⚛️ rn-release-automator

A CLI tool that automates the React Native release process — branch cuts, cherry-picks, publishing, testing, and announcements.

Built for the React Native Release Crew. Guides you step-by-step through every phase of a release with interactive prompts, pre-flight checks, and GitHub API integrations.

Usage

npx rn-release-automator@latest

Pass --dry-run to play with the CLI without making any changes:

npx rn-release-automator@latest --dry-run

You can also invoke commands directly:

npx rn-release-automator@latest status
npx rn-release-automator@latest status --series 0.85
npx rn-release-automator@latest prepare-release --series 0.85
npx rn-release-automator@latest publish --version 0.85.0-rc.1

Use --help on any command to see available flags:

npx rn-release-automator@latest --help
npx rn-release-automator@latest cut-branch --help

Commands

Commands follow the React Native release lifecycle. Each links to its corresponding guide in reactwg/react-native-releases.

Command	Description
init	Validate environment — tools, tokens, repo access, bot merger list
status	Overview of all release series, or details for a specific one
cut-branch	Full branch cut workflow — CI check, create branch, template, Discord, Hermes
create-github-project	Clone and configure a GitHub Project for tracking a release
prepare-release	Analyze pick requests, determine next version, process picks via bot
publish	Pre-flight checks, trigger create-release.yml workflow, monitor
test-release	Verify repo/branch, clean env, download prebuilds, test matrix
verify-release	Interactive 8-step post-release verification (npm, template, Maven, etc.)
post-promotion	Update support policy, ship blog post, cut new website version
communicate	Generate announcement templates (Discord, GitHub, status tracker)

Release Workflow

A typical release follows these steps:

1. init              → verify your environment is set up
2. cut-branch        → create the stable branch (RC0 only)
3. create-github-project → set up the release tracking project
4. prepare-release   → cherry-pick fixes, analyze pending picks
5. publish           → trigger the create-release workflow
6. test-release      → run through the test matrix
7. verify-release    → verify npm, Maven, template, changelog
8. post-promotion    → update website, blog, support policy
9. communicate       → generate and post announcements

For patch releases, skip steps 2-3 and start at prepare-release.

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 18
• GitHub CLI (gh) authenticated — gh auth login
• Git with push access to facebook/react-native
• For project management: gh auth refresh -s project (adds the project scope)

The init command checks all of these for you.

Features

Smart Pick Analysis

prepare-release analyzes each pending pick request and classifies it:

• 🟢 Bot merge — commit is on main, can use @react-native-bot merge
• 🟡 Not on main — commit hasn't landed on main yet
• 🔵 PR on branch — PR targets the stable branch directly
• 🟢 Already merged — PR is merged but pick request is still open
• 🔴 Hermes — involves facebook/hermes, needs a Hermes release
• 🔴 Multi-target — targets multiple branches, needs duplication
• 🔴 Complex — multiple PRs/commits, needs manual review

Support Tiers

status shows versions grouped by support tier:

• Future — scheduled versions and active RCs
• Active — latest 2 stable series
• End of Cycle — 3rd latest stable series
• Unsupported — everything older

Dry Run

--dry-run skips all mutations (workflow triggers, comments, branch creation, git push) but still runs read-only checks (CI status, npm queries, pick analysis). Every prompt shows a red DRY RUN badge.

Configuration

The CLI auto-discovers your GitHub token from:

1. GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable
2. gh auth token (GitHub CLI)

No configuration files needed.

Repositories

The CLI interacts with these repositories:

• facebook/react-native — branches, workflows, releases
• facebook/hermes — Hermes release coordination
• react-native-community/template — template branch creation
• reactwg/react-native-releases — pick requests, release guides, GitHub Projects

Development

gh repo clone react-native-community/rn-release-automator
cd rn-release-automator
npm install
npm run build    # strip Flow types → dist/
npm start        # run the CLI
npm run dev      # build + run in one step

The project uses Flow for type checking:

npm run flow

License

MIT