Install github-release with Homebrew, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• github-release

Project history

The project repository was created in January 2014, soon after GitHub exposed Releases as an API-backed feature. Its README framed the tool as a friendlier alternative to doing release and artifact work with raw HTTP requests, especially because uploads require resolving release identifiers before attaching files.

The project retained a narrow scope: tags and releases stay in GitHub, while the CLI handles the API calls needed to create release records, edit metadata, upload artifacts, and delete releases. Copyright notices in the README identify Nicolas Hillegeer for the original 2014-2017 period and Meter, Inc. for later maintenance.

Adoption history

github-release became useful in build scripts that produced binaries before GitHub Actions and the GitHub CLI were widely adopted. Its packaging in Homebrew and Nix reflects the role it played for developers who wanted a small standalone executable rather than a larger platform CLI.

The tool's continued packaging gives older CI and release scripts a stable command name. That matters for projects that still publish GitHub Release assets from Makefiles, shell scripts, or external CI systems.

How it is used

Practitioners use github-release by exporting a GitHub token, tagging and pushing a repository, then running subcommands such as `release`, `edit`, `upload`, `delete`, and `info`. The README also documents `GITHUB_API`, which lets the same workflow target a GitHub Enterprise API endpoint.

Why package nerds care

For package maintainers, github-release is notable because it automates the exact step that many package recipes depend on: publishing versioned binary artifacts on GitHub Releases. It is a compact example of a tool whose job is not building software, but making the release surface predictable enough for downstream package managers.

Timeline

• 2014: Repository created for a Go CLI around GitHub Releases.
• 2014: README examples show release creation, editing, artifact upload, deletion, and release inspection.
• 2020: Maintenance copyright notice added for Meter, Inc.
• 2025: v0.11.0 release published on GitHub.

Related projects

• Related tools include GitHub's Releases API, GitHub Enterprise, GitHub CLI, and CI systems that publish build artifacts to GitHub Releases.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/github-release/github-release
• https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/github-release
• https://github.com/github-release/github-release
• https://github.com/github-release/github-release/releases/tag/v0.11.0
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github-release/github-release/master/README.md