cr-semantic-release

A common-repo source template for conventional commits and semantic releases.

What's Included

Files distributed from src/:

File	Purpose
.releaserc.yaml	semantic-release config (conventionalcommits preset, changelog, git, GitHub release, major-tag)
commitlint.config.js	commitlint config extending @commitlint/config-conventional
.github/workflows/commitlint.yml	PR commit lint workflow using wagoid/commitlint-github-action
.github/workflows/release.yaml	Semantic release workflow (triggers on push to main, uses GitHub App token)

Usage

Add to a new repo

cr init https://github.com/christmas-island/cr-semantic-release

Add to an existing .common-repo.yaml

cr add https://github.com/christmas-island/cr-semantic-release

Or manually:

# .common-repo.yaml
- repo:
    url: https://github.com/christmas-island/cr-semantic-release
    ref: v1.0.0
    path: src/

Apply

cr diff    # preview changes
cr apply   # apply

Repo Structure

cr-semantic-release/
├── .github/workflows/     ← this repo's own CI (dogfooding)
│   ├── ci.yaml            ← sync check: top-level == src/
│   ├── commitlint.yml     ← commit linting for this repo
│   └── release.yaml       ← semantic release for this repo
├── .releaserc.yaml        ← this repo's own release config
├── commitlint.config.js   ← this repo's own commitlint
├── README.md
├── LICENSE
└── src/                   ← distributed to consumers via path: src/
    ├── .github/workflows/
    │   ├── commitlint.yml
    │   └── release.yaml
    ├── .releaserc.yaml
    └── commitlint.config.js

The top-level files and src/ files are identical — the repo eats its own dog food. CI enforces they stay in sync.

Prerequisites

The release workflow expects the following GitHub org-level vars and secrets:

Name	Type	Purpose
CHRISTMAS_ISLAND_APP_ID	Variable	GitHub App ID for generating tokens
CHRISTMAS_ISLAND_PRIVATE_KEY	Secret	GitHub App private key

These are used by actions/create-github-app-token to generate a token with write permissions for creating releases and pushing tags/changelogs.

Customization

Release workflow

The included release.yaml contains only the semantic-release job. It does not include a publish step (goreleaser, Docker, etc.) — add that in your repo's own workflow or extend via common-repo merge operators.

The workflow calls ./.github/workflows/ci.yaml as a prerequisite. Your repo must have a CI workflow at that path (or remove the ci job dependency).

Excluding files

If you only want a subset:

- repo:
    url: https://github.com/christmas-island/cr-semantic-release
    ref: v1.0.0
    path: src/
    with:
      - exclude: [".github/workflows/commitlint.yml"]

Overriding .releaserc.yaml

Use common-repo's YAML merge operator to patch specific fields:

- repo:
    url: https://github.com/christmas-island/cr-semantic-release
    ref: v1.0.0
    path: src/
- yaml:
    source: my-releaserc-overrides.yaml
    dest: .releaserc.yaml
    path: plugins
    array_mode: replace