chore: migrate to release please

Author: mefellows

.github/workflows/release-please.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+name: release-please
+
+on:
+  push:
+    branches:
+      - master
+
+permissions:
+  contents: write
+  pull-requests: write
+
+jobs:
+  release-please:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    steps:
+      # A PAT (GITHUBRELEASETOKEN) is required, not the default GITHUB_TOKEN:
+      # tags/releases created with the default token don't trigger other
+      # workflows, which would prevent the tag push below from firing
+      # release.yml (the GoReleaser publish job).
+      - uses: googleapis/release-please-action@v4
+        with:
+          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUBRELEASETOKEN }}
+          config-file: release-please-config.json
+          manifest-file: .release-please-manifest.json

.github/workflows/release.yml

@@ -1,10 +1,14 @@
 name: Release
 
+# Publishes a GitHub Release with GoReleaser whenever release-please pushes
+# a version tag (see release-please.yml and RELEASING.md). The
+# workflow_dispatch input exists only to re-run publishing against an
+# already-tagged release, e.g. after a failed run.
 on:
   workflow_dispatch:
     inputs:
       tag:
-        description: 'Tag to release (e.g. v2.4.3). Must not already exist. The tag will be created at the current HEAD of the default branch.'
+        description: 'Existing tag to (re-)publish, e.g. v2.4.3.'
         required: true
   push:
     tags:
@@ -19,23 +23,7 @@ jobs:
         uses: actions/checkout@v6
         with:
           fetch-depth: 0
-      -
-        name: Create and push tag (workflow_dispatch only)
-        if: github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch'
-        run: |
-          TAG="${{ github.event.inputs.tag }}"
-          if [[ ! "$TAG" =~ ^v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9] ]]; then
-            echo "Error: tag '$TAG' does not match expected format (e.g. v2.4.3)"
-            exit 1
-          fi
-          if git ls-remote --exit-code --tags origin "refs/tags/$TAG" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
-            echo "Error: tag '$TAG' already exists on the remote"
-            exit 1
-          fi
-          git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
-          git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
-          git tag "$TAG"
-          git push origin "$TAG"
+          ref: ${{ github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' && github.event.inputs.tag || github.ref }}
       -
         name: Set up Go
         uses: actions/setup-go@v6
@@ -48,4 +36,4 @@ jobs:
           version: latest
           args: release --clean
         env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUBRELEASETOKEN }}
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUBRELEASETOKEN }}

.goreleaser.yml

@@ -11,15 +11,29 @@ builds:
       - linux
       - windows
       - darwin
+    ldflags:
+      - -s -w -X github.com/pact-foundation/pact-go/v2/command.Version={{.Tag}}
 checksum:
   name_template: 'checksums.txt'
 snapshot:
   version_template: "{{ .Tag }}-next"
 changelog:
   sort: asc
+  groups:
+    - title: "Features"
+      regexp: '^.*?feat(\([[:word:]]+\))??!?:.+$'
+      order: 0
+    - title: "Bug fixes"
+      regexp: '^.*?fix(\([[:word:]]+\))??!?:.+$'
+      order: 1
+    - title: "Other changes"
+      order: 999
   filters:
     exclude:
       - '^docs:'
       - '^test:'
       - '^chore:'
       - '^wip:'
+      - '^ci:'
+      - 'Merge branch'
+      - 'Merge pull request'

.release-please-manifest.json

@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+{
+  ".": "2.5.1"
+}

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 # Changelog
-Do this to generate your change history
 
-    git log --pretty=format:'  * [%h](https://github.com/pact-foundation/pact-go/commit/%h) - %s (%an, %ad)' vX.Y.Z..HEAD | egrep -v "wip(:|\()" | grep -v "docs(" | grep -v "chore(" | grep -v Merge | grep -v "test("
+Releases from here on are generated automatically by [release-please](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please) from [Conventional Commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/) - see [RELEASING.md](RELEASING.md).
 
-## Versions
+## Previous releases
+
+_Entries below this point were generated manually before the release-please migration._
 
 ### v2.5.1 (26 May 2026)
   * f7737e8 - docs: update verifier error result sentinel descriptions

Makefile

@@ -135,10 +135,6 @@ publish:
 	@echo "-- 📃 Publishing pacts"
 	@"${PACT_CLI}" publish ${PWD}/examples/pacts --consumer-app-version ${APP_SHA} --tag ${APP_BRANCH} --tag prod
 
-release:
-	echo "--- 🚀 Releasing it"
-	"$(CURDIR)/scripts/release.sh"
-
 ifeq ($(SKIP_PROVIDER_TESTS),true)
 	PROVIDER_TEST_TAGS=
 else
@@ -169,7 +165,7 @@ testrace:
 updatedeps:
 	go get -d -v -p 2 ./...
 
-.PHONY: install bin default dev test pact updatedeps clean release
+.PHONY: install bin default dev test pact updatedeps clean
 
 PROTOC ?= $(shell which protoc)
 

README.md

@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ Detail on the native Go implementation can be found [here](https://github.com/pa
 
 ## Contributing
 
-See [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md).
+See [CONTRIBUTING](CONTRIBUTING.md). Maintainers cutting a release should see [RELEASING](RELEASING.md).
 
 <a href="https://github.com/pact-foundation/pact-go/graphs/contributors">
   <img src="https://contrib.rocks/image?repo=pact-foundation/pact-go" />

RELEASING.md

@@ -1,12 +1,22 @@
-
 # Releasing
 
-Once your changes are in master, the latest release should be set as a draft at https://github.com/pact-foundation/pact-go/releases/.
+Releasing is fully automated with [release-please](https://github.com/googleapis/release-please). There is nothing to run locally, no version to bump, and no changelog to hand-edit.
+
+## How it works
+
+1. Every push to `master` runs the [`release-please`](https://github.com/pact-foundation/pact-go/actions/workflows/release-please.yml) workflow. It scans commits since the last release for [Conventional Commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org/) (`feat:`, `fix:`, `feat!:`/`fix!:` or a `BREAKING CHANGE:` footer, `perf:`, `deps:`, etc.) and keeps a **Release PR** up to date with:
+   - The next version, computed via semver from the commit types seen (`feat` → minor, `fix`/`perf`/`deps` → patch, breaking change → major).
+   - A generated `CHANGELOG.md` entry.
+2. To cut a release, **merge the release PR**. On merge, release-please:
+   - Tags `master` with the new version (e.g. `v2.6.0`).
+   - Publishes a GitHub Release.
+3. The tag push triggers [`release.yml`](.github/workflows/release.yml), which runs [GoReleaser](https://goreleaser.com/) to build the release binaries and attach them to that GitHub Release.
+
+That's the whole process. Keep merging PRs into `master` with conventional commit messages, and merge the standing release PR whenever you're ready to ship what's accumulated on it.
 
-Once you've tested that it works as expected:
+## Notes
 
-1. Bump version in `command/version.go`.
-2. Run `make release` to generate release notes and release commit.
-3. Push tags `git push --follow-tags`
-4. The pipeline will automatically trigger a release
-   1. Edit the release notes at https://github.com/pact-foundation/pact-go/releases/edit/v<VERSION> if needed.
+- No `command/version.go` bump is needed: `pact-go version` resolves itself at runtime, either from the GoReleaser `-ldflags` (release binaries) or from the Go module version (`go install .../pact-go/v2@vX.Y.Z`).
+- Release-please's config lives in [`release-please-config.json`](release-please-config.json); the version it currently believes is released is tracked in [`.release-please-manifest.json`](.release-please-manifest.json).
+- If a GoReleaser run fails after a tag is already published, re-run [`release.yml`](https://github.com/pact-foundation/pact-go/actions/workflows/release.yml) manually via `workflow_dispatch`, passing the existing tag - it won't create a new tag or PR.
+- Commits that aren't `feat`/`fix`/etc. (e.g. `chore:`, `docs:`, `test:`) don't trigger a version bump on their own, but will still be picked up once a `feat`/`fix` commit lands.

command/version.go

@@ -2,12 +2,22 @@ package command
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"runtime/debug"
 
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
 
+// Version is the Pact Go version. It is normally left as "dev" here and
+// resolved automatically:
+//   - Official release binaries (built via `goreleaser`) have this
+//     overridden at build time via -ldflags (see .goreleaser.yml).
+//   - Builds via `go install github.com/pact-foundation/pact-go/v2@vX.Y.Z`,
+//     or when pact-go is imported as a module dependency, resolve it from
+//     the Go module's build info at runtime, so no source change is needed.
+//
+// There is no version to bump for a release - see RELEASING.md.
 var (
-	Version    = "v2.5.1"
+	Version    = "dev"
 	versionCmd = &cobra.Command{
 		Use:   "version",
 		Short: "Print the version number of Pact Go",
@@ -19,5 +29,36 @@ var (
 )
 
 func init() {
+	if Version == "dev" {
+		if v := moduleVersion(); v != "" {
+			Version = v
+		}
+	}
 	RootCmd.AddCommand(versionCmd)
 }
+
+// moduleVersion resolves the pact-go version from Go module build info,
+// covering both `go install .../pact-go/v2@vX.Y.Z` (module is main) and
+// pact-go being imported as a dependency of another module.
+func moduleVersion() string {
+	info, ok := debug.ReadBuildInfo()
+	if !ok {
+		return ""
+	}
+
+	if isResolvedVersion(info.Main.Version) {
+		return info.Main.Version
+	}
+
+	for _, dep := range info.Deps {
+		if dep.Path == "github.com/pact-foundation/pact-go/v2" && isResolvedVersion(dep.Version) {
+			return dep.Version
+		}
+	}
+
+	return ""
+}
+
+func isResolvedVersion(v string) bool {
+	return v != "" && v != "(devel)"
+}

release-please-config.json

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/googleapis/release-please/main/schemas/config.json",
+  "packages": {
+    ".": {
+      "release-type": "simple",
+      "package-name": "pact-go",
+      "changelog-path": "CHANGELOG.md",
+      "include-component-in-tag": false,
+      "include-v-in-tag": true,
+      "pull-request-title-pattern": "chore(release): release ${version}",
+      "changelog-sections": [
+        { "type": "feat", "section": "Features" },
+        { "type": "fix", "section": "Bug Fixes" },
+        { "type": "perf", "section": "Performance Improvements" },
+        { "type": "deps", "section": "Dependencies" },
+        { "type": "docs", "section": "Documentation", "hidden": true },
+        { "type": "chore", "section": "Miscellaneous", "hidden": true },
+        { "type": "test", "section": "Tests", "hidden": true }
+      ]
+    }
+  }
+}