rlsbl 0.8.1

Release orchestration and project scaffolding for npm, PyPI, and Go

rlsbl

Release orchestration and project scaffolding CLI for npm, PyPI, and Go.

Install

From npm:

npm i -g rlsbl

From PyPI (requires Node.js 18+):

uv tool install rlsbl

Quick start

rlsbl scaffold
rlsbl release minor

Commands

All commands work at the top level -- registries are auto-detected from project files (package.json, pyproject.toml, go.mod). Use --registry <npm|pypi|go> when you need to target a specific registry.

scaffold [--force] [--update]

Scaffolds CI/CD infrastructure and release tooling for all detected registries.

rlsbl scaffold
rlsbl scaffold --registry npm          # target npm only
rlsbl scaffold --registry pypi --force # overwrite existing files
rlsbl scaffold --registry go           # target Go only

Context-aware behavior when files already exist (without --force):

File	Behavior
CLAUDE.md	Appends rlsbl sections if the marker is not present
.gitignore	Merges missing entries from the template
.github/workflows/ci.yml	Preserves existing file, prints a note to review manually
All others	Skipped

release [patch|minor|major] [--dry-run] [--quiet]

Bumps version, commits, pushes, and creates a GitHub Release. Defaults to patch.

rlsbl release minor
rlsbl release major --dry-run --registry npm

The version is synced across all detected project files (package.json, pyproject.toml, VERSION) regardless of which registry is primary. Go projects use a plain VERSION file as the version source.

If .rlsbl/hooks/pre-release.sh exists, it runs before any changes are made. A non-zero exit aborts the release. If .rlsbl/hooks/post-release.sh exists, it runs after the release completes (non-fatal). See Release flow for details.

status

Shows project status: package name, version (per registry), git branch, last tag, working tree state, changelog coverage, and CI workflow presence.

rlsbl status
rlsbl status --registry pypi

check <name>

Checks name availability on both npm and PyPI, and warns about confusingly similar names.

rlsbl check my-cool-lib
rlsbl check my-cool-lib --registry npm   # npm only

npm checks variant spellings (hyphens, underscores, dots, no separator). PyPI normalizes per PEP 503 and checks common alternatives.

discover [--mine]

Lists all projects in the rlsbl ecosystem by querying GitHub for repositories with the rlsbl topic.

rlsbl discover
rlsbl discover --mine              # only your repos

Uses GitHub token if available (higher rate limit). Works unauthenticated for public repos.

Ecosystem tagging

By default, scaffold and release add an "rlsbl" keyword to package.json and/or pyproject.toml, and set the rlsbl topic on the GitHub repository. This makes projects discoverable via rlsbl discover.

To disable tagging:

Method	Scope
--no-tag flag	Single invocation
{"tag": false} in .rlsbl/config.json	This project
{"tag": false} in ~/.rlsbl/config.json	All your projects

Precedence: CLI flag > project config > user config > default (enabled).

Global flags: --help, --version.

Release flow

When you run release, the following happens in order:

1. Verifies gh CLI is installed and authenticated
2. Checks that the git working tree is clean
3. Reads the current version from the primary project file
4. Computes the new version and confirms the git tag does not already exist
5. Validates that CHANGELOG.md contains a ## <new-version> section
6. Runs .rlsbl/hooks/pre-release.sh if present (non-zero exit aborts)
7. Writes the new version to the primary project file
8. Syncs the new version to all other detected project files
9. Commits the version bump (uses safegit if available, otherwise git)
10. Pushes the branch to origin
11. Creates a GitHub Release tagged v<new-version> with the changelog entry as notes
12. The GitHub Release triggers publish.yml, which publishes to the registry
13. Runs .rlsbl/hooks/post-release.sh if present (non-fatal -- the release is already complete). The RLSBL_VERSION env var is set to the released version. Useful for local install (go install ./cmd/myapp/), deploy, or notifications.
14. Spawns a background process that watches CI via gh run watch. When CI finishes, it prints the result to stderr (so AI agents can read it) and sends a desktop notification (notify-send on Linux, osascript on macOS). On CI failure, it also prints the GitHub Actions run URL. This happens automatically -- no configuration needed.

What scaffold creates

File	Source	Purpose
.github/workflows/ci.yml	Registry-specific	CI workflow (lint, test)
.github/workflows/publish.yml	Registry-specific	Publish on GitHub Release (OIDC)
CHANGELOG.md	Shared	Version changelog
LICENSE	Shared	MIT license (author and year filled in)
.gitignore	Shared	Standard ignores for the ecosystem
CLAUDE.md	Shared	AI assistant instructions
.claude/settings.json	Shared	Claude Code settings
.rlsbl/hooks/pre-release.sh	Shared	User-customizable pre-release validation
.rlsbl/hooks/post-release.sh	Shared	User-customizable post-release actions
.git/hooks/pre-push	Shared	One-liner that calls rlsbl pre-push-check

Hook files are made executable automatically. The record-gif and pre-push-check functionality is provided as built-in subcommands (rlsbl record-gif, rlsbl pre-push-check) rather than scaffolded scripts.

The scaffolded .gitignore includes a *.local-only pattern. Create a .local-only/ directory or rename files with a .local-only suffix to keep them out of version control -- useful for local-only assets, experiments, and keeping the working tree clean for tools that check git status.

Pre-push hook

The rlsbl pre-push-check subcommand enforces changelog coverage. During scaffold, a one-liner git hook is installed at .git/hooks/pre-push that calls this subcommand. It prevents pushing when CHANGELOG.md lacks an entry for the current version.

How it works:

1. Detects project type (package.json, pyproject.toml, or VERSION)
2. Extracts the current version
3. Checks that CHANGELOG.md contains a heading ## <version>
4. Blocks the push with an error if the entry is missing

To reinstall manually:

echo '#!/bin/sh' > .git/hooks/pre-push && echo 'exec rlsbl pre-push-check "$@"' >> .git/hooks/pre-push && chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-push

First publish

The first version must be published manually before CI can take over:

Registry	Manual first publish	Then configure
npm	Add an NPM_TOKEN secret to your GitHub repo (Settings > Secrets > Actions), then push a release	CI handles subsequent publishes
PyPI	Run uv publish	Set up Trusted Publishing on pypi.org
Go	Push to GitHub and create a release -- Go modules are published by the tag itself	No secrets needed; pkg.go.dev indexes automatically

After configuration, all subsequent releases are handled by CI when rlsbl release creates a GitHub Release. Go projects use GoReleaser in CI (via GitHub Actions) to build cross-platform binaries.

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Description
RLSBL_PUSH_TIMEOUT	120	Timeout in seconds for git push operations. Increase if your pre-push hooks (e.g. test suites) take longer than 2 minutes.
RLSBL_VERSION	--	Set automatically when running .rlsbl/hooks/post-release.sh. Contains the just-released version string.

Requirements

• Node 18+
• GitHub CLI (gh), installed and authenticated
• git

License

MIT