# Release

GoReleaser can create a GitHub/GitLab/Gitea release with the current tag, upload
all the artifacts and generate the changelog based on the new commits since the
previous tag.

## GitHub

Let's see what can be customized in the `release` section for GitHub:

```yaml
# .goreleaser.yaml
release:
  # Repo in which the release will be created.
  # Default is extracted from the origin remote URL or empty if its private hosted.
  github:
    owner: user
    name: repo

  # IDs of the archives to use.
  # Empty means all IDs.
  #
  # Default: []
  ids:
    - foo
    - bar

  # If set to true, will not auto-publish the release.
  # Note: all GitHub releases start as drafts while artifacts are uploaded.
  # Available only for GitHub and Gitea.
  draft: true

  # Whether to remove existing draft releases with the same name before creating
  # a new one.
  #
  # Only effective if `draft` is set to true.
  # Available only for GitHub.
  #
  # Since: v1.11
  replace_existing_draft: true

  # Whether to remove an artifact that already exists.
  #
  # Available only for GitHub.
  # This might be a bit expensive (rate-limiting speaking), so it is only done
  # when the upload of an artifact fails with a 422 (which means it already
  # exists in the release).
  # We then grab the list of artifacts from the release, and delete the file
  # that matches the one we're trying to upload.
  # GoReleaser will then retry its upload.
  #
  # Since: v1.25
  replace_existing_artifacts: true

  # Useful if you want to delay the creation of the tag in the remote.
  # You can create the tag locally, but not push it, and run GoReleaser.
  # It'll then set the `target_commitish` portion of the GitHub release to the
  # value of this field.
  # Only works on GitHub.
  #
  # Since: v1.11
  # Default: ''
  # Templates: allowed
  target_commitish: "{{ .Commit }}"

  # This allows to change which tag GitHub will create.
  # Usually you'll use this together with `target_commitish`, or if you want to
  # publish a binary from a monorepo into a public repository somewhere, without
  # the tag prefix.
  #
  # Since: v1.19 (pro)
  # Default: '{{ .PrefixedCurrentTag }}'
  # Templates: allowed
  tag: "{{ .CurrentTag }}"

  # If set, will create a release discussion in the category specified.
  #
  # Warning: do not use categories in the 'Announcement' format.
  #  Check https://github.com/goreleaser/goreleaser/issues/2304 for more info.
  #
  # Default is empty.
  discussion_category_name: General

  # If set to auto, will mark the release as not ready for production
  # in case there is an indicator for this in the tag e.g. v1.0.0-rc1
  # If set to true, will mark the release as not ready for production.
  # Default is false.
  prerelease: auto

  # If set to false, will NOT mark the release as "latest".
  # This prevents it from being shown at the top of the release list,
  # and from being returned when calling https://api.github.com/repos/OWNER/REPO/releases/latest.
  #
  # Available only for GitHub.
  #
  # Default is true.
  # Since: v1.20
  make_latest: true

  # What to do with the release notes in case there the release already exists.
  #
  # Valid options are:
  # - `keep-existing`: keep the existing notes
  # - `append`: append the current release notes to the existing notes
  # - `prepend`: prepend the current release notes to the existing notes
  # - `replace`: replace existing notes
  #
  # Default is `keep-existing`.
  mode: append

  # Header for the release body.
  #
  # Templates: allowed
  header: |
    ## Some title ({{ .Date }})

    Welcome to this new release!

  # Header for the release body.
  #
  # This feature is only available in GoReleaser Pro.
  # Since v1.20 (pro)
  header:
    # Loads from an URL.
    from_url:
      # Templates: allowed
      url: https://foo.bar/header.md
      headers:
        x-api-token: "${MYCOMPANY_TOKEN}"

    # Loads from a local file.
    # Overrides `from_url`.
    from_file:
      # Templates: allowed
      path: ./header.md

  # Footer for the release body.
  #
  # Templates: allowed
  footer: |
    ## Thanks

    Those were the changes on {{ .Tag }}!

  # Footer for the release body.
  #
  # This feature is only available in GoReleaser Pro.
  # Since v1.20 (pro)
  footer:
    # Loads from an URL.
    from_url:
      # Templates: allowed
      url: https://foo.bar/footer.md
      footers:
        x-api-token: "${MYCOMPANY_TOKEN}"

    # Loads from a local file.
    # Overrides `from_url`.
    from_file:
      # Templates: allowed
      path: ./footer.md

  # You can change the name of the release.
  #
  # Default: '{{.Tag}}' ('{{.PrefixedTag}}' on Pro)
  # Templates: allowed
  name_template: "{{.ProjectName}}-v{{.Version}} {{.Env.USER}}"

  # You can disable this pipe in order to not create the release on any SCM.
  # Keep in mind that this might also break things that depend on the release
  # URL, for instance, homebrew taps.
  #
  # Templates: allowed (since v1.15)
  disable: true

  # Set this to true if you want to disable just the artifact upload to the SCM.
  # If this is true, GoReleaser will still create the release with the
  # changelog, but won't upload anything to it.
  #
  # Since: v1.11
  # Templates: allowed (since v1.15)
  skip_upload: true

  # You can add extra pre-existing files to the release.
  # The filename on the release will be the last part of the path (base).
  # If another file with the same name exists, the last one found will be used.
  #
  # Templates: allowed
  extra_files:
    - glob: ./path/to/file.txt
    - glob: ./glob/**/to/**/file/**/*
    - glob: ./glob/foo/to/bar/file/foobar/override_from_previous
    - glob: ./single_file.txt
      name_template: file.txt # note that this only works if glob matches 1 file only

  # Additional templated extra files to add to the release.
  # Those files will have their contents pass through the template engine,
  # and its results will be added to the release.
  #
  # This feature is only available in GoReleaser Pro.
  # Since: v1.17 (pro)
  # Templates: allowed
  templated_extra_files:
    - src: LICENSE.tpl
      dst: LICENSE.txt

  # Upload metadata.json and artifacts.json to the release as well.
  #
  # Since: v1.25
  include_meta: true

```

!!! tip

    [Learn how to set up an API token, GitHub Enterprise, etc](/scm/github/).

!!! success "GoReleaser Pro"

    Some options are exclusive [GoReleaser Pro features](/pro/).

## GitLab

Let's see what can be customized in the `release` section for GitLab.

```yaml
# .goreleaser.yaml
release:
  # Default is extracted from the origin remote URL or empty if its private
  # hosted.
  # You can also use Gitlab's internal project id by setting it in the name
  #  field and leaving the owner field empty.
  gitlab:
    owner: user
    name: repo

  # IDs of the archives to use.
  ids:
    - foo
    - bar

  # You can change the name of the release.
  #
  # Default: '{{.Tag}}' ('{{.PrefixedTag}}' on Pro)
  # Templates: allowed
  name_template: "{{.ProjectName}}-v{{.Version}} {{.Env.USER}}"

  # You can disable this pipe in order to not upload any artifacts.
  disable: true

  # What to do with the release notes in case there the release already exists.
  #
  # Valid options are:
  # - `keep-existing`: keep the existing notes
  # - `append`: append the current release notes to the existing notes
  # - `prepend`: prepend the current release notes to the existing notes
  # - `replace`: replace existing notes
  #
  # Default: 'keep-existing'
  mode: append

  # You can add extra pre-existing files to the release.
  # The filename on the release will be the last part of the path (base).
  # If another file with the same name exists, the last one found will be used.
  #
  # Templates: allowed
  extra_files:
    - glob: ./path/to/file.txt
    - glob: ./glob/**/to/**/file/**/*
    - glob: ./glob/foo/to/bar/file/foobar/override_from_previous
    - glob: ./single_file.txt
      name_template: file.txt # note that this only works if glob matches 1 file only
```

!!! tip

    [Learn how to set up an API token, self-hosted GitLab, etc](/scm/gitlab/).

!!! tip

    If you use GitLab subgroups, you need to specify it in the `owner` field,
    e.g. `mygroup/mysubgroup`.

!!! warning

    Only GitLab `v12.9+` is supported for releases.

## Gitea

You can also configure the `release` section to upload to a [Gitea](https://gitea.io) instance:

```yaml
# .goreleaser.yaml
release:
  gitea:
    owner: user
    name: repo

  # IDs of the artifacts to use.
  ids:
    - foo
    - bar

  # You can change the name of the release.
  #
  # Default: '{{.Tag}}' ('{{.PrefixedTag}}' on Pro)
  # Templates: allowed
  name_template: "{{.ProjectName}}-v{{.Version}} {{.Env.USER}}"

  # You can disable this pipe in order to not upload any artifacts.
  disable: true

  # What to do with the release notes in case there the release already exists.
  #
  # Valid options are:
  # - `keep-existing`: keep the existing notes
  # - `append`: append the current release notes to the existing notes
  # - `prepend`: prepend the current release notes to the existing notes
  # - `replace`: replace existing notes
  #
  # Default: 'keep-existing'
  mode: append

  # You can add extra pre-existing files to the release.
  # The filename on the release will be the last part of the path (base).
  # If another file with the same name exists, the last one found will be used.
  #
  # Templates: allowed
  extra_files:
    - glob: ./path/to/file.txt
    - glob: ./glob/**/to/**/file/**/*
    - glob: ./glob/foo/to/bar/file/foobar/override_from_previous
    - glob: ./single_file.txt
      name_template: file.txt # note that this only works if glob matches 1 file only
```

To enable uploading `tar.gz` and `checksums.txt` files you need to add the
following to your Gitea config in `app.ini`:

```ini
[attachment]
ALLOWED_TYPES = application/gzip|application/x-gzip|application/x-gtar|application/x-tgz|application/x-compressed-tar|text/plain
```

!!! tip

    [Learn how to set up an API token](/scm/gitea/).

!!! tip

    Learn more about the [name template engine](/customization/templates/).

!!! warning

    Gitea versions earlier than 1.9.2 do not support uploading `checksums.txt`
    files because of a [bug](https://github.com/go-gitea/gitea/issues/7882),
    so you will have to enable all file types with `*/*`.

!!! warning

    `draft` and `prerelease` are only supported by GitHub and Gitea.

### Define Previous Tag

GoReleaser uses `git describe` to get the previous tag used for generating the
Changelog. You can set a different build tag using the environment variable
`GORELEASER_PREVIOUS_TAG`. This is useful in scenarios where two tags point to
the same commit.

The [Nightly](/customization/nightlies) is automatically ignored, even if set
via the environment variables above.

## Custom release notes

You can specify a file containing your custom release notes, and pass it with
the `--release-notes=FILE` flag. GoReleaser will then skip its own release notes
generation, using the contents of your file instead. You can use Markdown to
format the contents of your file.

On Unix systems you can also generate the release notes in-line by using
[process substitution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_substitution). To
list all commits since the last tag, but skip ones starting with `Merge` or
`docs`, you could run this command:

```sh
goreleaser release --release-notes <(some_changelog_generator)
```

Some changelog generators you can use:

- [buchanae/github-release-notes](https://github.com/buchanae/github-release-notes)
- [miniscruff/changie](https://github.com/miniscruff/changie)

!!! info

    If you create the release before running GoReleaser, and the said release
    has some text in its body, GoReleaser will not override it with its release
    notes.
