nvim-ghrelease

Create GitHub releases from inside Neovim, driven by the gh CLI.

Instead of gh's terminal prompts, nvim-ghrelease lists your existing releases, suggests the next semantic version, and asks each question gh release create asks. Free-text answers (tag, title, release notes) open in a dedicated buffer per step — edit, then :wq to move to the next question. When every answer is collected it runs gh release create and reports the new release URL.

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/47dda2ee-c6a8-4229-8cee-7135bb7712a5

Features

• Lists current releases for context before you start.
• Suggests the next version with a semver bump menu (major / minor / patch / prerelease / custom).
• Buffer-per-step editing: :wq saves the answer and advances.
• Release-notes sources mirroring gh: write your own, GitHub-generated template, commit-log template, or leave blank.
• Final Publish / Save as draft / Cancel step, plus a prerelease question.
• Fully async (vim.system), no blocking of the editor.

Requirements

• Neovim 0.10+ (needs vim.system; the plugin refuses to load and warns on older versions). Tested in CI on 0.10, 0.11, stable, and nightly.
• The GitHub CLI gh, installed and authenticated: gh auth login
• Run the command from within a GitHub repository

Installation

lazy.nvim

{
  "mesirendon/nvim-ghrelease",
  -- Load at startup so the default keymap (<leader>gr) is registered.
  event = "VeryLazy",
  opts = {}, -- optional; see Configuration
}

setup() (via opts) is what installs the default keymaps, so the plugin must be loaded for them to exist. If you prefer to lazy-load only on the keypress, disable the built-in maps and let lazy own the key:

{
  "mesirendon/nvim-ghrelease",
  opts = { keymaps = false },
  keys = { { "<leader>gr", "<cmd>GhRelease<cr>", desc = "GitHub Release: create" } },
}

packer.nvim

use({
  "mesirendon/nvim-ghrelease",
  config = function()
    require("ghrelease").setup()
  end,
})

vim-plug

Plug 'mesirendon/nvim-ghrelease'
" then, in your Lua config:
lua require('ghrelease').setup()

mini.deps

add({ source = "mesirendon/nvim-ghrelease" })

Calling setup() is optional — the :GhRelease command is available as soon as the plugin is on the runtimepath.

Usage

Run inside a GitHub repository:

:GhRelease

or from Lua:

require("ghrelease").create()

Then follow the steps:

1. Existing releases are shown — press <CR>, q, or <Esc> to continue.
2. Version menu — pick a bump or custom.
3. Tag buffer (pre-filled) — edit, :wq.
4. Title buffer.
5. Notes source — own / generated / commit-log / blank.
6. Notes buffer (pre-filled per source), unless blank.
7. Prerelease? — yes/no.
8. Submit — Publish / Save as draft / Cancel.

In any editing buffer, :wq accepts and continues; :q keeps whatever is shown.

Keymaps

setup() installs one default keymap, sitting in the <leader>g (git) family:

Keys	Mode	Action	Command
<leader>gr	n	GitHub Release: create	:GhRelease

The description shows up in which-key automatically under your git group.

Overriding the defaults

Pass a keymaps table to setup() (or opts in lazy.nvim). Each key is an action name; the value is the normal-mode lhs, or false to skip that action:

require("ghrelease").setup({
  keymaps = {
    create = "<leader>oR", -- remap "create" to <leader>oR
  },
})

Disable a single action:

require("ghrelease").setup({
  keymaps = { create = false },
})

Disable all default keymaps and map it yourself:

require("ghrelease").setup({ keymaps = false })

vim.keymap.set("n", "<leader>R", "<cmd>GhRelease<cr>",
  { desc = "GitHub Release: create", silent = true })

Configuration

Defaults, with overrides passed to setup():

require("ghrelease").setup({
  list_limit   = 30,       -- releases shown in the context view
  default_bump = "patch",  -- highlighted first in the version menu
  tag_prefix   = "v",      -- prefix for the suggested first tag
  first_tag    = "v0.1.0", -- seed tag when the repo has no releases
  win          = "float",  -- editing window style: "float" | "split" | "vsplit"
  height       = 12,       -- editing buffer height / float rows
  keymaps      = {         -- default keymaps; false disables all (see Keymaps)
    create = "<leader>gr",
  },
})

The choice menus use vim.ui.select, so they integrate automatically with dressing.nvim, telescope-ui-select, etc.

Development

Run the pure version-logic tests headlessly:

nvim --headless -l tests/version_spec.lua

License

MIT