GitHub Tag Action

A GitHub Action to automatically bump and tag master, on merge, with the latest SemVer formatted version. Works on GitHub Actions runners supporting Node 24.

This README describes v7. See Migrating from v6 to v7 before upgrading.

Usage

name: Bump version
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master
permissions:
  contents: write
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
      - name: Bump version and push tag
        id: tag_version
        uses: mathieudutour/github-tag-action@v7
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      - name: Create a GitHub release
        if: steps.tag_version.outputs.new_tag != ''
        uses: ncipollo/release-action@v1
        with:
          tag: ${{ steps.tag_version.outputs.new_tag }}
          name: Release ${{ steps.tag_version.outputs.new_tag }}
          body: ${{ steps.tag_version.outputs.changelog }}
          prerelease: ${{ steps.tag_version.outputs.prerelease == 'true' }}

📥 Inputs

• github_token (required) - Required to read repository history, including in dry runs. Publishing needs contents: write. Usually ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}.
• commit_sha (optional) - The commit SHA value to add the tag. If specified, it uses this value instead GITHUB_SHA. It could be useful when a previous step merged a branch into github.ref.

Fetch all tags

• fetch_all_tags (optional) - Fetch every page of tags (default: true). With false, a full 100-tag page fails explicitly because selecting a version from incomplete results would be unsafe.

Filter branches

• release_branches (optional) - Comma separated list of branches (JavaScript regular expression accepted) that will generate the release tags. Other branches and pull-requests generate versions postfixed with the commit hash and do not generate any repository tag. Examples: master or .* or release.*,hotfix.*,master... (default: ^master$,^main$). Expressions match the whole branch name.
• pre_release_branches (optional) - Comma separated list of branches (JavaScript regular expression accepted) that will generate the pre-release tags. Empty means no prerelease branches. Pull-request events always calculate preview versions without publishing; tag-triggered runs are skipped.

Customize the tag

• default_bump (optional) - Which type of bump to use when none is explicitly provided when commiting to a release branch (default: patch). You can also set false to avoid generating a new tag when none is explicitly provided. Can be patch, minor or major.
• default_prerelease_bump (optional) - Which type of bump to use when none is explicitly provided when commiting to a prerelease branch (default: prerelease). You can also set false to avoid generating a new tag when none is explicitly provided. Can be prerelease, prepatch, preminor or premajor.
• custom_tag (optional) - Custom tag name. If specified, it overrides bump settings.
• create_annotated_tag (optional) - Boolean to create an annotated rather than a lightweight one (default: false).
• tag_prefix (optional) - A prefix to the tag name (default: v).
• append_to_pre_release_tag (optional) - A suffix to the pre-release tag name (default: <branch>).

Customize the conventional commit messages & titles of changelog sections

• custom_release_rules (optional) - Comma separated list of release rules.

  Format: <keyword>:<release_type>:<changelog_section> where <changelog_section> is optional and will default to Angular's conventions.

  Examples:

  1. hotfix:patch,pre-feat:preminor,
  2. bug:patch:Bug Fixes,chore:patch:Chores

Debugging

• dry_run (optional) - Do not perform tagging, just calculate next version and changelog, then exit

📤 Outputs

• new_tag - The value of the newly calculated tag. Note that if there hasn't been any new commit, this will be undefined.
• new_version - The value of the newly created tag without the prefix. Note that if there hasn't been any new commit, this will be undefined.
• previous_tag - The value of the previous tag (or v0.0.0 if none). Available with custom_tag too.
• previous_version - The value of the previous tag (or 0.0.0 if none) without the prefix. Available with custom_tag too.
• release_type - The computed release type (major, minor, patch or custom - can be prefixed with pre).
• changelog - The conventional changelog since the previous tag.

Note: This action creates a lightweight tag by default.

Bumping

The action will parse the new commits since the last tag using the semantic-release conventions.

semantic-release uses the commit messages to determine the type of changes in the codebase. Following formalized conventions for commit messages, semantic-release automatically determines the next semantic version number.

The default parser is conventionalcommits, shared by bump analysis and changelog generation. Both feat!: breaking change and BREAKING CHANGE: footers trigger a major release. Set commit_analyzer_preset: angular for Angular parsing.

Here is an example of the release type that will be done based on a commit messages:

Commit message	Release type
fix(pencil): stop graphite breaking when too much pressure applied	Patch Release
feat(pencil): add 'graphiteWidth' option	Minor Release
perf(pencil): remove graphiteWidth option BREAKING CHANGE: The graphiteWidth option has been removed. The default graphite width of 10mm is always used for performance reasons.	Major Release

If eligible commits exist but none selects a bump, default_bump is used. With no eligible commits, no new version is calculated unless custom_tag or a force-bump input is supplied.

Commit and tag selection

• path_filter — Comma-separated repository-relative directories or file globs, such as packages/web,shared/**. Both old and new paths of renamed files count. Each commit's files are fetched separately. A truncated file list fails instead of silently omitting changes.
• scopes — Comma-separated conventional commit scope globs. When combined with paths, both filters must match.
• ignore_keywords — Comma-separated literal strings excluding entire commits from both the bump and changelog. Default: [no-release],[skip-release]. Set an empty string to disable.
• parse_squash_commits — Opt in to analyzing conventional subjects in * ... or - ... squash-message bullets in addition to the original commit. Default: false. Conventional PR titles remain the recommended default. This does not recover commits removed by squash/rebase or infer missing footers for individual bullets.
• commit_analyzer_preset — conventionalcommits (default) or angular. Both presets and their templates ship inside the action; arbitrary installed preset packages are not loaded.
• preset_config — JSON object for the conventional preset, for example {"issuePrefixes":["AB#"],"issueUrlFormat":"https://dev.azure.com/example/project/_workitems/edit/{{id}}"}. This action does not read .releaserc.
• tag_search_pattern — Glob restricting the version stream, e.g. v1.* for a maintained v1 branch. Without a filter, the highest matching semantic version in the repository is used; branch ancestry is not inferred.
• prefix_match_tag — Reject an additional v after tag_prefix. With an empty prefix, this separates legacy 1.2.3 tags from v2.0.0 tags. Default: false.

Explicit versions and prereleases

• force_bump / force_prerelease_bump — Override commit analysis, including when there are no new commits. Accepted bump types are major, minor, patch, premajor, preminor, prepatch, prerelease; false disables version creation for that mode. Prefer the pre* types for prereleases.
• default_draft_bump — First prerelease's base bump when default_prerelease_bump is prerelease. Defaults to default_bump (or patch when that is false).
• initial_version — Semantic baseline before the first tag, default 0.0.0. The first release analyzes all history reachable from the target commit.
• previous_tag — Explicit Git tag to compare against. previous_version optionally supplies its semantic baseline, allowing a legacy tag such as 1.2.3.4 to be analyzed as 1.2.3.
• custom_tag_prerelease — Interpret a semantic custom_tag as the target version and append/increment its prerelease identifier, e.g. 2.0.0-rc.0. Default: false.

An existing prerelease already includes its version bump: a fix after 1.1.1-rc.0 produces 1.1.1-rc.1. A higher-level change can still advance the base: a feature on a patch RC starts a minor RC; a breaking change starts a major RC. Explicit force-bump inputs override that progression. Identifiers match exactly, so feature never selects feature-extra tags. Empty append_to_pre_release_tag uses the branch name; to produce stable tags, configure release_branches instead.

Custom tags are literal suffixes after tag_prefix. Use tag_prefix: "" to avoid v, or custom_tag for formats such as 1.2, 1.2.3.4, or deployed. Automatic calculation stays SemVer-compliant, including the numerical prerelease counter. To omit that counter, provide your own custom_tag.

Publishing, local tags, and repository context

• force_update — Allow updating an existing tag, e.g. custom_tag: deployed with an empty prefix. Default: false.
• rolling_tags — After publishing a stable semantic tag, update major and minor aliases, e.g. v2 and v2.3. Default: false. These aliases deliberately move; the full version tag is not overwritten unless force_update is also enabled.
• push — Default true. Set false to create the tag only in the local checkout.
• create_local_tag — Also create the calculated tag locally, default false. Remote tagging uses the GitHub API and does not otherwise update .git. Annotated local tags require Git identity configuration.
• working_directory — Checkout directory for local Git operations, including API fallback; default is the current directory.
• repository — Target owner/repo, default GITHUB_REPOSITORY. The token and selected ref/SHA must belong to or be accessible in that repository. Local operations require its matching checkout.
• repository_url — Override repository links in the changelog, default selected repository on GITHUB_SERVER_URL.
• ref — Override branch/ref selection for manual or comment-triggered workflows. Also selects the target commit unless commit_sha is supplied. commit_sha takes precedence, then ref, then GITHUB_SHA.
• soft_fail — On an error, warn and clear release outputs instead of failing the step. Default: false. Earlier successful writes cannot be rolled back; inspect logs before retrying.

dry_run: true suppresses all tag writes, including local tags and rolling aliases. PR events never publish remote tags, even when configured as release branches. Unlisted branches and PRs receive versions ending in the first seven characters of the target commit hash.

Concurrent runs targeting the same version stream should be serialized with workflow concurrency. The action retries transient server failures for reads only. If the compare API remains unavailable, it uses a complete local checkout (fetch-depth: 0). It fails if neither source can provide history, rather than guessing a bump.

Additional outputs

• prerelease — true or false for the calculated version; suitable for a downstream release action.
• latest_release_tag / latest_release_version — Latest stable tag/version in the selected stream, independent of the current prerelease.
• changelog_url — Comparison URL, or commit-history URL for an initial release.

Troubleshooting

• No token / 403 / 404: provide an available token, give it repository access and contents: write when publishing, and check repository tag rules. Fork and Dependabot events may not receive your secrets. Tagging older workflow-changing commits may require additional token permissions; the action cannot grant these.
• A tag does not trigger another workflow: GitHub restricts events created with GITHUB_TOKEN; use an appropriately scoped GitHub App/PAT when a separate workflow must run. Keep triggers restricted to branches to avoid loops. The action also ignores tag-triggered runs.
• Commit ignored: the conventional subject must start the commit message, not appear only in its description. Use feat: ..., fix(scope): ..., or a matching custom rule. Escaped colon types are supported, e.g. \:sparkles\::minor:Features for :sparkles:(web): new UI.
• Downstream release says no tag found: guard the step with if: steps.tag_version.outputs.new_tag != ''; no eligible bump intentionally produces no new tag.
• A file updated earlier in the workflow is not in the tag: commit and push that file, then pass its new SHA through commit_sha. GITHUB_SHA remains the original event SHA. Use a dry run to calculate the version and custom_tag to reuse it.
• Tag not found locally: use create_local_tag: true, push: false, or explicitly fetch the remote tags afterward. Fetching is required if you need the exact remote annotated tag object locally.
• Proxy runners: HTTP(S) proxy variables and NO_PROXY are supported by the bundled HTTP client. No runtime npm install is required. Extra corporate CA certificates can be provided through NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS.
• Legacy reports: errors from v5/v6 should be reproduced with the new distribution before being closed; upgrading source alone does not change a published action tag.

Credits

anothrNick/github-tag-action - a similar action using a Dockerfile (hence not working on macOS)