Setup tagpr

This skill guides you through setting up tagpr for automated release management.

What is tagpr?

tagpr is a GitHub Actions tool that:

• Automatically creates pull requests for pending releases
• Suggests semantic version increments based on commit history
• Tags commits when PRs merge
• Creates GitHub Releases automatically

Prerequisites

GH_PAT (Personal Access Token): tagpr requires a GitHub Personal Access Token with repo and workflow permissions to push tags and trigger subsequent workflows. Create a PAT and add it as a repository secret named GH_PAT.

Why not GITHUB_TOKEN? The default token cannot trigger other workflows when pushing tags, which is required for release workflows.

Setup Workflow

1. Determine the project type:

   • Go project with goreleaser? → See references/goreleaser-integration.md
   • TypeScript/Node.js project? → Follow "TypeScript/Node.js workflow" below
   • Other projects → Follow "Standard workflow" below

2. Standard workflow:

   1. Create GH_PAT and add as repository secret
   2. Create .tagpr configuration file
   3. Create GitHub Actions workflow file

3. TypeScript/Node.js workflow:

   1. Create GH_PAT and add as repository secret
   2. Create .tagpr configuration file with versionFile and command
   3. Create GitHub Actions workflow with asset upload

Configuration Files

.tagpr Configuration

Create .tagpr file at the repository root.

Standard configuration (version from git tags only):

[tagpr]
    releaseBranch = main
    versionFile = -
    vPrefix = true
    release = draft

Go project with version.go:

[tagpr]
    releaseBranch = main
    versionFile = version.go
    vPrefix = true
    release = draft

TypeScript/Node.js project (e.g., Obsidian plugin):

[tagpr]
    releaseBranch = main
    versionFile = manifest.json,package.json
    vPrefix = true
    changelog = true
    release = draft
    majorLabels = major
    minorLabels = minor
    command = npm run build

Configuration Options

GitHub Actions Workflow

See references/workflow-templates.md for workflow templates.

Goreleaser Integration

For Go projects using goreleaser, see references/goreleaser-integration.md.

Version Determination

tagpr determines the next version using:

1. Label-based: If merged PRs have labels:

   • major → Major version bump
   • minor → Minor version bump
   • No label → Patch version bump

2. Manual override: Edit the version file or apply labels to the tagpr PR

Release Labels (authoritative)

When suggesting or applying labels, use tagpr's built-in default label names
exactly as written below. Do not invent prefixed variants.

⚠️ Do not suggest or create tagpr:major / tagpr:minor. These are not
tagpr's defaults (defaultMajorLabels = "major", defaultMinorLabels = "minor" in tagpr's config.go), so a PR labeled that way is ignored and
falls back to a patch bump. Only diverge from major / minor if you have
explicitly set majorLabels / minorLabels in .tagpr; then apply the
exact names you configured there.

Verification Steps

After setup, verify by:

1. Push a commit to the release branch
2. Check that tagpr creates a release PR
3. Merge the release PR
4. Verify that a tag and GitHub Release are created