ipfs-companion

Release Process

Releases are cut by release-please. You do not bump the version or create tags by hand. The only manual work left is uploading the built extension to the Firefox Add-Ons and Chrome Web Store.

Release Process

Cut the release

release-please watches main and keeps an open pull request titled chore: release vX.Y.Z. It bumps the version in package.json and add-on/manifest.common.json and updates CHANGELOG.md from the conventional-commit history.

To ship:

Review the open chore: release ... PR. The version bump and changelog are the review gate, so confirm they look right.
Merge it.

On merge, CI does the rest:

tags vX.Y.Z and publishes the GitHub release with auto-generated notes,
builds the stable Chromium and Firefox bundles and attaches them to that release as ipfs_companion-<version>_chromium.zip and ipfs_companion-<version>_firefox.zip (this takes a few minutes after the release appears).

The zips attached to the release are what you upload to the stores below. To build the same bundles locally (for example, when a store reviewer asks for a reproducible build), run npm run release-build, which builds inside Docker for identical output across platforms.

Manual fallback

If release-please or CI is down and a fix has to ship now, cut the release by hand. The store-publish steps below are the same either way.

Bump the version to the new X.Y.Z in all three files so the next automated run stays in sync:
- package.json
- add-on/manifest.common.json
- .release-please-manifest.json (the baseline release-please reads; skipping it is what breaks the following automated release)
Add the matching CHANGELOG.md entry.
Commit as chore: release vX.Y.Z and get it onto main (a quick PR, or directly if you have push access).

Tag and push the merged commit:

  git tag vX.Y.Z && git push origin vX.Y.Z # keep the 'v' prefix

Build the bundles locally (CI does not build them on a hand-pushed tag):
```
  npm run release-build
```
The build/ directory then holds ipfs_companion-<version>_chromium.zip and ipfs_companion-<version>_firefox.zip.
Create the GitHub release from the vX.Y.Z tag at https://github.com/ipfs/ipfs-companion/releases, fill notes with GitHub’s auto-generated release notes, and attach both zips.

Publish on Chrome Web Store

All Chromium-based browsers support install from Chrome Web Store. Brave, Opera, and Edge do not require an additional publishing step.

IPFS Companion Chrome Webstore: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ipfs-companion/nibjojkomfdiaoajekhjakgkdhaomnch
Publishing requires your Google Account to belong to the IPFS Companion Maintainers Google Group (ask IPFS Stewards to be added).
Go to Developer Dashboard and select publisher in the top right: IPFS Shipyard
You should see IPFS Companion and IPFS Companion (Beta @ xxxxxx). If not, select Items on the left menu.
Select the correct extension you want to publish, usually IPFS Companion.
Select Package on the left menu (Under the Build category).
Upload the ipfs_companion-<version>_chromium.zip attached to the GitHub release.
The new package goes to draft state automatically.
Go to Store listing section from the left sub-menu. (This should happen automatically after uploading a new package).
Click Save Draft and then Submit for Review.
“Review” may take from a few hours to a few days. Google sends no email informing when new version is approved.
Only way to check when it is published is to inspect the version number on the store listing or Dev Dashboard.

Publish on Firefox Add-Ons Store

IPFS Companion Firefox Add-On: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ipfs-companion/
Publishing requires logging into a Developer Account at Firefox Add-Ons site. The account needs to be marked as one of developers of IPFS Companion (ask IPFS Stewards to be added).
Goto Manage My Submissions from the drop-down menu from your username.
Select IPFS Companion item.
On the left menu select Manage Status & Versions
Open the latest one in a new tab because you’ll need this for reference for copying listing details.
Click Upload a New Version.
Select the ipfs_companion-<version>_firefox.zip attached to the GitHub release.
For Compatibility select both :
- Firefox
- Firefox for Android
Optionally quickly check the validation report to see there are no blocking validations.
Click continue.
When asked: Do you need to submit source code select yes
- Go to the GitHub release and download the .zip with Source Code for the release tag.
- Upload it to Mozilla.
In the field asking for release notes just link to the release at Github
Add Instructions/Notes for the reviewer (Warning: if you forget, the release may be rejected during human review):
- Reuse the explanation from the previous release (ask reviewer to run the npm run release-build so they can run the build in a Docker container and get reproducible result across platforms)
The new build is published immediately, but it will be reviewed in a week by a real human (unlike Chrome Web Store), and can be taken down if it doesn’t meet the guidelines around privacy and reproducibility.

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