autoship

name

autoship

description

Runs the npm release flow for an existing changesets package: create a changeset, fix lint/type/test/format failures, push, watch CI, merge the Version Packages PR, watch publish, and verify npm. Use when asked to "release this", "publish this package", "autoship", "cut a release", or fix build failures inside a release flow. For feature PRs use pr-creator; for PR monitoring use pr-babysitter; for new packages use scaffold-cli.

Autoship

Drive an npm release end to end: changeset, fix loop, push, CI watch, Version Packages PR merge, publish watch, npm verification.

• IS: the full release pipeline for an existing changesets-based npm package, from writing the changeset file to confirming the new version on the registry.
• IS NOT: opening a feature PR (use pr-creator), monitoring a feature PR for reviews, conflicts, or CI (use pr-babysitter), general build/type fixes outside a release flow, or scaffolding a new package (use scaffold-cli, which hands off to autoship for the first release).

The Release Loop

One workflow, two successive runs. Misreading it as two workflows causes most autoship mistakes.

1. Push a commit containing a pending .changeset/*.md file to the default branch.
2. The release workflow runs: changesets/action sees pending changesets, runs changeset version in CI, and opens or updates a PR titled "Version Packages" on branch changeset-release/main with the package.json bump and CHANGELOG.md updates.
3. Merge that PR once every check is green.
4. The same workflow runs again. With no pending changesets left, the action runs its publish: script (changeset publish), pushing tags and publishing to npm.

The local job ends at "push the changeset file". CI owns versioning and publishing; anything versioned locally breaks the loop (see Gotchas).

Reference Files

File	Read when
references/changeset-and-commit.md	Writing the changeset file and running each quality gate non-interactively (Steps 1-2)
references/ci-polling.md	Monitor scripts, CI failures, Changeset Status check (Steps 4-5)
references/version-pr-and-publish.md	Finding/merging the Version Packages PR, watching publish (Steps 4-5)

Intent Map

Intent	Steps	Notes
Full autoship (ship / release / publish)	1-5	Default entry point. End-to-end through publish, no intermediate prompts
Create changeset only	1	Stage a release without pushing
Fix quality and push	1-2	Changeset + fixes + commit, no CI watch
Watch CI only	3-5	Changes already pushed
Merge version PR only	4-5	CI already passed; auto-merges once preconditions are met
Fix compiler only	2	Inside an autoship/release flow only; no changeset needed

If the user says "ship it" without explicit npm release context, route to pr-creator.

Safety Tiers

Invoking autoship is standing consent for the full release flow. Do not pause mid-flow to re-confirm; gate risky steps with objective preconditions instead.

• Green (execute directly): any read, including CI and PR state, npm view, pending changesets, package.json scripts, and git history or status.
• Yellow (announce, then execute): writing changeset files, running lint/typecheck/test/format fixers, git add/commit/push, starting Monitor background watches, and gh pr merge of the Version Packages PR once its identity is confirmed and all checks are green.
• Red (explicit confirmation required): force-pushing, history rewrites, any destructive git operation.

Workflow

Copy this checklist to track progress:

Autoship progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Create changeset (default patch)
- [ ] Step 2: Fix lint, types, tests, format
- [ ] Step 3: Commit + push changeset (do NOT run `changeset version`)
- [ ] Step 4: Monitor CI and find/merge the Version Packages PR
- [ ] Step 5: Watch the publish run, verify on npm

Step 1: Create changeset (default patch)

• Load references/changeset-and-commit.md.
• Check for pending changesets: ls .changeset/*.md 2>/dev/null | grep -v README.md. If any exist, ask the user whether to add another or skip.
• Default to patch; use minor or major only on explicit user instruction.
• Write the changeset file directly (non-interactive agent mode); infer the summary from git log --oneline -10.

Step 2: Fix lint, types, tests, format

• Load references/changeset-and-commit.md (skip the changeset sections for the "Fix compiler only" intent).
• Discover commands from package.json scripts (build, typecheck, tsc, type-check, lint, test, format); in non-npm repos check Makefile, Cargo.toml, pyproject.toml, go.mod.
• Run gates in order: lint, typecheck, test, format.
• Scope auto-fixers (lint --fix, format) to changed files where supported. After any fixer, check git status: broad scripts routinely reformat files outside your change (MDX is a frequent casualty). Revert unrelated churn with git restore <path> before continuing.
• On failure, parse output for file, line, code, and message. Fix syntax errors first, then type errors, then lint errors. Fix one root cause at a time when errors cascade.
• Retry each gate up to 5 fix iterations, reporting the remaining error count each pass. After 5 failures, stop and report (see Failure Recovery).

Step 3: Commit + push changeset

• Stage the changeset file and in-scope fixes only: git add <paths>, never git add -A. Sweep git status --porcelain for stray generated artifacts (e.g. a root schema.gql from a pre-commit hook) and unrelated fixer churn before committing.
• Commit (chore: add <type> changeset for <package>) and push.
• Do NOT run npx changeset version locally. The pushed commit must still contain the pending .changeset/*.md file so CI's "Changeset Status" check passes and the Version Packages PR opens.

Step 4: Monitor CI and find/merge the Version Packages PR

• Load references/ci-polling.md and references/version-pr-and-publish.md.
• Start a Monitor watch scoped to the pushed commit SHA, emitting state changes and a TERMINAL: line when every workflow run completes. Do not stop on an idle first poll; runs take time to queue.
• On failure, classify via logs (gh run view <id> --log-failed): flaky/infra failures get gh run rerun <id> --failed up to 3 times; real failures get a fix, commit, push, and a fresh Monitor.
• Once green, find the open PR titled "Version Packages" on branch changeset-release/main. If absent, start a second Monitor that polls for it, capped at 10 minutes.
• Verify ALL merge preconditions:
  • PR title is exactly "Version Packages" OR head branch is changeset-release/main. Never merge any other PR.
  • Every check reports bucket: pass via gh pr checks <number> --json name,bucket.
  • gh pr view <number> --json mergeable reports MERGEABLE (not CONFLICTING or UNKNOWN; on UNKNOWN, wait briefly and re-query).
• Announce in one line ("Merging Version Packages PR #N: @"), then gh pr merge <number> --squash --delete-branch. No confirmation pause; invoking autoship is the consent.
• If any precondition fails, stop and report. Do not merge.

Step 5: Watch the publish run, verify on npm

• Load references/version-pr-and-publish.md and references/ci-polling.md.
• Merging the PR triggers the SAME workflow again; with no pending changesets it publishes (see The Release Loop).
• Identify the workflow file in .github/workflows/ (commonly release.yml, npm-publish.yml, publish.yml) and Monitor its latest run on the default branch.
• On failure: report with logs and stop. Never auto-retry; publish failures are real (npm auth, registry, OIDC/provenance, tag conflict).
• On success: verify npm view <package> version against the merged package.json, stop all Monitors, report the version. The npm view output is the completion evidence; never report success without it.

Failure Recovery

Failure point	Response
Quality gate still failing after 5 iterations	Stop. Report the gate, remaining error count, last error output
CI fails after the changeset push	Classify per references/ci-polling.md: flaky/infra gets gh run rerun <id> --failed (max 3); real failures get fix + push + fresh Monitor
"Changeset Status" check fails	Missing changeset: add one (Step 1). Consumed (a local changeset version ran): revert the version bump and CHANGELOG.md edit, re-add the changeset file. Rerunning CI cannot fix consumed state
Version Packages PR absent after 10 minutes	Check pending changesets exist on the default branch, the workflow file exists, and the action ran (gh run list)
Merge precondition fails	Stop and report. Never override failing checks or resolve conflicts in the bot PR
Publish run fails	Never auto-retry. Report with logs; causes: npm auth, OIDC/provenance, tag conflict, registry outage

Gotchas

• Never run npx changeset version locally. It consumes the .changeset/*.md file, so the pushed commit has no pending changeset, the "Changeset Status" check fails, and no Version Packages PR opens. Recovery means reverting the bump, not rerunning CI.
• Never run npm publish directly. It bypasses changesets, skips the changelog and tags, and leaves the Version Packages PR describing an already-shipped version.
• Never hand-edit CHANGELOG.md or package.json version. CI generates both in the Version Packages PR; local edits create conflicts that make the bot PR unmergeable.
• gh pr list --json headBranch and gh pr checks --json conclusion are invalid fields and error. Use headRefName and bucket.
• Do not stop CI monitoring on a first empty poll; workflows take time to queue. Stop only on the Monitor's TERMINAL: line.
• Keep Monitor sleep at 30s or more. Tighter polling burns GitHub API rate limit (gh api rate_limit) and can throttle the flow.
• A broad format/fix script riding into the release commit ships unrelated reformatting. Scope fixers to changed files; git restore the rest first.
• git add -A silently commits pre-commit-hook artifacts (e.g. a root schema.gql). Stage explicit paths only.
• Selecting major without explicit user instruction signals breaking changes to every consumer. Default to patch.

Related Skills

• scaffold-cli: scaffolds a new TypeScript package, hands off to autoship for its first release.
• pr-creator: opens feature PRs. Autoship only merges the bot-opened Version Packages PR.
• pr-babysitter: watches feature PRs (reviews, conflicts, CI). Autoship watches release CI only.