release-please "no release created" (no conventional commits)

By Daniel Zoghalchali·Latchkey

release-please only opens a release PR when it finds release-worthy Conventional Commits since the last release. Commits like "chore:" or non-conventional messages produce no version bump and no release.

What this error means

release-please runs green but creates no release PR and downstream steps gated on release_created are skipped.

release-please: no user facing commits found since last release
release_created=false
releases_created=false

Common causes

No feat/fix commits

Only chore/docs/style/test commits landed, none of which bump the version under Conventional Commits.

Non-conventional commit messages

Messages without a recognized type prefix are ignored by the parser entirely.

Squash merge rewrote the message

A squash merge replaced conventional messages with a non-conventional PR title.

How to fix it

Land a Conventional Commit and gate downstream on release_created

1. Use feat:, fix:, or feat!: messages (or a release-as footer) to trigger a bump.
2. Gate publish steps on the release_created output so they only run when a release exists.
3. Re-run; release-please opens the release PR.

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - id: rp
        uses: googleapis/release-please-action@v4
      - if: ${{ steps.rp.outputs.release_created == 'true' }}
        run: npm publish

How to prevent it

• Enforce Conventional Commits with a commitlint check on PRs.
• Preserve commit semantics on squash merge by using the conventional PR title.

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

References

• GitHub Actions documentation
• Workflow syntax for GitHub Actions