Reusable release-it configuration for @davidsneighbour's projects.

The package provides a TypeScript config factory that keeps the usual release setup in one place while still allowing project-level overrides.

What it configures

• release-it with npm publishing disabled by default.
• Git release commits and tags in the format chore(release): v${version} and v${version}.
• GitHub releases using GITHUB_TOKEN_CONTENT_PRIVATE by default.
• Conventional changelog generation through @release-it/conventional-changelog.
• Changelog URLs generated from the consuming project's package.json repository.url.
• Configurable conventional changelog types, scopes, and subscopes.
• A built-in before:git:release hook that updates CITATION.cff when that file exists (see Built-in CITATION.cff hook).

Installation

Install the package together with its peer dependencies:

npm install --save-dev @dnbhq/release-config release-it @release-it/conventional-changelog

The package expects the consuming project to use ESM and a TypeScript release-it config.

Minimal setup

Create .release-it.ts in the consuming repository:

import { createReleaseConfig } from "@dnbhq/release-config";
import type { Config } from "release-it";

const config: Config = createReleaseConfig();

export default config;

Add scripts to package.json:

{
  "scripts": {
    "release": "release-it",
    "release:dry": "release-it --dry-run"
  }
}

Make sure package.json contains repository information:

{
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "git+https://github.com/dnbhq/example-package.git"
  }
}

The repository URL is normalised before it is passed to conventional changelog. These forms are supported:

{
  "repository": "https://github.com/dnbhq/example-package.git"
}

{
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "git+https://github.com/dnbhq/example-package.git"
  }
}

{
  "repository": {
    "type": "git",
    "url": "git@github.com:dnbhq/example-package.git"
  }
}

Default behaviour

The default config is equivalent to this release-it setup:

import { createReleaseConfig } from "@dnbhq/release-config";
import type { Config } from "release-it";

const config: Config = createReleaseConfig({
  changelogFile: "CHANGELOG.md",
  githubTokenRef: "GITHUB_TOKEN_CONTENT_PRIVATE"
});

export default config;

Default release rules:

• feat, prompt, instructions, and skill are configured as minor-level groups.
• fix, perf, refactor, docs, style, test, build, ci, and chore are configured as patch-level groups.
• The subscopes feat(fix), prompt(fix), instructions(fix), and skill(fix) are explicitly listed as changelog entries but excluded from the minor-type set.

Configure conventional changelog types and subscopes

Use scopes.minorTypes to define the commit types that should be treated as minor-level changelog groups:

import { createReleaseConfig } from "@dnbhq/release-config";
import type { Config } from "release-it";

const config: Config = createReleaseConfig({
  scopes: {
    minorTypes: ["feat", "prompt", "instructions", "skill"],
    minorExclusionSubscopes: {
      feat: ["fix"],
      prompt: ["fix"],
      instructions: ["fix"],
      skill: ["fix"]
    }
  }
});

export default config;

This keeps commits such as these visible in the changelog without letting the fix subscope act like a minor change:

feat(fix): repair generated changelog link
prompt(fix): correct release note generation prompt
instructions(fix): repair repository setup instructions
skill(fix): fix package export instructions

Configure patch-level groups

Use scopes.patchTypes when a project needs a narrower or broader changelog grouping:

import { createReleaseConfig } from "@dnbhq/release-config";
import type { Config } from "release-it";

const config: Config = createReleaseConfig({
  scopes: {
    patchTypes: ["fix", "docs", "ci", "chore"]
  }
});

export default config;

Override release-it settings

Use overrides for project-specific release-it settings. The merge is shallow for the main git, github, npm, and plugins objects. Hooks are merged by concatenation — see Built-in CITATION.cff hook for details.

import { createReleaseConfig } from "@dnbhq/release-config";
import type { Config } from "release-it";

const config: Config = createReleaseConfig({
  overrides: {
    git: {
      requireCleanWorkingDir: true,
      commitMessage: "chore(release): v${version}",
      tagName: "v${version}"
    },
    github: {
      release: true,
      skipChecks: true
    }
  }
});

export default config;

Built-in CITATION.cff hook

Every config produced by createReleaseConfig includes a before:git:release hook that updates CITATION.cff if that file exists in the project root. When the file is absent the hook exits silently, so repositories without a CITATION.cff are unaffected.

The hook sets three fields (only if the line already exists in the file):

Field	Updated to
version	v<new-version>
date-released	today's date in yyyy-mm-dd format
commit	the HEAD commit hash at the point the hook runs (the last real code commit, before the release-it bump commit)

After updating the file the hook stages it with git add CITATION.cff so it is included in the release commit.

Adding your own hooks

Pass additional hooks through overrides.hooks. The built-in CITATION.cff hook is always placed first in the array so it runs before any project-level hooks. All other entries from overrides.hooks are appended in the order you supply them:

import { createReleaseConfig } from "@dnbhq/release-config";
import type { Config } from "release-it";

const config: Config = createReleaseConfig({
  overrides: {
    hooks: {
      "before:git:release": ["node scripts/update-version-file.mjs"],
      "after:git:release": ["echo release tagged"]
    }
  }
});

export default config;

The resulting before:git:release array will be:

[
  "<built-in CITATION.cff hook>",
  "node scripts/update-version-file.mjs"
]

Hook arrays for different lifecycle events (e.g. after:git:release) are carried through as-is without any built-in entries from this package.

Repository URL fallback

In unusual repositories where package.json does not contain a repository field, pass a fallback URL explicitly:

import { createReleaseConfig } from "@dnbhq/release-config";
import type { Config } from "release-it";

const config: Config = createReleaseConfig({
  repository: {
    fallbackUrl: "https://github.com/dnbhq/example-package"
  }
});

export default config;

Custom package.json path

By default, the config reads package.json from process.cwd(). For unusual repository layouts, pass an explicit path:

import { createReleaseConfig } from "@dnbhq/release-config";
import type { Config } from "release-it";

const config: Config = createReleaseConfig({
  repository: {
    packageJsonPath: "./packages/example/package.json",
    fallbackUrl: "https://github.com/dnbhq/example-package"
  }
});

export default config;

Build and test this package

npm install
npm run build
npm test

npm test runs the TypeScript build and then the test suite with Node's built-in test runner.

Test in another repository before publishing

From this package directory:

npm pack

Then install the generated tarball in another repository:

npm install --save-dev ../release-config/dnbhq-release-config-0.1.0.tgz

Create or update .release-it.ts in that repository:

import { createReleaseConfig } from "@dnbhq/release-config";
import type { Config } from "release-it";

const config: Config = createReleaseConfig();

export default config;

Run a dry release:

npx release-it --dry-run

Check that:

• the changelog links point to the repository defined in that project's package.json;
• feat, prompt, instructions, and skill are grouped as expected;
• feat(fix), prompt(fix), instructions(fix), and skill(fix) do not behave like normal minor scopes;
• GitHub release settings use the intended token reference.

Suggested consumer configuration

For most projects, keep .release-it.ts small and project-specific only where necessary:

import { createReleaseConfig } from "@dnbhq/release-config";
import type { Config } from "release-it";

const config: Config = createReleaseConfig({
  scopes: {
    minorTypes: ["feat", "prompt", "instructions", "skill"],
    minorExclusionSubscopes: {
      feat: ["fix"],
      prompt: ["fix"],
      instructions: ["fix"],
      skill: ["fix"]
    }
  }
});

export default config;