GitHub Release Copier

Copies a release (including its name, body and assets) from one GitHub owner/repository to another.

How does it work?

This tool uses the GitHub API to fetch the details and assets of a given release from a repository, then create a duplicate of it in a different owner/repository.

Release asset files are stored locally in the location specified by the TEMP_DIR environment variable.

How do I run it?

Prerequisites

• Node 20.x
• Install dependencies with npm ci
• Copy the .env.example file to .env and set the appropriate configuration values.

Run

To copy a release, run:

npm start <release name>

For example:

npm start v1.0.0

To copy all releases from oldest to newest (skipping any that already exist at the destination):

COPY_ALL_RELEASES=true npm start

This will:

1. Call the GitHub search API using the query defined in .env
2. For each search result, query GitHub's API for file metadata, such as the download URL
3. Make a GET request to the download URL and save the contents of the file to a directory named specs

Using this tool

Copying a release as a GitHub Action

This tool can be consumed as a GitHub Action, in your own GitHub Actions workflows.

For example:

steps:
  - name: Copy specific release from one repo to another
    uses: DeloitteDigitalUK/github-release-copier@HEAD
    with:
      release-name: "v1.0.0"
      source-api-key: "${{ secrets.SOURCE_API_KEY }}"
      source-owner: "octocat"
      source-repo: "octorepo"
      dest-api-key: "${{ secrets.DEST_API_KEY }}"
      dest-owner: "anothercat"
      dest-repo: "anotherrepo"
      
      # optional
      temp-dir: "./files"
      body-replace-regex: "octocat"
      body-replace-with: "octodog"
      # include-assets uses regex patterns (one per line)
      include-assets: |
        .*\.example\.zip$
        .*\.docs\.zip$

Token permissions

The tool requires content read-only permissions for the repository it is querying and content read-write permissions for the repository in which it is creating the release.

Permissions for SOURCE_API_KEY:

• Metadata: Read-only
• Contents: Read-only

Permissions for DEST_API_KEY:

• Metadata: Read-only
• Contents: Read-write

Running locally

This tool can be run locally using Docker or Node.js.

Running with Node.js

Build the tool:

npm ci
npm run build

Run the tool:

node ./dist/index.js <release name>

For example:

node ./dist/index.js v1.0.0

Using the shell script

A shell script is provided that allows you to pass arguments via command line instead of environment variables:

# Set required API keys as environment variables
export SOURCE_API_KEY="ghp_source_token"
export DEST_API_KEY="ghp_dest_token"

# Copy a specific release
./copy-release.sh -S "owner1/repo1" -D "owner2/repo2" -t "./temp" v1.0.0

# Copy all releases
./copy-release.sh --all -S "owner1/repo1" -D "owner2/repo2" -t "./temp"

Run ./copy-release.sh --help for full usage information.

Running with Docker

Build the container:

docker build --tag DeloitteDigitalUK/github-release-copier .

Run the tool:

docker run --rm -it \
  --env-file .env \
  DeloitteDigitalUK/github-release-copier <release name>

For example:

docker run --rm -it \
  --env-file .env \
  DeloitteDigitalUK/github-release-copier v1.0.0