| name | deploy-maven-central |
| description | Deploy the be5 project or any of its modules to Maven Central. Use this skill whenever the user mentions deploying be5, publishing to Maven Central, bumping versions for release, running `mvn deploy`, or preparing a be5 release. Trigger even if the user says things like "release a new version", "push to central", or "publish be5 artifacts". Always consult this skill before running any Maven deployment commands for be5. |
Deploy be5 to Maven Central
Overview
Full release workflow for the be5 project: bump versions, run tests, deploy signed artifacts to Maven Central via central-publishing-maven-plugin.
Step 1 — Confirm Current Version
Check the current version before making any changes:
grep -m1 '<version>' pom.xml
Ask the user to confirm the target version if not already specified (e.g., 0.4.2 → 0.4.3).
Step 2 — Update Version Numbers
Do a global replacement across all module POMs. Example for 0.4.2 → 0.4.3:
sed -i 's/<version>0.4.2<\/version>/<version>0.4.3<\/version>/g' pom.xml */pom.xml
Then review the diff — sed replaces all matching occurrences, including dependency references:
git diff --stat
git diff
Fix any unintended replacements before proceeding.
Versioning rules
- Parent POM (
be5-parent): bump 0.4.x → 0.4.x+1
- Every module's
<parent><version>: must match the new parent version
- Independent modules (
freemarker-patched, maven, util/app, util/jetty): have their own version lines — bump independently if needed, they are not tied to the parent chain
Step 3 — Run Tests
mvn -B test
Fix all failures before proceeding. Do not skip tests for a release build.
Step 4 — Deploy to Maven Central
mvn -B -DskipTests source:jar javadoc:jar deploy
⚠️ Order matters: source:jar and javadoc:jar must appear before deploy. If deploy runs first, be5-maven-plugin will fail.
This command:
- Builds all modules
- Runs Checkstyle and JaCoCo
- Generates sources and Javadoc JARs
- Signs all artifacts with GPG
- Uploads and auto-publishes via
central-publishing-maven-plugin (v0.5.0)
Prerequisites
- GPG key configured and available (
gpg --list-secret-keys to verify)
~/.m2/settings.xml has credentials for the central server- All module POMs inherit from
be5-parent
If GPG signing fails, check that gpg-agent is running and the key is not expired:
gpg-agent --daemon
gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format LONG
Step 5 — Verify on Maven Central
After deployment, confirm the artifacts are live (may take a few minutes to index):
https://search.maven.org/artifact/com.developmentontheedge.be5/be5-parent
Check that the new version appears in the version list. No manual promotion step is needed — autoPublish is enabled in central-publishing-maven-plugin.
Quick Reference
