This document contains information about Grafana frontend package versioning and releases.

We use Lerna for packages versioning and releases.

All packages are versioned according to the current Grafana version:

• Grafana v6.3.0-alpha1 -> @grafana/* packages @ 6.3.0-alpha.1
• Grafana v6.2.5 -> @grafana/* packages @ 6.2.5
• Grafana - main branch version (based on package.json, i.e. 6.4.0-pre) -> @grafana/* packages @ 6.4.0-pre- (see details below about packages publishing channels)

Please note that @grafana/toolkit, @grafana/ui, @grafana/data, and @grafana/runtime packages are considered ALPHA even though they are not released as alpha versions.

Even though packages are released under a stable version, they are considered ALPHA until further notice!

Stable releases are published under the latest tag on npm. If there was alpha/beta version released previously, the next tag is updated to stable version.

Alpha and beta releases are published under the next tag on npm.

Every commit to main that has changes within the packages directory is a subject of npm packages release. ALL packages must be released under version from lerna.json file with commit SHA added to it:

<lerna.json version>-<COMMIT_SHA>

Automatic prereleases are published under the canary dist tag to the github package registry.

As mentioned above the canary releases are published to the Github package registry rather than the NPM registry. If you wish to make use of these prereleases please follow these steps:

1. You must use a personal access token to install packages from Github. To create an access token click here and create a token with the read:packages scope. Make a copy of the token.
2. Create / modify your ~/.npmrc file with the following:

@grafana:registry=https://npm.pkg.github.com
//npm.pkg.github.com/:_authToken={INSERT_GH_TOKEN_HERE}

3. Update the package.json of your project to use either the canary channel or a version of the canary channel

// plugin's package.json
{
  ...
  "@grafana/data": "canary"
}

All of the steps below must be performed on a release branch, according to Grafana Release Guide.

Make sure you are logged in to npm in your terminal and that you are a part of Grafana org on npm.

1. Run yarn packages:prepare script from the root directory. This performs tests on the packages and prompts for the version of the packages. The version should be the same as the one being released.

   • Make sure you use semver convention. So, place a dot between prerelease id and prerelease number, i.e. 6.3.0-alpha.1
   • Make sure you confirm the version bump when prompted!

2. Commit changes (lerna.json and package.json files) - "Packages version update: <VERSION>"

3. Run yarn packages:build script that prepares distribution packages in packages/grafana-*/dist. These directories are going to be published to npm.

4. Depending whether or not it's a prerelease:

   • When releasing a prerelease run packages:publishNext to publish new versions.
   • When releasing a stable version run packages:publishLatest to publish new versions.

5. Push version commit to the release branch.

To build individual packages, run:

grafana-toolkit package:build --scope=<ui|toolkit|runtime|data>

A known issue with @grafana/* packages is that a lot of times we discover problems on canary channel(see versioning overview) when the version was already pushed to npm.

We can easily avoid that by setting up a local packages registry and test the packages before actually publishing to npm.

In this guide you will set up Verdaccio registry locally to fake npm registry. This will enable testing @grafana/* packages without the need for pushing to main.

From your terminal:

1. Modify /etc/hosts file and add the following entry: 127.0.0.1 grafana-npm.local
2. Navigate to devenv/local-npm directory.
3. Run docker-compose up. This will start your local npm registry, available at https://grafana-npm.local:4873/
4. Run npm login --registry=https://grafana-npm.local:4873 --scope=@grafana . This will allow you to publish any @grafana/* package into the local registry.
5. Run npm config set @grafana:registry https://grafana-npm.local:4873. This will config your npm to install @grafana scoped packages from your local registry.

You need to follow manual packages release procedure. The only difference is you need to run yarn packages:publishDev task in order to publish to you local registry.

From your terminal:

1. Run yarn packages:prepare.
2. Commit changes in package.json and lerna.json files
3. Build packages: yarn packages:build
4. Run yarn packages:publishDev.
5. Navigate to https://grafana-npm.local:4873 and verify that version was published

Locally published packages will be published under dev channel, so in your plugin package.json file you can use that channel. For example:

// plugin's package.json

{
  ...
  "@grafana/data": "dev"
}