require-commits.md

Require Commits

By default, release-it does not check the number of commits upfront. Configure "git.requireCommits": true to exit the release-it process if there are no commits since the latest tag.

Using hooks.before:init as well?

It is a good idea to verify things are working properly (e.g. by running tests) before releasing the project. However, the check enabled by git.requireCommits occurs after hooks.before:init (as the former is part of the Git plugin). In case time-consuming scripts are defined in hooks.before:init and things should be sped up, consider either moving the scripts to hooks.after:init, or adding a custom shell script like this:

{
  "hooks": {
    "before:init": [
      "if [ \"$(git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD)\" = \"\" ]; then exit 1; fi;",
      "npm test"
    ]
  }
}

Or even take it upfront like this:

[ "$(git rev-list $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --count)" = "0" ] || release-it