goose/docs/publish-npm-workflow-changes.md

publish-npm.yml Workflow Changes

Summary

Successfully simplified the publish-npm.yml workflow by removing the broken changesets action and replacing it with direct pnpm publish commands.

Changes Made

1. Removed Changesets Action

Problem: The changesets action never worked - all runs failed with "There is no .changeset directory in this project" error, even though the directory existed.

Root Cause: The cwd parameter in the changesets action wasn't working correctly, and the action was checking for .changeset in the repo root before applying the working directory.

Solution: Removed changesets entirely and replaced with simple pnpm publish -r command.

2. Simplified Publishing Logic

Before:

- name: Create Release Pull Request or Publish to npm
  if: inputs.dry-run != true && github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
  uses: changesets/action@...
  with:
    publish: pnpm run release
    version: pnpm run version
    cwd: ui

After:

- name: Publish to npm
  if: inputs.dry-run != true && github.ref == 'refs/heads/main'
  run: |
    cd ui
    pnpm publish -r --access public --no-git-checks

- name: Dry run - Show what would be published
  if: inputs.dry-run == true || github.ref != 'refs/heads/main'
  run: |
    cd ui
    # List all packages with their versions
    for pkg in acp text goose-binary/*/; do
      if [ -f "$pkg/package.json" ]; then
        name=$(jq -r '.name' "$pkg/package.json")
        version=$(jq -r '.version' "$pkg/package.json")
        echo "- $name@$version"
      fi
    done

3. Dry-Run Now Only Prevents Publish

Before: Dry-run would skip the entire changesets step, preventing testing of the workflow logic.

After: Dry-run runs all the same steps but shows what would be published instead of actually publishing. This allows full workflow testing without publishing to npm.

4. Temporarily Disabled Windows Build

Reason: Windows builds take 20+ minutes when cache misses, slowing down testing.

Solution: Commented out Windows from the build matrix. Will re-enable after implementing sccache optimization (see docs/ci-optimization-windows-builds.md).

Testing Results

Successful Run: 23666117886

Duration: ~5 minutes (all builds had cache hits)

Packages Detected:

• @aaif/goose-acp@0.1.0
• @aaif/goose@0.1.0
• @aaif/goose-binary-darwin-arm64@0.1.0
• @aaif/goose-binary-darwin-x64@0.1.0
• @aaif/goose-binary-linux-arm64@0.1.0
• @aaif/goose-binary-linux-x64@0.1.0
• @aaif/goose-binary-win32-x64@0.1.0

Status: ✅ All steps completed successfully

How to Use

Test the Workflow (Dry-Run)

gh workflow run publish-npm.yml --ref <branch> -f dry-run=true

This will:

1. Generate ACP schema
2. Build goose binaries for all platforms (except Windows, temporarily)
3. Build npm packages
4. Show what would be published (without actually publishing)

Publish for Real (Main Branch Only)

# Merge to main, then:
gh workflow run publish-npm.yml --ref main -f dry-run=false

This will:

1. Run all build steps
2. Actually publish to npm with pnpm publish -r

Note: Publishing only works from the main branch due to security restrictions.

Versioning Strategy

Since we removed changesets, you'll need to manage versions manually:

Option 1: Manual Version Bumps

cd ui/acp
npm version patch  # or minor, major

cd ../text
npm version patch

# etc for each package

Option 2: Use Changesets CLI Manually

cd ui
pnpm changeset add  # Create a changeset
pnpm changeset version  # Bump versions based on changesets
git commit -am "chore: version packages"

Then trigger the workflow to publish.

Option 3: Add Version Bump to Workflow

Could add a step to automatically bump versions based on conventional commits or other logic.

Future Improvements

1. Re-enable Windows Build with sccache

See docs/ci-optimization-windows-builds.md for implementation details.

Expected improvement: 20+ minutes → 8-10 minutes for cache misses

2. Add Automatic Version Bumping

Options:

• Use conventional commits to determine version bump
• Add a workflow input for version bump type (patch/minor/major)
• Integrate changesets CLI properly (without the action)

3. Add Release Notes Generation

Could generate release notes from git commits or changeset files.

4. Add npm Publish Verification

After publishing, verify packages are available on npm registry.

Troubleshooting

"Package already exists" Error

If you try to publish a version that already exists on npm:

# Bump the version first
cd ui/acp
npm version patch
git commit -am "chore: bump version"
git push

Cache Issues

If builds are slow due to cache misses:

# Skip cache and rebuild everything
gh workflow run publish-npm.yml -f skip-cache=true

Testing Without Publishing

Always use dry-run mode for testing:

gh workflow run publish-npm.yml -f dry-run=true

Related Documentation

• docs/ci-optimization-windows-builds.md - Strategies to speed up Windows builds
• .github/workflows/publish-npm.yml - The workflow file
• ui/package.json - Workspace configuration
• ui/.changeset/ - Changeset configuration (currently unused by workflow)