Julia package releases

Versionary can prepare Julia release PRs while Registrator and TagBot handle registration and the final GitHub release. Merging a release PR is the only manual step in the normal workflow:

1. Versionary updates Project.toml and CHANGELOG.md from Conventional Commits and opens a release PR.
2. After merging and passing CI, a workflow requests registration on the exact merged commit, including Versionary's reviewed release notes.
3. Registrator opens a registry PR. Once it is accepted, TagBot creates the tag and GitHub release using those notes.

Registration remains a CI responsibility. Versionary does not submit registry PRs or interpret registry approval policies.

Configuration

This workflow requires Versionary 1.8.0 or later. Install the Registrator GitHub App on the package repository and configure:

{
  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jolars/versionary/main/schemas/config.json",
  "version": 1,
  "release-type": "julia",
  "review-mode": "pr",
  "release-mode": "external"
}

review-mode chooses how version changes are reviewed. release-mode chooses who creates tags and GitHub release metadata. Its default, versionary, keeps the normal workflow. external delegates that work for the whole repository and also supports direct releases.

For an existing package, set bootstrap-sha to the commit that introduced its current manually managed version. This excludes earlier release history from the first automated plan. Keep the existing version in Project.toml.

GitHub Actions

Start from the complete Julia workflow example, or append its Versionary job to your existing CI workflow. Make that job depend on the required tests. Fetch full history and tags, and serialize runs on each release branch without canceling a pending registration request.

The example uses RELEASE_TOKEN for release PRs so their checks start automatically. With GITHUB_TOKEN, those checks may require approval. Another option is to dispatch the check workflows explicitly on the release branch, using actions: write and enabling workflow_dispatch in each check workflow. See GitHub's trigger rules.

The registration step uses github.token, posting as github-actions[bot], which Registrator accepts. It needs contents: write to create a commit comment. No separate Registrator token or Julia installation is needed.

On a merged release commit, Versionary returns release-ready and sets the Action's release_ready output to "true". Each release_targets entry adds sha and notes to the usual path, version, tag, and dependencies. The example posts @JuliaRegistrator register on sha, followed by a Release notes: section containing notes.

Subdirectory packages get a subdir argument. Configure a separate TagBot step for each package, with matching subdirectory and tag-prefix settings. Dependent packages may need to wait for dependencies to be accepted before their own registration passes registry checks.

TagBot

Keep TagBot's registry notification and manual triggers, along with any SSH key needed for Documenter builds. Replace its generated changelog with custom notes:

- uses: JuliaRegistries/TagBot@v1
  with:
    token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
    ssh: ${{ secrets.DOCUMENTER_KEY }}
    changelog: "{{ custom }}"

Remove changelog_format: conventional if configured. TagBot's default custom format uses this template. See Registrator's release notes and TagBot's changelogs.

Waiting and retries

Versionary reports release-waiting on later commits until all expected tags exist locally. Fetch tags before running it. While waiting, it preserves the merged commits and reads their notes from Git history. It does not bump versions or create recovery PRs. Partially tagged cohorts are expected while independent registrations finish. Planning resumes once TagBot's tags are available.

Both external actions report release_created: "false" and empty tag_names. Submitting registration does not mean a version was accepted or released.

The example identifies comments by package path, version, and commit to avoid duplicate requests on reruns. If Registrator needs another request, manually run the workflow on main with retry-registration enabled. This resubmits the saved commit even if trunk has advanced. An API failure fails the job and can be retried normally.

If registry review requires source changes, merge the correction and explicitly request registration on that corrected commit with the reviewed notes. Versionary does not silently move a pending registration to a newer commit. TagBot's eventual version tag completes the pending release.