| name | pre-release-npm-package |
| description | Prepare already-public npm packages for pre-release publishing. Keywords: prerelease, pre-release, publish, npm, alpha, beta, rc, release group. |
Pre-Release NPM Package Preparation
This skill prepares already-public packages for pre-release publishing. No code changes are needed — the skill validates the pre-release branch and guides the user to trigger the CI workflow, where the package(s) are selected via the workflow's projects input.
Scope: Only already-public packages can be pre-released. A private package ("private": true) must first be made public and released through the standard publishing pipeline before it is eligible for pre-release. Being already released also implies the package belongs to a release group under release.groups.*.projects in nx.json, which is what nx release publish requires.
After this skill completes, the Publish Prerelease NPM GitHub Actions workflow (.github/workflows/publish-prerelease.yml) can be triggered to build, version, and publish the selected packages to npm. Each package is versioned and published independently.
Step 1: Validate or Create Pre-Release Branch
Check the current git branch:
git branch --show-current
If the branch matches release/pre/react-icons/<feature-name>:
- Confirm with the user that they want to proceed on this branch.
If the branch does NOT match:
- Ask the user for the
<feature-name> (kebab-case, e.g., sprite-subsetting).
- Create and checkout the branch:
git checkout -b "release/pre/react-icons/<feature-name>"
Important: The branch MUST follow the release/pre/react-icons/<feature-name> naming convention. The publish-prerelease workflow blocks execution on main.
Step 2: Trigger the Pre-Release
Inform the user of next steps:
- Push the branch to GitHub:
git push -u origin release/pre/react-icons/<feature-name>
- Navigate to Publish Prerelease NPM workflow
- Click Run workflow and:
- select the pre-release branch,
- set
projects to the already-public package(s) to pre-release using Nx selection syntax (e.g. react-icons, react-icons,react-icons-file-type, react-*, or tag:npm:standalone),
- optionally set
exclude,
- choose
preid (alpha/beta/rc), and optionally enable dry-run.
- For detailed instructions, see Prerelease Publishing Guide
Note: Each selected package is versioned and published independently. Cross-package dependencies are not auto-included: a pre-released package keeps depending on the already-published version of its repo dependencies. If you also want a dependent to consume a new prerelease, select it explicitly too.
