From GoReleaser

Migrate from GoReleaser to anodizer

If you're coming from GoReleaser, anodizer will feel familiar. The config structure, CLI verbs, and template vocabulary are intentionally similar.

What you gain

GoReleaser builds Rust binaries, but anodizer is Rust-first — it understands the Cargo ecosystem your release lives in:

• Cargo workspaces as a first-class unit: per-crate release cadences, per-crate tags, a tag resolver, and cross-crate version syncing.
• Cargo.toml / Cargo.lock-aware version bumps (anodizer tag / bump) that commit, tag, and push the bump atomically.
• crates.io publishing with dependency-aware ordering and sparse-index polling.
• A determinism harness that rebuilds and byte-compares artifacts to prove reproducibility.
• Zero-config Rust cross-compilation via cargo-zigbuild / cross.

Everything else maps over directly — the table below is the field-by-field translation.

Config mapping

Template syntax

Both GoReleaser and anodizer template styles work:

# GoReleaser style (works in anodizer):
name_template: "{{ .ProjectName }}-{{ .Version }}-{{ .Os }}-{{ .Arch }}"

# Native Tera style:
name_template: "{{ ProjectName }}-{{ Version }}-{{ Os }}-{{ Arch }}"

Key differences

1. Crate-centric config: In GoReleaser, builds/archives/releases are top-level arrays. In anodizer, they're nested under crates[] to support workspace-based releases.

2. Cross-compilation: GoReleaser uses GOOS/GOARCH. Anodizer uses Rust target triples (x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu) with auto-detected cross-compilation strategy.

3. Template engine: GoReleaser uses Go templates. Anodizer uses Tera (Jinja2-like). The GoReleaser {{ .Field }} syntax is supported for compatibility, but Tera's native syntax offers more features (pipes, filters, loops).

4. Package manager names: brews → homebrew_casks: (top-level array — Formula is deprecated upstream as of GoReleaser v2.16, see brews → homebrew_casks below), scoop → publish.scoop. MCP keeps the same top-level mcp: key — see MCP registry for the nested mcp.github: collapse.

5. Tag sorting: Anodizer adds a smartsemver mode for git.tag_sort that automatically filters prerelease tags when computing the previous tag for changelogs. This prevents the empty-changelog problem that occurs when shipping v1.0.0 after v1.0.0-rc.1 — GoReleaser would see v1.0.0-rc.1 as the previous tag and produce an empty diff. Set git.tag_sort: smartsemver to opt in.

Migration steps

1. Install anodizer: cargo install anodizer
2. Run anodizer init to generate a starter config from your Cargo.toml
3. Copy relevant settings from your .goreleaser.yaml into .anodizer.yaml, adjusting for the nested crate structure
4. Run anodizer check to validate
5. Run anodizer release --dry-run to verify the pipeline
6. Replace the goreleaser/goreleaser-action step in CI with tj-smith47/anodizer-action

CI workflow replacement

Where a GoReleaser workflow looks like:

- uses: goreleaser/goreleaser-action@v6
  with:
    version: latest
    args: release --clean
  env:
    GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

The anodizer equivalent is:

- uses: tj-smith47/anodizer-action@v1
  with:
    auto-install: true          # auto-installs nfpm, cosign, etc. from .anodizer.yaml
    args: release --clean
  env:
    GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

auto-install: true parses .anodizer.yaml and installs pipeline dependencies (nfpm for linux packages, cosign for signing, zig/cargo-zigbuild for cross-compilation, ...) — the anodizer action's equivalent of GoReleaser's bundled Go-native implementations. See anodizer-action reference for all inputs.

v0.5.x → v0.6.x: installer default name template changed

The pkg, nsis, msi, and dmg stages now default to '{{ ProjectName }}_{{ Arch }}' (matching GoReleaser's convention) instead of the prior '{{ ProjectName }}_{{ Version }}_{{ Arch }}.<ext>'. If you relied on the version being part of the installer filename, pin name: explicitly in each stage config block:

# Pin to preserve the old naming:
pkgs:
  - name: "{{ ProjectName }}_{{ Version }}_{{ Arch }}"

msis:
  - name: "{{ ProjectName }}_{{ Version }}_{{ Arch }}"

nsis:
  - name: "{{ ProjectName }}_{{ Version }}_{{ Arch }}"

dmgs:
  - name: "{{ ProjectName }}_{{ Version }}_{{ Arch }}"

brews → homebrew_casks

GoReleaser v2.16 (release blog) deprecated the brews: (Homebrew Formula) publisher. Quoting upstream:

Migrate to homebrew_casks, which is the right tool for the job: it's how Homebrew expects pre-compiled binaries to be distributed, and it gets all the new features (completion generation, post-install hooks, and so on).

Anodizer mirrors the deprecation: publish.homebrew still parses (so existing configs do not break), but a DEPRECATION: warning is emitted at config-load time. New configs should write homebrew_casks: (top-level) or publish.homebrew_cask: (per-crate) directly.

Before (Formula — deprecated)

crates:
  - name: myapp
    publish:
      homebrew:
        repository:
          owner: myorg
          name: homebrew-tap
        directory: Formula           # default for Formula
        description: "My CLI tool"
        homepage: https://myapp.io
        license: MIT
        dependencies:
          - name: openssl
        conflicts:
          - other-tool
        caveats: "Run `myapp init` to set up."
        commit_msg_template: "Brew formula update for {{ ProjectName }} version {{ Tag }}"

After (Cask — preferred)

homebrew_casks:
  - name: myapp
    repository:
      owner: myorg
      name: homebrew-tap
    directory: Casks                 # default for Cask
    description: "My CLI tool"
    homepage: https://myapp.io
    binaries:
      - name: myapp                  # the binary stub Homebrew symlinks into /usr/local/bin
    dependencies:
      - cask: other-cask             # cask: or formula: target
    conflicts:
      - cask: other-tool
    caveats: "Run `myapp init` to set up."
    commit_msg_template: "Brew cask update for {{ ProjectName }} version {{ Tag }}"
    # Cask-exclusive surface (no Formula equivalent):
    completions:
      bash: "completions/myapp.bash"
      zsh:  "completions/_myapp"
      fish: "completions/myapp.fish"
    hooks:
      post:
        install: |
          system_command "/usr/bin/xattr", args: ["-dr", "com.apple.quarantine", "#{staged_path}/myapp"]
    generate_completions_from_executable:
      executable: "bin/myapp"
      args: ["completions"]
      base_name: "myapp"
      shell_parameter_format: "clap"
      shells: ["bash", "zsh", "fish"]

Field mapping