/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:

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

configure-release-please