore(release): release version {VERSION}'
 commit_release_update_files: 'README.md, **/*.gradle.kts, **/pom.xml, src/main/resources/plugin.yml'
 
 # Snapshot commit - here we update only build files for snapshot (optional)
 commit_snapshot: 'chore(dev): bump snapshot to {VERSION}'
 commit_snapshot_update_files: '**/*.gradle.kts, **/pom.xml'
 # Git config (optional)
 git_user_name: 'LiteRelease Bot'
 git_user_email: 'bot@litecommands.io'
 # GitHub Release (optional)
 github_release_title: '🚀 LiteCommands v{VERSION} - New Features!'
 github_release_template: '.github/release/template.md'
 
 # Path to the version file (optional)
 version_file: '.github/release/version.json'

If you provide a github_release_template, you can use the {version} and {previous_version} placeholders. The action will also automatically append a list of commits (generated by GitHub) to your template.

Example .github/release/template.md:

# LiteCommands {VERSION} 🚀
Thank you for using LiteCommands!
## 📦 Installation
`implementation("org.example:litecommands:{version}")`
Update your version from {previous_version} to {version}!

1. Release Phase:

• Reads version.json.
• Calculates the new version based on bump_type.
• Replaces the old release and old snapshot version strings with the new release version in all files matching commit_release_update_files.
• Commits changes and creates a Git tag.

2. GitHub Release:

• Creates a formal GitHub Release using your title pattern and template.

3. Snapshot Phase:

• Calculates the next snapshot version (always +1 patch).
• Replaces the new release version with the next snapshot version, but only in files matching commit_snapshot_update_files.
• Commits and pushes back to the branch.