ci: automate release — version-bump PR, draft release, and dist-tag sync

[pranavz28]

Summary

Automates the manual release chore behind a button, keeping humans on the two real gates (merge + publish). No npm publish happens automatically — the existing release.yml (unchanged) still runs only when you publish a GitHub Release.

version-bump.yml (new) — "Create Release PR" button

Manually triggered from the Actions tab. You pick how to bump from a dropdown (each option carries a fixed, illustrative example):

prerelease  (e.g. 1.2.3-beta.4 -> 1.2.3-beta.5)
patch       (e.g. 1.2.3-beta.4 -> 1.2.3, or 1.2.3 -> 1.2.4)
minor / major / preminor / premajor ...

• The target version is computed dynamically at run time from the current version (semver) — nothing is hard-coded or self-edited. The actual resolved version shows in the run summary and the PR title.
• Bumps all packages in lockstep (lerna fixed mode) and syncs each package's publishConfig.tag to match: beta for prereleases, latest for stable.
• Opens a Release X.Y.Z PR that touches only lerna.json + packages/**/package.json — never workflow files (so the default GITHUB_TOKEN works; no PAT needed).

draft-release.yml (new) — auto draft on merge

When a Release … PR merges to master, creates a draft GitHub Release: v<version> tag, --prerelease flag for betas, --generate-notes. You just click Publish to ship. Skips if the tag's release already exists.

package.json — bump-version also syncs the tag

yarn bump-version now runs lerna version … then sets publishConfig.tag to match the result, so local bumps stay correct too. lerna remains the direct command (tag-sync chained after it).

release.yml is intentionally unchanged — npm publish behavior is exactly as today, now fed the correct publishConfig.tag.

Flow

"Create Release PR" button → Release X.Y.Z PR (version + tag synced)
   → review & merge           → draft GitHub Release auto-created
   → click Publish            → existing release.yml publishes to npm + builds executables

Required repo settings

1. Settings → Actions → General → Workflow permissions → "Allow GitHub Actions to create and approve pull requests."
2. PRs opened by the default GITHUB_TOKEN don't trigger CI (test.yml/lint.yml). If CI on the Release PR is desired, add a RELEASE_PAT secret and switch the token: in version-bump.yml. (Release PRs are version-only, so this is optional.)

Testing

Verified end-to-end on a fork (pranavz28/cli):

• ✅ All bump types create a Release X.Y.Z PR touching only version files (0 workflow files).
• ✅ beta → latest (patch) and latest → beta (prerelease) flip both the version and publishConfig.tag across all 18 publishable packages.
• ✅ Merging a Release PR auto-creates a draft release with the correct prerelease flag (false for stable, true for beta).

🤖 Generated with Claude Code