A GitHub CLI extension is any GitHub repository named gh-* that publishes a Release with precompiled binaries. This GitHub Action can be used in your extension repository to automate the creation and publishing of those binaries.

Create a workflow file at .github/workflows/release.yml:

name: release

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - "v*"

permissions:
  contents: write

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - uses: cli/gh-extension-precompile@v1
        with:
          go_version: "1.16"

Then, either push a new git tag like v1.0.0 to your repository, or create a new Release and have it initialize the associated git tag.

When the release workflow finishes running, compiled binaries will be uploaded as assets to the v1.0.0 Release and your extension will be installable by users of gh extension install on supported platforms.

You can safely test out release automation by creating tags that have a - in them; for example: v2.0.0-rc.1. Such Releases will be published as prereleases and will not count as a stable release of your extension.

To maximize portability of built products, this action builds Go binaries with cgo disabled. To override that, set the CGO_ENABLED environment variable:

- uses: cli/gh-extension-precompile@v1
  env:
    CGO_ENABLED: 1

If you aren't using Go for your compiled extension, you'll need to provide your own script for compiling your extension:

- uses: cli/gh-extension-precompile@v1
  with:
    build_script_override: "script/build.sh"

The build script will receive the release tag name as the first argument.

This script must produce executables in a dist directory with file names ending with: {os}-{arch}{ext}, where the extension is .exe on Windows and blank on other platforms. For example:

• dist/gh-my-ext_v1.0.0_darwin-amd64
• dist/gh-my-ext_v1.0.0_windows-386.exe

For valid {os}-{arch} combinations, see the output of go tool dist list with the Go version you intend to use for compiling.

Potentially useful environment variables available in your build script:

• GITHUB_REPOSITORY: name of your extension repository in owner/repo format
• GITHUB_TOKEN: auth token with access to GITHUB_REPOSITORY

This action can optionally produce a checksum file for all published executables and sign it with GPG.

To enable this, make sure your repository has the secrets GPG_SECRET_KEY and GPG_PASSPHRASE set. (Tip: you can use gh secret set for this; follow the instructions here to obtain the correct secret values.) Then, configure this action like so:

name: release

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - "v*"

permissions:
  contents: write

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - id: import_gpg
        uses: crazy-max/ghaction-import-gpg@v5
        with:
          gpg_private_key: ${{ secrets.GPG_PRIVATE_KEY }}
          passphrase: ${{ secrets.GPG_PASSPHRASE }}
      - uses: cli/gh-extension-precompile@v1
        with:
          gpg_fingerprint: ${{ steps.import_gpg.outputs.fingerprint }}

• nate smith https://github.com/vilmibm
• the GitHub CLI team https://github.com/cli