Gitlab CI pipeline - update CHANGELOG when feature branch get merged on master and commit/push it

Question

I want to automate the CHANGELOG.md update using nodejs conventional-changelog/standard-version.

I followed this article and from my cli it work as expected, now I want to automate it using GItlab CI pipeline and run the necessary commands when a feature branch is succesfully merged onto the master branch.

Is it possible? If yes, how do I do that? How do I prevent the triggering of an infinite loop of pipelines (since the required commands commit/push onto the master branch)?

Answer 1

You need to update your packages.json

• My working packages.json:

{
  "name": "{{ project_key }}",
  "version": "{{ project_version  }}",
  "scripts": {
    "release:dry": "semantic-release --dry-run",
    "release": "semantic-release"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@commitlint/config-conventional": "^19.5.0",
    "@commitlint/prompt-cli": "^19.5.0",
    "@semantic-release/changelog": "^6.0.3",
    "@semantic-release/commit-analyzer": "^13.0.0",
    "@semantic-release/git": "^10.0.1",
    "@semantic-release/gitlab": "^13.2.1",
    "@semantic-release/npm": "^12.0.1",
    "@semantic-release/release-notes-generator": "^14.0.1",
    "semantic-release": "^24.1.1"
  },
  "overrides": {
    "conventional-changelog-conventionalcommits": ">= 8.0.0"
  },
  "private": true,
  "release": {
    "plugins": [
      "@semantic-release/changelog",
      "@semantic-release/gitlab",
      "@semantic-release/npm",
      [
        "@semantic-release/commit-analyzer",
        {
          "releaseRules": [
            {
              "type": "refactor",
              "release": "patch"
            },
            {
              "type": "docs",
              "release": "patch"
            },
            {
              "type": "test",
              "release": "patch"
            },
            {
              "type": "style",
              "release": "patch"
            },
            {
              "type": "ci",
              "release": "patch"
            },
            {
              "type": "build",
              "release": "patch"
            },
            {
              "type": "revert",
              "release": "patch"
            },
            {
              "type": "chore",
              "release": "patch"
            },
            {
              "type": "sonar",
              "release": "patch"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      [
        "@semantic-release/release-notes-generator",
        {
          "presetConfig": {
            "types": [
              {
                "type": "sonar",
                "section": ":mortar_board: Fixed SonarQube issues",
                "hidden": false
              },
              {
                "type": "feat",
                "section": ":sparkles: Features",
                "hidden": false
              },
              {
                "type": "fix",
                "section": ":fire: Bug Fixing",
                "hidden": false
              },
              {
                "type": "refactor",
                "section": ":zap: Refactoring of code",
                "hidden": false
              },
              {
                "type": "perf",
                "section": ":gift: Performance Improvements",
                "hidden": false
              },
              {
                "type": "revert",
                "section": ":cyclone: Reverting of code",
                "hidden": false
              },
              {
                "type": "ci",
                "section": ":tada: CI/CD",
                "hidden": false
              },
              {
                "type": "style",
                "section": ":rocket: Style",
                "hidden": false
              },
              {
                "type": "test",
                "section": ":computer: Tests",
                "hidden": false
              },
              {
                "type": "docs",
                "section": ":book: Documentation",
                "hidden": false
              },
              {
                "type": "chore",
                "hidden": true
              }
            ]
          }
        }
      ],
      [
        "@semantic-release/git",
        {
          "assets": [
            "package.json",
            "CHANGELOG.md"
          ],
          "message": "chore(Release): ${nextRelease.version} \n\n${nextRelease.notes}"
        }
      ]
    ],
    "branches": [
      "main",
      {
        "name": "dev",
        "prerelease": true
      }
    ],
    "preset": "conventionalcommits"
  }
}

And CI Job

.base_release:
  image: node:${NODE_VERSION}
  before_script:
    - git config --global user.email "${GITLAB_TOKEN_USER}@git.example.com"
    - git config --global user.name "${GITLAB_TOKEN_USER}"
    - |
      {
        echo "@${CI_PROJECT_ROOT_NAMESPACE}:registry=${CI_API_V4_URL}/projects/${CI_PROJECT_ID}/packages/npm/"
        echo "${CI_API_V4_URL#https?}/projects/${CI_PROJECT_ID}/packages/npm/:_authToken=\${CI_JOB_TOKEN}"
      } | tee -a .npmrc
    - npm i

release:
  extends: .base_release
  stage: release
  needs:
    - job: npm build
      optional: true
  script:
    - git tag -l | xargs git tag -d && git fetch --tags
    - npm run release
  rules:
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == $CI_DEFAULT_BRANCH && $GITLAB_USER_LOGIN != $GITLAB_TOKEN_USER
    - if: $CI_COMMIT_BRANCH == 'dev' && $GITLAB_USER_LOGIN != $GITLAB_TOKEN_USER

Answer 2

To prevent pipeline from running on the commits/push use skip ci

eg: chore(release): 1.1.2 [skip ci]

I would suggest you to check out semantic release. This package helps with versioning according to conventional commits, creating/updating changelog and handles the skipping pipeline part as well.