bump-version

name	bump-version
description	Bump the npm package version, commit, and create a PR for merging before publishing. Use when the user asks to "bump version", "bump the version", "prepare a release", "version bump", "/bump-version", or when `/npm-publish` is invoked but the version hasn't been bumped yet. This skill ensures the version is incremented, committed, and merged to main via PR before publishing.

Bump Version

Bump the package version in package.json, commit the change, create a pull request, and guide the user to merge before publishing.

Workflow

1. Pre-flight checks

Run in parallel:

• git status — working tree must be clean
• git branch --show-current — note the current branch

If the working tree is dirty, stop and tell the user to commit or stash changes first.

2. Determine version bump

Read the current version from package.json and ask the user which bump type:

Type	When to use
patch (1.0.0 → 1.0.1)	Bug fixes, documentation changes
minor (1.0.0 → 1.1.0)	New tools, features, backwards-compatible changes
major (1.0.0 → 2.0.0)	Breaking changes to existing tools

Show the current version and what the new version will be.

3. Create a release branch and bump

# Create and switch to release branch
git checkout -b release/v<new-version>

# Bump version in package.json (no git tag yet — tag after merge)
npm version <patch|minor|major> --no-git-tag-version

4. Commit the change

Stage the version bump and use the /commit skill:

git add package.json package-lock.json

Then invoke /commit — the commit message should follow the pattern: Bump version to <new-version>

5. Push and create PR

# Push the release branch
git push -u origin release/v<new-version>

# Create PR targeting main
gh pr create --base main --title "Release v<new-version>" --body "Bump package version to <new-version> for npm publish."

If gh CLI is not available, provide the GitHub URL for manual PR creation.

6. Guide user to merge and publish

Tell the user:

PR created. Please review and merge the PR to main, then run /npm-publish to publish the new version to npm.

Do NOT proceed with publishing — the user must merge the PR first.

Rules

• Never create a git tag during bump — /npm-publish handles tagging after merge.
• Always use --no-git-tag-version with npm version to avoid premature tags.
• Always create a PR targeting main — never push directly to main.
• If already on a feature branch, create the release branch from it and target main.