What does the suggested URL do for generating a new release?

[Rod-at-DOH]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Question

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Other

Discussion Details

I'm learning how to get the semantic versions of the tags/releases in one of our repos. I'm using Paul Hatch's semantic-version@5.4.0. I've got it to the point where it no longer fails, which is good. 😄

We want to be able to take the maximum semantic version, add 1 to the patch number, to create a new tag, which we'll save as a part of a new release. In the log of the successful run of the workflow it says this:

To create a release for this version, go to https://github.com/(our-GitHub-Organization)/(the-repo)/releases/new?tag=v0.0.1&target=(a-GUID)

I realize that is a canned response to help the user get started. I tried searching for how to use what was given but couldn't find anything. So, I now have some questions.

First, the point of my using semantic-version@5.4.0 is so I can get the semantic version numbers, then increment the patch number as I've described. I'm sure that I would have to take that major, minor, and patch numbers to use in that URL, but how do I do that?

Second, I presume I'll have to capture that GUID so I can use it, hopefully within the workflow's execution. How do I get that?

[NotDizzyButFizzy]

The ‘suggested URL’ from PaulHatch/semantic-version@v4.0 (e.g., something like ${{ steps.version.outputs.version_url }}) generates a release tag URL for your workflow it's a computed link like https://github.com/user/repo/releases/tag/${{ steps.semantic.outputs.version_tag }} for the new patch/minor/major tag based on commit messages. Use it post-tag creation (after git tag ${{ steps.version.outputs.version_tag }} && git push origin ${{ steps.version.outputs.version_tag }}) in an action like softprops/action-gh-release to auto-create the release page with notes. If unclear, share your full workflow YAML for exact tweaks

[riiyansh-singh]

Hey! It sounds like you’re on the right track with semantic-version. That URL you're seeing in the logs is actually just a "pre-filled" link that GitHub generates to help you manually create a release in the browser.
If your goal is to automate this so you don't have to click a link, you actually don't need to capture that GUID or manually construct that URL. You can use the GitHub CLI (which is already installed on all GitHub Actions runners) to handle the tagging and release creation automatically.
Here’s how it usually works in a workflow:
Get the version: Once the semantic-version step runs, it usually outputs the new version number. You can capture this as an environment variable.
Create the release via CLI: Instead of using a URL, you can add a step in your YAML that runs a command like: gh release create v1.0.1 --title "Release v1.0.1" --generate-notes.
The "target" GUID you mentioned is likely just the specific commit SHA that the version is pointing to. In a workflow, the CLI will automatically use the current commit as the target unless you tell it otherwise.
If you’re still wanting to use that semantic logic, just make sure you're referencing the outputs from the versioning step (like steps.versioning.outputs.version) to feed into the next command.
Good luck with the automation—it definitely saves a lot of manual work once it's dialed in!

[hidessh99]

Instead of trying to build a URL for a human to click, you should add a step to your workflow that creates the GitHub Release for you using the outputs from the semantic-version step