NPM Monorepo Publish

Streamlined npm publishing for Lerna monorepos with automated validation, OTP handling, and verification.

When to Use

Trigger this skill when user requests:

• "Publish to npm"
• "Release a new version"
• "Deploy the package"
• "Publish updated packages"
• "Push to npm registry"
• "Create a release"

Requirements: Lerna monorepo, npm authentication with 2FA enabled

Publishing Workflow

Option 1: Automated (Recommended)

Use the interactive publisher script for guided publishing with automatic validation and OTP retry logic:

# Preview changes (dry-run)
python3 scripts/publish-interactive.py --dry-run

# Publish with release branch workflow (default in v0.3.0+)
python3 scripts/publish-interactive.py

# Publish without release branch (direct publish)
python3 scripts/publish-interactive.py --no-release-branch

The script automatically handles pre-flight checks, git state validation, release branch creation, dry-run preview, OTP prompts with validation, merge back to main, and post-publish verification.

What's New in v0.3.0:

• Release branch workflow enabled by default
• Creates isolated release branches (release/v0.6.2)
• Publishes from release branch
• Automatically merges back to main/master with merge commit (--no-ff)
• Preserves remote release branches for historical reference
• Use --no-release-branch flag to opt-out and use v0.2.0 direct-publish behavior

Option 2: Manual Steps

For manual control, execute each step individually:

Step 1: Pre-flight validation

bash scripts/pre-flight-check.sh

Validates npm authentication, Lerna configuration, build success, and lint passing.

Step 2: Dry-run preview

lerna publish --no-git-tag-version --no-push --yes

Shows what will be published without making changes. Review output carefully.

Step 3: Publish with OTP

lerna publish --otp <6-digit-code>

Executes actual publish with your authenticator app OTP code.

Step 4: Verify

npm view @scope/package version
npm view @scope/package time

Confirms package is live on npm registry with correct version.

Error Handling

OTP expired/invalid:

• Re-run with fresh OTP code (expires in ~30 seconds)
• Interactive script retries automatically (3 attempts)

Build/lint failures:

• Fix errors shown in output
• Re-run pre-flight checks after fixes

Network errors:

• Check internet connection
• Verify npm registry accessible
• Do NOT retry automatically (may cause duplicate publish)

Permission errors:

npm access ls-packages  # Verify publish permissions

For comprehensive troubleshooting: See references/troubleshooting.md

Release Branch Workflow

Enabled by default in v0.3.0+

The skill implements a release branch workflow for better git history tracking and safer publishing:

How It Works

1. Git state validation - Checks clean working directory, verifies not on release branch, warns if out of sync
2. Release branch creation - Creates release/v{version} branch (single package) or release/multi-{timestamp} (multiple packages)
3. Publish from release branch - Lerna creates git tags on the release branch
4. Merge back to main - Merges release branch to main/master with merge commit (--no-ff)
5. Preserve release branches - Remote release branches kept for historical reference

Branch Naming

• Single package: release/v0.6.2, release/v1.0.0, release/v2.1.3-beta.0
• Multi-package: release/multi-20260106-143052 (timestamp format: YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS)

Opt-Out

To use the v0.2.0 direct-publish workflow (publish from current branch without creating release branch):

python3 scripts/publish-interactive.py --no-release-branch

Recovery Scenarios

If merge fails after successful publish:

1. ✅ Packages are already on npm (successful)
2. ✅ Git tags exist on release branch
3. ⚠️ Release branch is preserved for manual intervention
4. Follow on-screen instructions to complete the merge manually

Configuration

Standard Lerna configuration with independent versioning and conventional commits:

{
  "version": "independent",
  "conventionalCommits": true
}

Conventional commit version mapping:

• feat: → minor bump (0.6.1 → 0.7.0)
• fix: → patch bump (0.6.1 → 0.6.2)
• BREAKING CHANGE: → major bump (0.6.1 → 1.0.0)

For detailed configuration: See references/lerna-config.md

Resources

Load these references as needed for detailed guidance:

• references/troubleshooting.md - Comprehensive error solutions (OTP, auth, network, build, version issues)
• references/lerna-config.md - Configuration options (independent versioning, GitHub releases, publishConfig)
• references/technical-reference.md - Technical specs, best practices, debugging commands
• references/workflow-examples.md - 10 detailed workflow scenarios (standard, multi-package, canary, private registry)
• scripts/pre-flight-check.sh - Automated validation script
• scripts/publish-interactive.py - Guided publishing with OTP handling