RodarRelease

Version management and release utilities for Rodar projects. Automates semantic version bumping, changelog updates, git commits/tags.

Installation

Add rodar_release to your list of dependencies in mix.exs:

def deps do
  [
    {:rodar_release, "~> 0.1.0"}
  ]
end

With Igniter

If your project uses Igniter, you can install with automatic setup:

mix igniter.install rodar_release

This creates a CHANGELOG.md with the standard Keep a Changelog structure if one doesn't exist. To also configure a custom AI CLI:

mix igniter.install rodar_release --ai-cmd gemini

Without Igniter

If your project does not use Igniter, follow these steps after adding the dependency:

1. Create CHANGELOG.md in your project root with the Keep a Changelog structure:

    # Changelog
   
    All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
   
    The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com),
    and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org).
   
    ## [Unreleased]
   
    ## [0.1.0] - 2026-01-01
   
    ### Added
   
    - Initial release

   Replace 0.1.0 with your current version and 2026-01-01 with today's date.

2. (Optional) Configure AI CLI for changelog generation in config/config.exs:

    config :rodar_release, :ai_cmd, {"claude", ["-p"]}   # default (Claude Code)
    config :rodar_release, :ai_cmd, {"gemini", ["-p"]}   # Gemini CLI
    config :rodar_release, :ai_cmd, {"codex", ["e"]}     # OpenAI Codex
    config :rodar_release, :ai_cmd, {"gh", ["-p"]}       # GitHub Copilot

   If omitted, Claude Code is used by default.

3. (Recommended) Install the changelog skill for AI-assisted dev tools:

    npx skills add rodar-project/rodar_skills --skill changelog

Semantic Versioning

This tool follows Semantic Versioning (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH):

• Patch (mix rodar_release.patch) — backward-compatible bug fixes. Use when you fix a bug without changing the public API.
• Minor (mix rodar_release.minor) — new functionality that is backward-compatible. Use when you add a feature, deprecate something, or make non-breaking changes.
• Major (mix rodar_release.major) — breaking changes. Use when you remove or change existing behavior in a way that requires consumers to update their code.

Pre-release identifiers (e.g. 1.0.0-rc.1) and build metadata (e.g. 1.0.0+build.42) are part of the semver spec but are not currently supported by this tool.

Usage

mix rodar_release              # list available commands
mix help rodar_release.patch   # help for a specific command

Commands

Release

mix rodar_release.patch              # bug fix:        1.0.8 -> 1.0.9
mix rodar_release.minor              # new feature:    1.0.8 -> 1.1.0
mix rodar_release.major              # breaking change: 1.0.8 -> 2.0.0
mix rodar_release.minor --dry-run    # preview changes

1. Validates the git working directory is clean
2. If [Unreleased] in CHANGELOG.md is empty, offers to generate an entry using Claude Code (requires claude CLI)
3. Bumps the version in mix.exs
4. Updates CHANGELOG.md with the release date
5. Commits changes with message release: vX.Y.Z
6. Creates an annotated git tag vX.Y.Z

AI-generated changelog

When releasing with an empty [Unreleased] section, the tool gathers the git log and diff since the last tag and asks an AI CLI to suggest a changelog entry using Keep a Changelog headings (### Added, ### Changed, ### Fixed, ### Removed). You are prompted to confirm before anything is written.

By default it uses Claude Code. To use a different AI CLI, configure the command and args in your config.exs:

config :rodar_release, :ai_cmd, {"claude", ["-p"]}   # default
config :rodar_release, :ai_cmd, {"gemini", ["-p"]}   # Gemini CLI
config :rodar_release, :ai_cmd, {"codex", ["e"]}     # OpenAI Codex

The prompt is appended as the last argument.

Rollback

mix rodar_release.rollback           # undo last release (soft reset)
mix rodar_release.rollback --hard    # undo and discard changes
mix rodar_release.rollback --dry-run # preview rollback

Undoes the last release by deleting its tag and resetting the release commit. Requires the latest commit to be a release commit (release: vX.Y.Z).

• Soft (default): resets the commit and restores mix.exs and CHANGELOG.md to the pre-release state.
• Hard (--hard): discards all release changes entirely.

Amend

mix rodar_release.amend              # fold changes into release commit
mix rodar_release.amend --dry-run    # preview amend

Amends the last release commit with any current changes and re-tags. Useful for fixing a typo or adding a missing file right after releasing.

Options

Programmatic API

RodarRelease.read_version()
#=> "0.1.0"

RodarRelease.bump("1.2.3", :minor)
#=> "1.3.0"

RodarRelease.write_version("1.3.0")