Github Release Skill for Claude
Prepare and publish GitHub releases. Sanitizes code for public release (secrets scan, personal artifacts, LICENSE/README validation), creates version tags, and publishes via gh CLI. Trigger with 'release', 'publish', 'open source', 'prepare for release', 'create release', or 'github release'.
Install
one command, takes just this skill from the repositorynpx skills add https://github.com/jezweb/claude-skills --skill github-releaseThe instruction itself
20 sections, as written by the authorGitHub Release
Sanitize and release projects to GitHub. Two-phase workflow: safety checks first, then tag and publish.
Prerequisites
ghCLI installed and authenticated (gh auth status)gitleaksinstalled for secrets scanning (brew install gitleaksor download from GitHub)- Git repository with a remote configured
Workflow
Phase 1: Sanitize
Run these checks before any public release. Stop on blockers.
1. Scan for Secrets (BLOCKER)
gitleaks detect --no-git --source=. --verbose
If secrets found: STOP. Remove secrets, move to environment variables. Check git history with git log -S "secret_value" — if in history, use BFG Repo-Cleaner.
If gitleaks not installed, do manual checks:
# Check for .env files
find . -name ".env*" -not -path "*/node_modules/*"
# Check config files for hardcoded secrets
grep -ri "api_key\|token\|secret\|password" wrangler.toml wrangler.jsonc .dev.vars 2>/dev/null
2. Remove Personal Artifacts
Check for and remove session/planning files that shouldn't be published:
SESSION.md— session stateplanning/,screenshots/— working directoriestest-*.ts,test-*.js— local test files
Either delete them or add to .gitignore.
3. Validate LICENSE
ls LICENSE LICENSE.md LICENSE.txt 2>/dev/null
If missing: create one. Check the repo visibility (gh repo view --json visibility -q '.visibility'). Use MIT for public repos. For private repos, consider a proprietary license instead.
4. Validate README
Check README exists and has basic sections:
grep -i "## Install\|## Usage\|## License" README.md
If missing sections, add them before release.
5. Check .gitignore
Verify essential patterns are present:
grep -E "node_modules|\.env|dist/|\.dev\.vars" .gitignore
6. Build Test (non-blocking)
npm run build 2>&1
7. Dependency Audit (non-blocking)
npm audit --audit-level=high
8. Create Sanitization Commit
If any changes were made during sanitization:
git add -A
git commit -m "chore: prepare for release"
Phase 2: Release
1. Determine Version
Check package.json for current version, or ask the user. Ensure version starts with v prefix.
2. Check Tag Doesn't Exist
git tag -l "v[version]"
If it exists, ask user whether to delete and recreate or use a different version.
3. Show What's Being Released
LAST_TAG=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || echo "")
if [ -z "$LAST_TAG" ]; then
git log --oneline --no-merges HEAD | head -20
else
git log --oneline --no-merges ${LAST_TAG}..HEAD
fi
4. Create Tag and Push
git tag -a v[version] -m "Release v[version]"
git push origin $(git branch --show-current)
git push origin --tags
5. Create GitHub Release
gh release create v[version] \
--title "Release v[version]" \
--notes "[auto-generated from commits]"
For pre-releases add --prerelease. For drafts add --draft.
6. Report
Show the user:
- Release URL
- Next steps (npm publish if applicable, announcements)
Reference Files
| When | Read |
|------|------|
| Detailed safety checks | references/safety-checklist.md |
| Release mechanics | references/release-workflow.md |
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How to use it
Take jezweb/github-release from the repository into ~/.claude/skills for personal
use, or into .claude/skills inside a project.
The agent identifies a skill by the name field in its header. Two skills with the
same name cannot sit side by side — one of them will be ignored.
The instructions reference brew.
Without those the skill loads but fails at the first command.