Release and publish a new Ruby SDK version automatically: a step-by-step guide

1. Set up a GitHub Action to release a new SDK version.
2. Publish a new SDK version:
   • Create a RubyGems account.
   • Create a RubyGems API key and store it securely in GitHub.
   • Set up a GitHub workflow that auto-publishes each new SDK version.

1. In your GitHub repository, go to Settings > Actions > General and check the option "Allow GitHub Actions to create and approve pull requests".

1. In the root folder of your project, create a directory .github/workflows/. This is where GitHub Action configuration files belong.
2. In this directory, create a new YAML file. Name it release-please.yml.
3. Copy the following code into your configuration file:

# This workflow opens and updates a pull request with a new package version
# based on code changes.

# The pull request updates the version in version.rb, updates the changelog
# and creates release tags.

# https://github.com/marketplace/actions/release-please-action

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

permissions:
  contents: write
  pull-requests: write

name: release-please

jobs:
  release-please:
    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04
    steps:
      - uses: google-github-actions/release-please-action@v3.7.10
        with:
          release-type: ruby
          package-name: release-please-action
          version-file: "lib/your_gem_name/version.rb"
          pull-request-title-pattern: "chore(release): ${version}"
          pull-request-header: ":robot: Merge this PR to release a new version"

1. If you have released the SDK before, make sure the commit with the latest release has a version tag attached (in the format "v2.1.1") and that you have pushed the tag to GitHub. release-please reads this tag to work out the next version number. Without such a tag, it suggests "v1.0.0" as the next version.

2. Commit these changes and push them to GitHub. The workflow is now set up. The next time someone adds something releasable with a conventional commit message (a fix: or feat: prefix), release-please opens a pull request. As you add more code, it updates the pull request automatically. When you are ready to ship a new version of your SDK, merge the pull request. The version is released and the updated SDK is published to RubyGems.

1. Before you publish your SDK for the first time, create a RubyGems account here.
2. Go to Settings > API keys and enter your password when prompted. Click "New API key". Choose a name for the key, make sure the "Push rubygem" scope is selected, and create the key.
3. Copy the API key.
4. Open your project on GitHub. Go to Settings > Security > Secrets and Variables > Actions and click "New repository secret".
5. Enter RUBYGEMS_API_KEY in the Name field.
6. Enter the API key from Step 3 in the Secret field. Click "Add secret" to confirm.

1. In your project, go to the folder .github/workflows (create it if it does not exist yet) and create a new YAML file. Name it for example rubygems-publish.yml.
2. Copy the following code into your configuration file:

# This workflow will publish a gem to rubygems.org when a release is created

name: Publish Gem

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - master

jobs:
  publish:
    if: contains(github.event.head_commit.message, 'chore(release)')
    runs-on: ubuntu-22.04

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3.5.3
      - uses: ruby/setup-ruby@v1
        with:
          ruby-version: "2.7"
      - run: gem build
      # add RubyGems API key into the credentials file and update permissions
      - run: |
          cat << EOF > ~/.gem/credentials
          ---
          :rubygems_api_key: ${RUBYGEMS_API_KEY}
          EOF
          chmod 0600 ~/.gem/credentials
        env:
          RUBYGEMS_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.RUBYGEMS_API_KEY }}
      - run: gem push *.gem

1. Commit this new file to your project's main branch and push the changes to the GitHub origin repository.

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