feat(preview releases): release the branch to be previewed instead of…

… main and clean up docs a bit (#3040)

.github/workflows/preview-release.yml

@@ -86,19 +86,20 @@ jobs:
         env:
           CI: true
 
-      - name: Storing release version for changeset
-        id: release_version
-        run: echo "VALUE=$(./scripts/print_release_version.sh)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-        shell: bash
+      # Publish preview releases only if the branch starts with "preview/" and the pr comment contains "[preview_deployment]"
+      - name: Publishing preview releases to npm registry
+        run: |
+          PREVIEW_TAG=$(echo "$BRANCH_NAME" | sed -e 's/^preview\///')
+          pnpm changeset version --snapshot ${PREVIEW_TAG}
+          pnpm changeset publish --tag ${PREVIEW_TAG}
         env:
           GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ steps.generate_github_token.outputs.token }}
+          BRANCH_NAME: ${{ steps.comment-branch.outputs.head_ref }}
 
-      # Publish preview releases only if the branch starts with "preview/" and the pr comment contains "[preview_deployment]"
-      - name: Publishing preview releases to npm registry
+      - name: Post workflow result on PR as a comment
+        if: always()
         run: |
-          BRANCH_NAME=$(echo "${GITHUB_REF#refs/heads/}" | tr '/' '-')
-          git checkout ${{ github.head_ref }}
-          yarn changeset version --snapshot ${BRANCH_NAME}
-          yarn changeset publish --tag ${BRANCH_NAME}
+          gh issue comment ${{ github.event.issue.number }} \
+           --body "Release workflow ${{ job.status == 'success' && 'succeeded ✅' || 'failed ❌' }}\nSee details: [Workflow Run](${{ github.server_url }}/${{ github.repository }}/actions/runs/${{ github.run_id }})"
         env:
-          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ steps.generate_github_token.outputs.token }}
+          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -153,12 +153,13 @@ Canary releases are useful to test early changes that should not be released yet
 
 ### Branch-specific preview release
 
-To release a preview release for a specific branch other than the `main` branch, follow these steps:
-
-1. Create a PR in github with a branch name that starts with the prefix `preview/`  example: `preview/my-branch`
-2. Make sure that the branch includes a changeset for the packages you want to publish.
-3. Add a comment to the github PR that includes the string `[preview_deployment]`.
-4. The preview release action will add a comment to the PR on success.
-5. The release will be available on npm under an npm tag that is the branch name without `preview/`. If you are releasing `@commercetools-uikit/utils` from the `preview/my-branch`, the preview can be installed as `@commercetools-uikit/utils@my-branch`.
+To release a preview npm package for a specific branch other than the `main` branch, follow these steps:
+
+1. Create a branch whose name starts with the prefix `preview/`  example: `preview/my-branch`
+2. Create a PR for the branch in github.
+3. Make sure that the branch includes a changeset for the packages you want to publish.
+4. Add a comment to the github PR that starts with the string `[preview_deployment]`.
+5. The preview release action will add a comment to the PR on success.
+6. The release will be available on npm under an npm tag that is the branch name without `preview/`. e.g. if you are releasing `@commercetools-uikit/utils` from `preview/my-branch`, the preview can be installed as `@commercetools-uikit/utils@my-branch`.
 
 Note that canary releases **will not create git tags and version bump commits**.