Versioning and Releasing NPM packages with Nx

Ever spent hours manually coordinating package versions, writing changelogs, and ensuring everything gets published in the right order?

Nx Release transforms this tedious process into an automated, reliable workflow.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to leverage Nx Release to handle everything from version management to publishing, all while maintaining the flexibility to customize every step of the process.

What You'll Learn

Getting Started with Nx Release

Before getting into advanced features, you'll set up Nx Release in your monorepo and learn the fundamentals of the release process.

• Set up Nx Release and the @nx/js plugin in your workspace
• Run your first release with dry-run mode to understand the basics
• Learn how Nx analyzes your workspace structure and dependencies

Mastering Version Management

Nx Release offers flexible versioning strategies to match your team's needs, whether you want all packages in sync or independently versioned.

• Choose and implement fixed vs independent versioning strategies
• Set up conventional commits for automated version bumping
• Configure version plans for fine-grained control over releases

Automating Changelog Generation

Transform your commit history into well-organized changelogs that keep your team and users informed about changes.

• Generate and customize workspace and per-project changelogs
• Configure commit types and their appearance in changelogs
• Map commit authors to GitHub accounts for proper attribution

Building Release Processes

Learn how to prepare and publish your packages reliably, whether you're testing locally or releasing to production.

• Set up pre-build steps and custom distribution directories
• Test your release process using a local registry with Verdaccio
• Configure project-specific release settings and exclusions

Customizing Your Release Workflow

Make Nx Release work for your team by customizing its behavior to match your workflow.

• Create custom commit messages and tag patterns
• Define your own conventional commit types and their impact
• Build custom release scripts using the Nx Release API

Automating with CI/CD

Set up a fully automated release pipeline that handles everything from version bumping to publishing.

• Create GitHub Actions workflows for automated releases
• Configure secure npm publishing with proper authentication
• Implement npm provenance for enhanced security

Prerequisites

To get the most from this tutorial, you should have:

• Some experience with package management
• Basic understanding of monorepos
• Familiarity with Git and GitHub

Ready to Transform Your Release Process?

Turn your manual publishing headaches into an automated, reliable system. Whether you're managing a small collection of packages or a large-scale monorepo, you'll learn how to implement a release process that grows with your needs.

Click Start Learning to get started! 🚀