release

name

release

description

Automates the n8n-nodes-pipelex release workflow: bumps the version in package.json, finalizes the CHANGELOG.md Unreleased section, runs quality checks, creates a release/vX.Y.Z branch, commits, pushes, and opens a PR to main. Use when user says "release", "cut a release", "bump version", "prepare a release", "make a release", "ship it", "create release branch", or any variation of shipping a new version of the n8n node. The user can optionally provide changelog content inline when invoking the skill (e.g. "/release Added MTHDS multi-bundle support"), which will be used as the changelog entry for this version.

n8n-nodes-pipelex Release Workflow

This skill handles the full release cycle for the n8n-nodes-pipelex npm package. It is a port of the pipelex Python release skill, adapted for a TypeScript/pnpm project published to npm via GitHub Actions.

Files touched

• package.json — the version field (line 3)
• CHANGELOG.md — add [vX.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD entry (remove [Unreleased] if present)

Notes — there is no lockfile to regenerate here: this is a published npm package, and the lockfile (pnpm-lock.yaml) is only used in CI/dev install. The publish workflow runs pnpm publish against the source after merge.

Workflow

1. Pre-flight checks

• Read the current version from package.json (line 3, "version": "X.Y.Z").
• Read CHANGELOG.md to understand the current state.
• Run git status and git log origin/main..HEAD to assess the working tree:
  • If there are uncommitted changes (staged or unstaged), warn the user and ask whether to commit them as part of the release, stash them, or abort.
  • If there are unpushed commits on the current branch, list them so the user is aware — these will be included in the release branch.

2. Determine the bump type

Ask the user which kind of version bump they want — patch, minor, or major — unless they already specified it. Show the current version and what the new version would be for each option so the choice is concrete.

The package is still pre-1.0 (0.x.y); minor bumps for breaking changes are acceptable, patch bumps for fixes/small additions are typical.

3. Run quality checks

Run make check. This is the gate — if it fails, stop and report the errors so they can be fixed before retrying. Do not proceed past this step on failure.

make check runs pnpm run lint (source ESLint) and pnpm run build (TypeScript compilation). Both must pass. The optional make check-dist re-lints the compiled JS but is intentionally NOT part of make check (see Makefile comment) — do not run it unless investigating dist-specific issues.

4. Ensure we're on the right branch

The release branch must be named release/vX.Y.Z where X.Y.Z is the new version. All file modifications (changelog, version bump) must happen on this branch.

• If already on release/vX.Y.Z matching the new version, stay on it.
• If on dev, main, or any other branch, create and switch to release/vX.Y.Z from the current HEAD.
• If on a release/ branch for a different version, warn the user and ask how to proceed.

The version-check.yml and changelog-check.yml workflows in this repo specifically gate on this branch shape — they extract the version from the branch name and verify it matches package.json and CHANGELOG.md.

5. Finalize the changelog

Add a new version entry at the top of the changelog for the release.

1. If there is an ## [Unreleased] section, remove it (including any blank lines that follow it) and replace it with the new version heading. Any content that was under [Unreleased] becomes the content of the new version.
2. If there is no [Unreleased] section, insert the new version heading directly after the # Changelog title.
3. Never add an [Unreleased] heading. The changelog should only contain concrete version entries.
4. If the user provided changelog content when invoking the skill (e.g. /release Added new extract backend), merge that content with any existing [Unreleased] content (do not discard either source).
5. If the release has no changelog content yet (neither from an [Unreleased] section nor from inline user input), ask the user what to include before proceeding.
6. The existing entries in this repo use plain bullet lists rather than ### Added/### Changed/### Fixed subheadings — match that style for consistency unless the user asks otherwise. Example:

# Changelog

## [vX.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD

- One-line summary of the change.
- Another change.

## [vPREVIOUS] - PREVIOUS-DATE
...

6. Bump the version in package.json

Edit package.json line 3 to the new version string. Only change the version field — don't touch anything else.

Verify the result with: node -p "require('./package.json').version" — must print the new version exactly.

7. Commit and push

Stage all release-related changes. This includes at minimum package.json and CHANGELOG.md, plus any other files the user chose to include in step 1 (e.g. previously uncommitted work that belongs in this release).

Commit with the message:

Release vX.Y.Z

Push the branch to origin with -u to set up tracking:

git push -u origin release/vX.Y.Z

8. Open a PR

Create a pull request targeting main with:

• Title: Release vX.Y.Z
• Body: Include:
  • The changelog entries for this version (copied from CHANGELOG.md)
  • A note about the version bump from old to new

Use this format for the PR body:

## Release vX.Y.Z

Bumps version from `A.B.C` to `X.Y.Z`.

### Changelog

<paste the changelog entries for this version here>

Report the PR URL back to the user.

Important details

• The version follows semver: MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.
• Always confirm the bump type with the user before making changes.
• If make check fails, the release is blocked — help the user fix the issues rather than skipping the checks.
• The CI will validate that:
  • The package.json version matches the branch name (version-check.yml)
  • The CHANGELOG.md has an entry for the version (changelog-check.yml)
  • Source ESLint + TypeScript build pass (quality-checks.yml)
• All checks must pass for the PR to be mergeable.
• After merging to main, the publish.yml workflow publishes the package to npm via Trusted Publishing (OIDC) — no manual npm publish step needed.
• Today's date for the changelog entry: use the current date in YYYY-MM-DD format.

Differences vs the pipelex (Python) release skill

For maintainers porting between the two:

Concern	pipelex (Python)	n8n-nodes-pipelex (this)
Version file	pyproject.toml line 3	package.json line 3
Lockfile	uv.lock regenerated via make li	none — pnpm-lock.yaml not refreshed during release
Quality gate	make agent-check	make check
Test badge	.badges/tests.json updated via make test-count	none
Publish target	PyPI via OIDC	npm via OIDC (publish.yml)

Everything else — branch naming, changelog format, PR shape, CI validators — is intentionally identical so the two release flows feel the same.