feat(eds-core-react): add release-please automation

- Configure release-please for automatic versioning
- Add trigger_publish workflow for automated publishing
- Set up test branch for validation

Author: pomfrida

.github/release-please-config.md

@@ -0,0 +1,235 @@
+# Release Please Configuration Documentation
+
+This document explains the configuration in `.github/release-please-config.json`.
+
+## Core Configuration
+
+### Schema
+
+```json
+"$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/googleapis/release-please/main/schemas/config.json"
+```
+
+Enables IDE autocomplete, validation, and inline documentation for the configuration file.
+
+### Bootstrap SHA
+
+```json
+"bootstrap-sha": "HEAD"
+```
+
+Tells release-please to start tracking releases from the current HEAD commit. This is used when setting up release-please for the first time in an existing repository with release history.
+
+### Tag Separator
+
+```json
+"tag-separator": "@"
+```
+
+Defines the separator used in git tags. With `@`, tags are formatted as `eds-core-react@0.49.0` instead of `eds-core-react-v0.49.0`. This matches our existing tag format in the repository.
+
+## Package Configuration
+
+Each package in the monorepo must be explicitly configured:
+
+```json
+"packages/eds-core-react": {
+  "release-type": "node",
+  "package-name": "@equinor/eds-core-react",
+  "component": "eds-core-react"
+}
+```
+
+- **Path key** (`packages/eds-core-react`): The relative path from repo root to the package
+- **`release-type`**: Set to `"node"` for npm packages. This determines how version bumping works
+- **`package-name`**: The npm package name (with scope)
+- **`component`**: Used in git tags and must match the tag format. For `eds-core-react`, tags will be `eds-core-react@x.y.z`
+
+### All Configured Packages
+
+We currently track these packages for releases:
+
+1. `@equinor/eds-core-react` - Core React component library
+2. `@equinor/eds-data-grid-react` - Data grid component
+3. `@equinor/eds-icons` - Icon library
+4. `@equinor/eds-lab-react` - Experimental components
+5. `@equinor/eds-tokens` - Design tokens and variables
+6. `@equinor/eds-utils` - Shared utilities
+
+## Pull Request Configuration
+
+### Combined Releases
+
+```json
+"separate-pull-requests": false
+```
+
+Creates **one combined PR** with all packages that have changes, rather than separate PRs per package. When this PR is merged, release-please will create separate GitHub releases for each package automatically.
+
+### PR Title Pattern
+
+```json
+"pull-request-title-pattern": "chore: release${component}"
+```
+
+Defines the title format for release PRs. The `${component}` placeholder is replaced with package names. With combined PRs, this shows all affected components.
+
+### PR Header
+
+```json
+"pull-request-header": "## Release PR\n\nThis PR was automatically generated..."
+```
+
+Custom message added to the top of release PRs. Used to provide instructions for what to do after merging.
+
+### PR Label
+
+```json
+"label": "autorelease: pending"
+```
+
+Automatically adds this label to release PRs for easy filtering and identification.
+
+## Changelog Configuration
+
+### Changelog Sections
+
+```json
+"changelog-sections": [
+  { "type": "feat", "section": "✨ Added" },
+  { "type": "fix", "section": "🐛 Fixed" },
+  ...
+]
+```
+
+Maps conventional commit types to changelog sections with emojis:
+
+- **feat** → ✨ Added (new features)
+- **fix** → 🐛 Fixed (bug fixes)
+- **docs** → 📝 Changed (documentation updates)
+- **perf** → ⚡ Performance Improvements
+- **refactor** → ♻️ Refactoring (code restructuring)
+- **chore** → 🔧 Chores (maintenance tasks, dependency updates)
+- **ci** → 👷 CI/CD (pipeline/workflow changes)
+- **build** → 📦 Build System (build configuration)
+- **test** → ✅ Tests (test additions/changes)
+
+All types are visible in CHANGELOG files. Note: There's no `hidden` property, so all commit types appear in both CHANGELOGs and GitHub releases. (This is why we do Github Releases manually - to be able to filter out chores, CI/CD changes, and build system updates that are relevant for maintainers but not for end users.)
+
+### Changelog Path
+
+```json
+"changelog-path": "CHANGELOG.md"
+```
+
+Relative path for the changelog file in each package. Release-please will create/update `packages/[package-name]/CHANGELOG.md`.
+
+### Release Search Depth
+
+```json
+"release-search-depth": 500
+```
+
+How many commits back to search when looking for the last release. Increase this if you have a very long commit history between releases.
+
+## Version Bumping Rules
+
+### Pre-1.0.0 Behavior
+
+```json
+"bump-minor-pre-major": true
+```
+
+Before version 1.0.0, `feat:` commits bump the minor version (0.x.0) instead of major. This follows the convention that pre-1.0.0 versions are still in development.
+
+```json
+"bump-patch-for-minor-pre-major": false
+```
+
+Ensures that breaking changes (indicated by `BREAKING CHANGE:` in commit message) still bump minor version pre-1.0.0, not patch.
+
+**Version Bump Examples (pre-1.0.0):**
+
+- `fix: bug` → 0.1.0 → 0.1.1 (patch)
+- `feat: new feature` → 0.1.0 → 0.2.0 (minor)
+- `feat!: breaking change` → 0.1.0 → 0.2.0 (minor, not major)
+
+**Version Bump Examples (1.0.0+):**
+
+- `fix: bug` → 1.0.0 → 1.0.1 (patch)
+- `feat: new feature` → 1.0.0 → 1.1.0 (minor)
+- `feat!: breaking change` → 1.0.0 → 2.0.0 (major)
+
+## GitHub Release Configuration
+
+```json
+"skip-github-release": true
+```
+
+When `true`, release-please will NOT automatically create GitHub releases when the release PR is merged. This means:
+
+- Release PRs are created automatically ✅
+- Version bumps happen automatically ✅
+- CHANGELOGs are updated automatically ✅
+- GitHub releases must be created manually ❌
+
+Set to `false` if you want automatic GitHub release creation.
+
+## How It Works Together
+
+1. **Developer makes conventional commits** (e.g., `feat(eds-icons): add new icon`)
+2. **Release-please monitors the branch** and detects releasable changes
+3. **Release PR is created** with:
+   - Version bumps in affected `package.json` files
+   - Updated CHANGELOGs for affected packages
+   - Summary of all changes
+4. **Team reviews and merges the PR**
+5. **Automatic publish workflow triggers** (separate workflow)
+6. **Packages are published to npm**
+7. **GitHub releases are created manually** (because `skip-github-release: true`)
+
+## Multi-Package Example
+
+If you make these commits:
+
+```bash
+feat(eds-icons): add arrow-up icon
+fix(eds-core-react): fix button padding
+feat(eds-tokens): add new color tokens
+```
+
+Release-please will create ONE PR that:
+
+- Bumps `eds-icons` from 0.22.0 → 0.23.0
+- Bumps `eds-core-react` from 0.49.0 → 0.50.0
+- Bumps `eds-tokens` from 0.10.0 → 0.11.0
+- Updates all three CHANGELOGs
+
+When merged, three separate GitHub releases will be created (if `skip-github-release: false`).
+
+## Commit Scope Matching
+
+The `component` field must match commit scopes for release-please to detect which packages are affected:
+
+```bash
+# These commits affect the corresponding packages:
+feat(eds-core-react): ...     → packages/eds-core-react
+fix(eds-icons): ...           → packages/eds-icons
+docs(eds-tokens): ...         → packages/eds-tokens
+
+# Multiple packages in one commit:
+feat(eds-icons, eds-core-react): ...  → both packages
+```
+
+## Related Files
+
+- **Config**: `.github/release-please-config.json` (this documentation)
+- **Manifest**: `.github/release-please-manifest.json` (tracks current versions)
+- **Workflow**: `.github/workflows/release-please.yml` (triggers release-please)
+- **Publish**: `.github/workflows/trigger-publish.yml` (publishes after release)
+
+## Useful Links
+
+- [Release Please Documentation](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please)
+- [Conventional Commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/)
+- [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/)

.github/release-please-manifest.json

@@ -4,7 +4,5 @@
   "packages/eds-icons": "0.22.0",
   "packages/eds-lab-react": "0.7.9",
   "packages/eds-tokens": "0.10.0",
-  "packages/eds-tokens-build": "1.0.1",
-  "packages/eds-tokens-sync": "1.0.1",
   "packages/eds-utils": "0.9.0"
 }

.github/workflows/release_please.yml

@@ -1,20 +1,41 @@
+# Release Please Workflow
+#
+# This workflow automates the release process by:
+# 1. Analyzing conventional commits since the last release
+# 2. Determining appropriate version bumps (major/minor/patch)
+# 3. Creating/updating a release PR with version bumps and CHANGELOGs
+# 4. Triggering automated npm publishing when the release PR is merged (trigger_publish.yml)
+#
+# Note: Release-please creates/updates ONE release PR that accumulates changes.
+# It does NOT create a release on every push - releases only happen when you merge the PR.
+
 name: Release Please
 
+# Trigger: Run on every push to develop branch
+# This keeps the release PR up-to-date with latest changes
 on:
   push:
     branches:
       # - develop  # TODO: enable after testing
       - fre/release-please # Test branch
 
+# Permissions required for release-please to function
 permissions:
-  contents: write
-  pull-requests: write
+  contents: write # Needed to: create releases, update files, create tags
+  pull-requests: write # Needed to: create and update release PRs
 
 jobs:
   release-please:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+
+    # Expose outputs to make them available for other workflows
+    # These outputs can be used by downstream jobs or workflows (like trigger-publish.yml)
+    # Each package gets two outputs: whether it was released and what tag was created
     outputs:
+      # Global: true if ANY package was released
       releases_created: ${{ steps.release.outputs.releases_created }}
+
+      # Per-package outputs for conditional logic in downstream workflows
       eds-core-react--release_created: ${{ steps.release.outputs['packages/eds-core-react--release_created'] }}
       eds-core-react--tag_name: ${{ steps.release.outputs['packages/eds-core-react--tag_name'] }}
       eds-data-grid-react--release_created: ${{ steps.release.outputs['packages/eds-data-grid-react--release_created'] }}
@@ -31,17 +52,29 @@ jobs:
       eds-tokens-sync--tag_name: ${{ steps.release.outputs['packages/eds-tokens-sync--tag_name'] }}
       eds-utils--release_created: ${{ steps.release.outputs['packages/eds-utils--release_created'] }}
       eds-utils--tag_name: ${{ steps.release.outputs['packages/eds-utils--tag_name'] }}
+
     steps:
-      - uses: google-github-actions/release-please-action@v4
-        id: release
+      # Main step: Run the release-please action
+      # This does the heavy lifting of analyzing commits and managing releases
+      - uses: googleapis/release-please-action@v4
+        id: release # ID used to reference outputs in later steps
         with:
-          target-branch: fre/release-please #TODO: remove after testing
-          config-file: .github/release-please-config.json
-          manifest-file: .github/release-please-manifest.json
+          # TODO: remove after testing - specifies which branch to create PRs against
+          # Normally this would be inferred from the branch that triggered the workflow
+          target-branch: fre/release-please
+
+          # Configuration files that define release behavior
+          config-file: .github/release-please-config.json # How to handle releases (version bumping, changelog format, etc.)
+          manifest-file: .github/release-please-manifest.json # Tracks current version of each package. This is updated automatically by release-please.
+
+          # GitHub token for authentication
           token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
 
+      # Debug step: Log all outputs when releases are actually created
+      # Only runs when release PR is merged and releases are created
+      # Useful for debugging and understanding what release-please did
       - name: Print release outputs for debugging
         if: ${{ steps.release.outputs.releases_created }}
         run: |
           echo "Releases created!"
-          echo "${{ toJson(steps.release.outputs) }}"
+          echo '${{ toJson(steps.release.outputs) }}'