softprops/action-gh-release

action-gh-release is a GitHub Action that automates the process of creating GitHub Releases. GitHub Releases are a way to package and publish a specific version of your project, typically including a description of what changed and downloadable files like compiled binaries or archives. Without this action, creating a release requires doing it manually through the GitHub website or using the API directly. This action lets you add a release step to your existing automated build workflow so releases happen automatically. The most common use is to trigger a release whenever you push a version tag to your repository, such as a tag in the format v1.2.3. You add the action as a step in a GitHub Actions workflow file, tell it to only run when the trigger is a tag push, and it handles creating the release on GitHub with the tag name and any details you provide. The action supports uploading files to the release, which is useful when your build process produces compiled output that you want users to download. You specify which files to include using file patterns, and the action attaches them to the release. If a release for that tag already exists, the action updates it instead of creating a duplicate. Release notes can be written inline in the workflow file, loaded from a text file generated during the build, or generated automatically by GitHub based on pull requests and commits merged since the last release. You can also publish releases to a different repository than the one running the workflow, which requires a personal access token with the appropriate permissions. Additional options include marking a release as a draft, marking it as a pre-release, giving it a custom name or title, and specifying which commit the release should point to. The action works on Linux, Windows, and macOS GitHub Actions runners.