Auto Version Bump Action

Reusable GitHub Action that bumps a simple SemVer version, commits the change to a bump branch, pushes it, and opens a draft pull request.

It is designed for release-preparation workflows where a maintainer reviews and merges the version bump before a separate release workflow creates tags, GitHub Releases, or publishes artifacts.

Quick start

Use this action after actions/checkout and give the workflow permission to push a branch and open a pull request.

name: Bump Version

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      bump:
        type: choice
        required: true
        options: [patch, minor, major]

permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write

jobs:
  bump:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - uses: jfrz38/auto-version-bump-action@v0
        with:
          bump: ${{ inputs.bump }}
          strategy: npm
          version-file: package.json

This creates or reuses a branch such as chore/bump-version-1.2.4, commits the version change, and opens a draft pull request.

What it does

• Reads the current version from a supported project file.
• Validates simple SemVer: MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.
• Calculates a patch, minor, or major bump.
• Updates the version file.
• Fails if the target tag or GitHub Release already exists, unless disabled.
• Creates and pushes chore/bump-version-{next-version} by default.
• Opens a GitHub pull request, draft by default.
• Reuses an existing open PR for the same branch/base instead of creating a duplicate.

What it does not do

• It does not create a git tag.
• It does not create a GitHub Release.
• It does not publish packages or artifacts.
• It does not merge the pull request.

Inputs

Input	Required	Default	Description
bump	Yes		Version component to bump: patch, minor, or major.
strategy	Yes		Version file strategy: gradle-kts, npm, or regex.
version-file	Yes		Path to the file that contains the version.
version-pattern	For regex		Regex with exactly one capture group containing the current version.
version-replacement	For regex		Replacement template. Use {version} for the next version.
base-branch	No	current/default branch	Base branch for the pull request.
branch-prefix	No	chore/bump-version-	Prefix for the bump branch.
tag-prefix	No	v	Prefix used for tag/release existence checks.
draft	No	true	Whether to create the pull request as a draft.
github-token	No	${{ github.token }}	Token used for checks and PR creation.
overwrite-existing-branch	No	false	Overwrite an existing bump branch when no open pull request is found for it.
commit-message	No	Bump version to {version}	Commit message template.
pr-title	No	Bump version to {version}	Pull request title template.
pr-body	No	Bumps version from {current-version} to {next-version} using a {bump} release bump.	Pull request body template.
fail-if-tag-exists	No	true	Fail if ${tag-prefix}${next-version} already exists as a tag.
fail-if-release-exists	No	true	Fail if a GitHub Release already exists for the tag.

Template inputs support:

• {version} and {next-version}
• {current-version}
• {bump}

If a bump branch already exists but there is no open pull request for it, the action fails by default so it does not overwrite remote work accidentally. Set overwrite-existing-branch: true to replace that generated bump branch using git push --force-with-lease.

Outputs

Output	Description
current-version	Version read before applying the bump.
next-version	Version written by the action.
tag	Tag name associated with the next version.
branch	Branch pushed by the action.
pr-url	Created or reused pull request URL.
changed-files	Newline-separated list of files changed by the bump.

Permissions

The workflow using this action needs:

permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write

Repository setting required: in Settings > Actions > General, enable Allow GitHub Actions to create and approve pull requests. Without this setting, the action can push the bump branch but cannot open the pull request.

Use actions/checkout with the target base branch and fetch-depth: 0.

npm

For package.json, the action reads and updates the version field.

Without a package-lock.json, it writes the next version directly to package.json.

If a same-directory package-lock.json exists, the action runs:

npm version <next-version> --no-git-tag-version --allow-same-version

Example:

- uses: actions/checkout@v4
  with:
    ref: ${{ inputs.base_branch }}
    fetch-depth: 0

- id: bump
  uses: jfrz38/auto-version-bump-action@v0
  with:
    bump: ${{ inputs.bump }}
    base-branch: ${{ inputs.base_branch }}
    strategy: npm
    version-file: package.json

Gradle Kotlin DSL

For gradle-kts, the action updates exactly one Kotlin DSL version assignment in the configured file:

version = "0.1.2"

It fails if no matching assignment exists or if the file contains multiple matching version assignments.

Workflow:

name: Bump Version

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      bump:
        type: choice
        required: true
        options: [patch, minor, major]
      base_branch:
        type: choice
        required: true
        default: develop
        options: [develop, main]

permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write

jobs:
  bump:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          ref: ${{ inputs.base_branch }}
          fetch-depth: 0

      - id: bump
        uses: jfrz38/auto-version-bump-action@v0
        with:
          bump: ${{ inputs.bump }}
          base-branch: ${{ inputs.base_branch }}
          strategy: gradle-kts
          version-file: mockguard/build.gradle.kts

Regex

Use regex for files that are not covered by a built-in strategy.

version-pattern must match the text to replace and include exactly one capture group containing the current version. version-replacement replaces the whole match; put {version} where the next version should be written.

Example file:

releaseVersion=1.2.3

Example workflow step:

- id: bump
  uses: jfrz38/auto-version-bump-action@v0
  with:
    bump: minor
    strategy: regex
    version-file: VERSION.txt
    version-pattern: 'releaseVersion=(\d+\.\d+\.\d+)'
    version-replacement: 'releaseVersion={version}'

For example, to update a Rust Cargo.toml package version:

[package]
name = "demo"
version = "1.2.3"

- id: bump
  uses: jfrz38/auto-version-bump-action@v0
  with:
    bump: patch
    strategy: regex
    version-file: Cargo.toml
    version-pattern: '^version\s*=\s*"(\d+\.\d+\.\d+)"'
    version-replacement: 'version = "{version}"'

Release flow

This action intentionally stops at the pull request. A separate workflow can create the tag and GitHub Release after the bump PR is merged into the release branch.

That keeps the release boundary explicit:

1. Run this action manually.
2. Review and merge the bump PR.
3. Let a release workflow create v{version} from the merged branch.