npm Release

Overview

Publish an npm package from this repo with local verification, clean package contents, and npm browser authentication. For Skill Zoo today, the npm package is the CLI package in packages/cli; the workspace root is private and is not the package to publish.

Announce at start: "I'm using the npm-release skill to publish the npm package."

Privacy Guardrails

Do not write private npm account details into repo files, skill files, logs, release notes, or final summaries. This includes npm usernames, email addresses, authentication secrets, browser auth URLs, auth IDs, tokens, local npm debug log paths, and machine-specific temporary directories.

It is fine to state generic facts such as "npm required browser authentication" or "the authenticated owner account was permitted." Do not paste the actual authentication URL into a committed file. If a URL is needed transiently, use it only to complete the live browser flow.

When to Use

Use this skill when:

• The user says "publish npm", "release the npm package", "npm publish", "发 npm", or "发布 npm 包"
• The package is in a workspace and you need to identify the real publishable package
• npm publish fails with duplicate version, npm authentication, owner, tarball, or bin problems
• The user asks whether a package is ready for npm publication
• A release bump needs to update package metadata and lockfile state consistently

Do not use this skill for:

• Desktop app GitHub Releases or Homebrew cask releases; use app-release
• Tauri updater implementation; use tauri-updater
• Publishing a package you have not locally verified

Package Target

For this repo, start with the CLI package:

cd packages/cli

Confirm the root package is not the target:

node -e "console.log(require('./package.json').private)"
node -e "const p=require('./packages/cli/package.json'); console.log(p.name, p.version, p.bin)"

If the target changes in the future, publish from the directory whose package.json has the public npm name, bin, files, scripts.prepack, and production dependencies.

Preflight

Check the repo instructions and current working tree first:

test -f CLAUDE.md && sed -n '1,220p' CLAUDE.md
test -f AGENTS.md && sed -n '1,220p' AGENTS.md
git status --short

Do not revert or overwrite unrelated changes. If publish-relevant files already have user edits, inspect them and work with the current state.

Check npm registry state before changing versions:

cd packages/cli
npm view skill-zoo version dist-tags --json
npm view skill-zoo versions --json
npm whoami
npm owner ls skill-zoo

If the local version already exists on npm, explain that npm versions are immutable and ask the user which new version to publish before changing files. Do not choose or apply the release version silently.

Version Bump

For the Skill Zoo CLI package, update:

• packages/cli/package.json
• bun.lock workspace entry for packages/cli

Ask the user to confirm the exact version before editing release files. If they ask for a recommendation, propose the smallest sensible semver bump and explain why, then wait for confirmation before applying it.

After bumping, search for hardcoded old versions that should follow the package version:

OLD_VERSION=<previous-version>
rg "\"version\": \"${OLD_VERSION}\"|skill-zoo-cli@${OLD_VERSION}|skill-zoo@${OLD_VERSION}" packages/cli bun.lock

Tests should generally depend on CLI_VERSION rather than hardcoding a release version. This prevents a release bump from breaking tests only because an expected metadata string changed.

Required Verification

Run these from packages/cli after any version or release-related change:

npm run typecheck
npm test
npm run build
npm publish --dry-run

The dry-run must show the expected version and tarball contents. For this CLI, expected package contents are small and should normally be:

README.md
dist/index.d.ts
dist/index.js
package.json
wui/app.js
wui/index.html
wui/styles.css

If extra source, test, repo, log, or private files appear, fix the files whitelist or ignore rules before publishing.

CLI Package Checks

Before publishing a CLI package, verify the executable path matches bin and can start from the built artifact:

cd ../..
sed -n '1,20p' packages/cli/src/index.ts
sed -n '1,20p' packages/cli/dist/index.js
ls -l packages/cli/dist/index.js packages/cli/dist/index.d.ts
node packages/cli/dist/index.js --version
node packages/cli/dist/index.js --help | sed -n '1,120p'

For higher confidence, install the actual tarball in a temporary project and run both binary names:

cd packages/cli
tmp="$(mktemp -d)"
npm pack --pack-destination "$tmp"
mkdir "$tmp/install"
cd "$tmp/install"
npm init -y >/dev/null
npm install "$tmp"/skill-zoo-*.tgz
./node_modules/.bin/skill-zoo --version
./node_modules/.bin/szoo --help | sed -n '1,40p'

Do not commit generated tarballs or temporary install directories.

Publishing

Publish only after typecheck, tests, build, and npm publish --dry-run pass. Before the real npm publish, summarize the package name, version, dist tag, and tarball contents, then ask the user for explicit confirmation.

Working directory does not persist between tool calls. Always include cd <path> in the command itself — never assume a previous cd still applies. When publishing from a workspace sub-package, use an absolute cd prefix:

cd /path/to/repo/packages/cli && npm publish --auth-type=web

Preferred command after user confirmation:

cd packages/cli
npm publish --auth-type=web

Non-TTY browser authentication

In agent environments (Claude Code, Cowork, CI), npm detects non-interactive terminals and redacts browser auth URLs as ***. This blocks you from opening the link for the user. To get the real URL, wrap the command with script -q /dev/null to simulate a TTY:

script -q /dev/null npm publish --auth-type=web 2>&1 &
sleep 8
# grep the real URL from output, then:
open "https://www.npmjs.com/auth/cli/<id>"

The script wrapper causes npm to print the full https://www.npmjs.com/auth/cli/<id> URL instead of ***. Extract it, open it in the user's browser, and keep the background process alive while they authenticate.

The same script -q /dev/null trick works for npm login --auth-type=web if the initial login also needs browser auth.

Success looks like:

+ skill-zoo@X.Y.Z

Post-Publish Verification

Registry reads can briefly lag after publish. Verify both the specific version and the dist tag:

npm view skill-zoo@X.Y.Z version dist.tarball time --json
npm dist-tag ls skill-zoo
npm view skill-zoo versions --json

Treat npm dist-tag ls as the clearer signal for latest when npm view skill-zoo version appears stale immediately after publication.

The final user summary should include:

• Published package and version
• Verification commands that passed
• Registry confirmation, including latest if applicable
• Local files changed and still uncommitted

Do not include private account identifiers, browser auth URLs, npm auth IDs, authentication secrets, debug log paths, or temporary directory paths in the final summary.

Failure Handling

Failure	Cause	Response
You cannot publish over the previously published versions	Local version already exists on npm	Ask the user to confirm the new version, then bump packages/cli/package.json, sync lockfile, and rerun checks
npm asks for additional authentication	npm account requires an interactive verification step	Retry with npm publish --auth-type=web in a TTY and use browser auth
Browser auth URL is ***	npm redacted URL in non-TTY output	Wrap with script -q /dev/null npm publish --auth-type=web 2>&1 &, extract the real URL from output, then open it
Tests fail after version bump	Hardcoded expected version	Prefer asserting against CLI_VERSION
Dry-run includes unexpected files	Bad files whitelist or generated artifacts	Fix package manifest before publishing
Bin command fails after tarball install	bin path, shebang, executable bit, or bundle issue	Fix before publishing and rerun tarball install check
latest appears stale after success	Registry/cache delay	Query npm dist-tag ls and the exact name@version

Command Sequence

Use this as the default release skeleton for skill-zoo CLI:

cd /path/to/repo
git status --short
npm view skill-zoo version dist-tags --json

# ask the user to confirm the exact version, then bump packages/cli/package.json and bun.lock if needed

cd /path/to/repo/packages/cli
npm run typecheck
npm test
npm run build
npm publish --dry-run

# summarize dry-run results and ask the user to confirm the real publish
# in non-TTY (agent) environments, use script wrapper to get real auth URL:
script -q /dev/null npm publish --auth-type=web 2>&1 &
# extract URL, open in browser, wait for user to authenticate

npm view skill-zoo@X.Y.Z version dist.tarball time --json
npm dist-tag ls skill-zoo
npm view skill-zoo versions --json

Keep the package release commit separate from unrelated feature work when possible. If the user's working tree already contains feature changes intended for the release, report them clearly instead of hiding them inside the release summary.