Introduction

semrel automates your release pipeline by reading Conventional Commits, calculating the correct next SemVer version, generating a changelog, and running configurable release plugins — with zero runtime dependencies.

Why semrel?

Manual versioning is error-prone and slow. semrel removes the guesswork:

A feat: commit bumps the minor version.
A fix: commit bumps the patch version.
A commit with BREAKING CHANGE: in the footer bumps the major version.
Everything is reproducible and auditable through your git history.

Core Features

Automated Versioning

Analyses Conventional Commits since the last tag and determines the correct SemVer bump automatically.

Plugin System

Every step of the release pipeline can be handled by a standalone plugin executable discovered and run by semrel.

Monorepo Support

Version multiple independent modules inside one repository, each with its own tag history.

Language Agnostic

Plugins are plain executables, so they can be written in any language and integrated through environment variables and normal process execution.

How it works

Each stage can be handled by a separate plugin executable. Install official plugins with commands such as semrel plugin install github, then configure them in .semrel.yaml.

semrel vs the alternatives

	semrel	semantic-release	goreleaser	release-please	release-it	changesets
Runtime	None (static binary)	Node.js + npm	None (static binary)	Node.js + npm	Node.js + npm	Node.js + npm
Semantic versioning from commits	✅	✅	❌ (tag-based)	✅	✅	❌ (manual)
Scope-based bump rules	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌
Air-gap / offline CI	✅ Native	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Supply-chain security	Cosign + SBOM + SLSA	❌	Cosign	❌	❌	❌
Plugin language	Any binary	JavaScript	Go (built-in)	Hardcoded	JavaScript	JavaScript
Monorepo	✅ Free	✅ Free	✅ Free (OSS)	✅	✅	✅

→ Full comparison: semrel vs semantic-release vs goreleaser vs release-please vs release-it vs changesets

Introduction

Why semrel?

Core Features

How it works

semrel vs the alternatives

Next steps