Nightly Builds

Automated rolling nightly releases

Nightly builds create date-stamped versions and maintain a rolling nightly release on GitHub.

Usage

anodizer release --nightly

Behavior

Version is rendered from nightly.version_template. The default ({{ incpatch(v=Version) }}-{{ ShortCommit }}-nightly) bumps the patch of the current tag and appends the short commit — e.g. tag v0.13.0 → 0.13.1-a1b2c3d-nightly — so two same-day commits yield two distinct, commit-immutable nightly versions.
Creates or replaces the nightly tag and GitHub release
All normal pipeline stages run (build, archive, checksum, release, publish)
Distinct from --snapshot — nightlies publish, snapshots don't
--nightly does not skip the env-preflight check. Preflight still runs as the first step unless you pass --no-preflight (or use --snapshot / --dry-run / --split / --publish-only, which skip it implicitly). The dogfood nightly below pairs --no-preflight with the action's auto-install so the toolchain is provisioned from anodizer tools rather than gated by a second credential check at release time.

Config

nightly:
  version_template: "{{ Base }}-nightly.{{ NightlyBuild }}+{{ ShortCommit }}"
  name_template: "{{ Version }}-nightly.{{ Now | date(format='%Y%m%d') }}"
  tag_name: nightly
  publish_release: true       # default true — create a GitHub Release for each nightly run
  publish_repo: nushell/nightly  # optional — publish to a DIFFERENT repo than the source
  retention:
    keep_last: 10             # keep the 10 newest nightly releases, delete the rest (+ tags)
  draft: false                # optional — override release.draft for nightly runs only

Field	Type	Default	Description
`nightly.tag_name`	`string`	`"nightly"`	Name of the rolling git tag created for nightly releases (moved on each run rather than accumulating semver tags).
`nightly.name_template`	`string`	`"{{ ProjectName }}-nightly"`	Template for the nightly release name. Distinct from `version_template`, which renders the version string.
`nightly.version_template`	`string`	`"{{ incpatch(v=Version) }}-{{ ShortCommit }}-nightly"`	Template for the rendered nightly version. May reference `{{ NightlyBuild }}` and `{{ Base }}` (see below).
`nightly.publish_release`	`bool`	`true`	Whether to create a GitHub Release at all. Set `false` to build and publish packages without creating a release entry.
`nightly.publish_repo`	`string`	(source repo)	Publish the nightly release to a different `"owner/repo"` than the one resolved from `release.github` (e.g. a dedicated `org/nightly` repo). The release create, asset upload, and retention deletes all target this repo. The active token must have write access to it. GitHub-only.
`nightly.retention.keep_last`	`int`	(none)	Keep the N newest nightly releases (matched by the rendered nightly release name) and delete the older ones, including the git tags anodizer created for them. Operates on `publish_repo` when set.
`nightly.keep_single_release`	`bool`	`false`	Back-compat alias for `retention: { keep_last: 1 }` (a single rolling nightly release). When both are set, `retention` wins.
`nightly.draft`	`bool`	(inherits `release.draft`)	Override the draft flag for nightly runs only.

Build-counter and base-version template vars

Two template vars support nushell-style nightly versioning (<base>-nightly.<build>+<sha6>):

Var	Source	Resets when
`{{ Base }}`	The numeric base semver (no prerelease / build metadata), captured before nightly templating overwrites `Version`.	Never within a tag; reflects the current tag's `MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH`.
`{{ NightlyBuild }}`	Stateless per-base build counter — `git rev-list --count <last-tag>..HEAD`.	A new version tag lands (the count returns to a small number automatically — no state anodizer persists).

# nushell-style: 0.103.0-nightly.42+a1b2c3
nightly:
  version_template: "{{ Base }}-nightly.{{ NightlyBuild }}+{{ ShortCommit }}"
  publish_repo: myorg/nightly
  retention:
    keep_last: 10

nightly.publish_repo and nightly.retention are configured at the top level (nightly:); they apply across all crates in a workspace. The {{ NightlyBuild }} counter is global (derived from the repo's git history), so it is identical for every crate in a lockstep or per-crate workspace release.

Publisher skip behavior

Some publishers opt out of nightly runs automatically to avoid polluting stable package manager indexes with date-stamped pre-release versions.

Publishers that skip on nightly by default:

homebrew, homebrew_casks — formula/cask updates for nightlies break brew upgrade for stable users
scoop — bucket manifests for nightlies shadow the stable manifest
aur, aur_source — AUR packages are expected to be stable releases
krew — kubectl plugin index is semver-gated
nix — nixpkgs and tap entries track stable releases
cargo — crates.io does not allow pre-release overwrites
npm — npm does not allow re-publishing the same version
chocolatey — community gallery is moderation-gated
winget — PR-based; nightly versions are rejected by automated review

Publishers that do not skip on nightly (they accept clobber):

dockerhub, dockers_v2 — image tags like nightly or edge are conventional
cloudsmith, artifactory — private registries; republish is explicit via republish: true
blob — object storage; nightly assets overwrite by key
mcp — registry entry is idempotent

To override skip behavior for a specific publisher, set skips_on_nightly: false in that publisher's config block.

CI integration

Run nightly builds on a schedule:

# GitHub Actions
on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 2 * * *"    # 2 AM UTC daily
  workflow_dispatch: {}    # also allow on-demand nightly runs

permissions:
  contents: write          # create/replace the rolling `nightly` release + tag
  id-token: write          # keyless cosign signing via Fulcio/OIDC
  attestations: write      # mint SLSA build provenance

jobs:
  nightly:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - uses: tj-smith47/anodizer-action@v1
        with:
          install-rust: true
          # auto-install queries `anodizer tools` for the exact toolchain this
          # config needs and installs it — including the cross-compile tools
          # (cargo-zigbuild + zig, or `cross`) resolved from each build's
          # target and `cross:` strategy. No need to hand-list them.
          auto-install: true
          args: release --nightly
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

anodizer dogfoods this on its own repo with a scheduled nightly.yml (from-branch: master, daily 0 4 * * * cron plus on-demand workflow_dispatch), the same full scheduled form cfgd runs.