# What changed in gh-release

> 10 changes in gh-release 8 from its official release notes, upgrade guides and advisories: 5 breaking, 2 new APIs and options. Each one cited. Sources checked 2026-10-20. HTML: https://unstale.sh/npm/gh-release/

To see which of these apply to a repository, run `npx @unstale/cli init` in it.

## gh-release 8

### Breaking changes

- Authentication is token-only; interactive ghauth login, its OAuth app, and username/password HTTP basic auth are removed. (8.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/ungoldman/gh-release/releases/tag/v8.0.0)
- The package is ESM-only. Import the named ghRelease export; on Node 22.12+, CommonJS require returns a module namespace rather than the function. (8.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/ungoldman/gh-release/releases/tag/v8.0.0)
- The minimum supported Node.js version is now 22.12.0. (8.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/ungoldman/gh-release/releases/tag/v8.0.0)
- The publish confirmation now defaults to yes; pressing Enter or answering anything other than n/no publishes the release. (8.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/ungoldman/gh-release/releases/tag/v8.0.0)
- The Release.clientId static is removed. (8.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/ungoldman/gh-release/releases/tag/v8.0.0)

### New APIs and options

- Adds the --tag-prefix option to gh-release. (8.1.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/ungoldman/gh-release/releases/tag/v8.1.0)
- Changelog parsing supports Keep a Changelog, Conventional Changelog, Release Please, Standard Version, and auto-changelog formats. (8.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/ungoldman/gh-release/releases/tag/v8.0.0)

### Behavior and default changes

- The release body is no longer required; an empty matching changelog section produces an empty-body release, and generate-notes options can populate the body without changelog notes. (8.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/ungoldman/gh-release/releases/tag/v8.0.0)
- A changelog is no longer required; without one, gh-release tags from the package.json version and creates a release with an empty body. (8.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/ungoldman/gh-release/releases/tag/v8.0.0)

### Fixes and other changes

- Handles 422 commitish responses. (8.0.0) — [release notes](https://github.com/ungoldman/gh-release/releases/tag/v8.0.0)