releaser/CLAUDE.md

CLAUDE.md — project guidelines for releaser

Overview

releaser is a single-binary Go tool for GitFlow-based release automation. It targets Conventional Commits, versioned release branches (release/X.Y), and GitLab / GitHub release creation.

Architecture

cmd/main.go          — CLI entrypoint (cobra), run() pipeline, verbose output
internal/branch/     — branch name parser → major/minor
internal/changelog/  — CHANGELOG.md writer
internal/commits/    — Conventional Commits parser (non-strict)
internal/config/     — .releaser.yml loader + env var overlay + source tracking
internal/ghclient/   — minimal GitHub Releases API client
internal/gitutil/    — go-git helpers: tag discovery, commit walker, push
internal/glclient/   — minimal GitLab Releases API client
internal/maven/      — pom.xml version reader/writer
internal/node/       — package.json version reader/writer
internal/notes/      — release notes body generator
internal/version/    — semver next-version calculator

Code conventions

• No third-party test frameworks — stdlib testing only.
• No interfaces for mocking — inject function variables (var absPath = filepath.Abs) to test error paths.
• No comments explaining what — only comments explaining why (hidden constraints, invariants, non-obvious workarounds).
• No error handling for impossible paths — trust internal invariants; only validate at system boundaries.
• No abstractions ahead of need — three similar lines beats a premature helper.

Test coverage

100% per-package statement coverage is required across all packages. Run:

go test ./... -cover

Every package must show coverage: 100.0% of statements.

Strategies used in this project:

• Error path injection: override var absPath, var gitAllCommits, etc. to return injected errors.
• Filesystem tricks: os.Mkdir where a file is expected (invisible to go-git dirty check; fails os.WriteFile/os.ReadFile); os.Chmod(..., 0444) to make files read-only.
• Null byte paths: "path\x00name" causes os.Stat to return EINVAL (not ErrNotExist), useful for testing stat-error paths that differ from file-not-found.
• In-memory git repos: use go-git PlainInit + local bare remote for push tests.
• Direct function calls: call unexported helpers (e.g. printVerboseConfig) directly with crafted inputs to cover branches that are dead via normal CLI flow.

Fuzzing

Every package that parses free-form text or reads/writes arbitrary file content must have at least one fuzz test. Run the full seed corpus with:

go test -run='^Fuzz' ./...

All seed cases must pass. The table below is authoritative — keep it in sync when adding packages or parsers:

Package	Fuzz target(s)	Why
internal/branch	FuzzParse	parses branch name strings
internal/changelog	FuzzUpdate	rewrites arbitrary existing file content
internal/commits	FuzzParse	parses arbitrary commit message strings
internal/gradle	FuzzReadVersion, FuzzWriteVersion	reads/rewrites arbitrary Gradle build file content
internal/pyproject	FuzzReadVersion, FuzzWriteVersion	reads/rewrites arbitrary pyproject.toml content
internal/glclient	FuzzEncodeProjectPath	encodes arbitrary project path strings
internal/maven	FuzzReadVersion, FuzzReplaceProjectVersion	reads/rewrites arbitrary XML file content
internal/node	FuzzReadVersion, FuzzWriteVersion	reads/rewrites arbitrary JSON file content
internal/notes	FuzzGenerate	generates notes from arbitrary commit messages

Packages not requiring fuzz tests (no free-form text parsing): internal/config (yaml.v3 handles parsing), internal/ghclient (HTTP client, no text parsing), internal/gitutil (git operations), internal/version (typed inputs only), cmd (CLI orchestration). When adding a new package, check whether it parses text or rewrites files — if yes, add a row above.

Fuzz seed corpus guidelines:

• Include a realistic happy-path input as the first seed.
• Include empty string, binary/non-UTF-8 bytes ("\x00\xff"), and inputs that stress known branches (e.g. existing ## [version] heading for changelog).
• The fuzz body must never assert on return values — only verify no panic.

Dependency rules

• No new external dependencies unless absolutely necessary. The project deliberately avoids pulling in large ecosystems.
• go-git (github.com/go-git/go-git/v5) for all git operations.
• cobra for CLI parsing.
• gopkg.in/yaml.v3 for config.

Config design

• New config fields go in the appropriate *Config struct in internal/config/config.go.
• defaultSources() must be updated to include every new key.
• LoadWithSources overlay detection must cover every new field.
• printVerboseConfig in cmd/main.go must show every new config value.

Multi-value config pattern

When a config supports both a single value and multiple values (like pom_path / pom_paths):

• Single field: PomPath string
• Multi field: PomPaths []string
• EffectivePomPaths() method: PomPaths wins if non-empty, else PomPath if set, else default.
• --pom CLI flag clears PomPaths and sets PomPath only.