4 tools to help you version your component library
If you're on my blog, you've probably overheard (or been part of or started) a version of this conversation.
Milo
We're building a component library! It's going to be so great. Your team will be able to use all of the components we build!
Nadia
OK...that sounds great. But how can I be sure your changes won't break my app?
Milo
Um, well we...um...let me get back to you. ** types furiously into Google **
Milo can jump right into googling, but it's not going to be easy for him to find what he's looking for. Googling "how to make sure my changes don't break someone else's app" isn't going to help him out too much, and he'll have to do a lot of auxiliary research to even find out what terms he should be looking for.
There's a lot of jargon out there that can be difficult to sift through, and it's hard for even an experienced dev to know what questions to ask. I compiled this list of tools for you to look into to get you started as you research how to go about versioning your component library so you don't have to do what I did!
1. Semantic versioning
Semantic versioning is a way for you to communicate to your library's consumers that you've released a new version and information about the kind of version you've published. I've written about this in more depth before, but here's the gist:
If you start at version 1.0.0 and you just published a small change like a bugfix or edited the docs, you want to bump the third number and end up with 1.0.1. That's referred to as a PATCH.
If you start at version 1.0.0 and you added a feature that doesn't break the ability of existing library consumers to interact with the library, that's a MINOR change. You'll bump the second number, and end up with 1.1.0.
If you start at version 1.0.0 and change your library's API so that your consumers need to rewrite their code to continue using your library, that's a MAJOR change. You'll need to bump the first number, and you'll end up with 2.0.0.
2. Conventional Commits
Conventional commits is a specification that will help you to automate the versioning process. It's a way to make semantic versioning a bit more human-readable and easier to work with. For example, if you include the words BREAKING CHANGE: in your commit message, your package will be automatically bumped a MAJOR version, or you'll go from 1.0.0 to 2.0.0.
3. Lerna
Lerna is a set of scripts that make it easier to version and publish your libraries that live in monorepos. It contains commands like lerna boostrap, which will link all of the dependencies in your monorepo for you, and lerna publish which will publish your packages to a registry. If it didn't exist, you'd have to write these scripts from scratch, so it's a great timesaver.
Lerna has a flag that will automatically configure conventional commits for you. It'll also auto-generate Changelogs for you
4. @changesets/cli
@changesets/cli is the only tool on the list that I haven't used, but I've heard it mentioned enough times that I think it's worth adding to the list. It's a tool that can help you manage versioning and changelogs in monorepos.