Feature Request: Configuration option to disable publishing by default in nx release (opt-in publishing for CI/CD safety)

[ThePlenkov]

Current Behavior

When running nx release, the command will both version and publish packages by default. To prevent publishing, developers must remember to add the --skip-publish flag every time they run the command locally.

# Current approach - easy to forget --skip-publish
nx release --skip-publish

This creates a safety concern where developers might accidentally publish packages from their local machines if they forget the flag.

Expected Behavior

There should be a workspace-level configuration option to disable publishing by default, requiring an explicit opt-in flag to publish. This would enforce that publishing only happens in controlled CI/CD environments.

Proposed configuration in nx.json:

{
  "release": {
    "version": {
      // ... version config
    },
    "publish": {
      "skipByDefault": true  // or "requireExplicitPublish": true
    }
  }
}

With this configuration:

# Local development - safe by default, no publishing
nx release

# CI/CD - explicit opt-in to publish
nx release --publish
# or
nx release --skip-publish=false

Motivation

1. Safety First

Publishing should be an intentional, controlled action that happens only in CI/CD pipelines, not accidentally from developer machines.

2. Enforce Best Practices

Many organizations require that all releases go through CI/CD for:

• Audit trails
• Consistent build environments
• Security compliance
• Quality gates

3. Developer Experience

• Removes cognitive load of remembering --skip-publish every time
• Prevents costly mistakes (accidental publishes)
• Makes the default behavior safe

4. Alignment with CI/CD Workflows

The official Nx documentation recommends using --skip-publish locally, but this should be enforceable at the workspace level rather than relying on developer discipline.

Suggested Implementation

Option 1: Configuration-based (Preferred)

Add a configuration option in nx.json:

{
  "release": {
    "publish": {
      "skipByDefault": true
    }
  }
}

When skipByDefault: true:

• nx release → skips publishing (safe default)
• nx release --publish → explicitly publishes
• nx release --skip-publish=false → explicitly publishes

Option 2: Environment Variable Detection

Automatically skip publishing unless running in CI environment:

{
  "release": {
    "publish": {
      "onlyInCI": true
    }
  }
}

This would check for common CI environment variables (CI=true, GITHUB_ACTIONS, GITLAB_CI, etc.)

Option 3: Both

Combine both approaches for maximum flexibility.

Alternate Implementations

1. Inverse flag: Instead of --skip-publish, have --publish be required when skipByDefault: true
2. Separate commands: nx release version and nx release publish as distinct commands
3. Interactive prompt: When not in CI, prompt "Do you want to publish? (y/N)" with default to No

Use Case

Our organization (and many others) have a policy that:

• ✅ Developers can version packages locally for testing
• ❌ Developers should never publish from their machines
• ✅ All publishing must go through CI/CD pipelines

Currently, we have to:

• Document "always use --skip-publish" in our guidelines
• Hope developers remember
• Deal with accidental publishes when they forget

With this feature, we could:

• Configure it once in nx.json
• Enforce the policy at the tooling level
• Require explicit --publish flag in CI/CD scripts (making intent clear)

Related Documentation

The Nx team already recommends this pattern in the Publish in CI/CD guide, but it should be enforceable through configuration rather than convention.

Additional Context

This is similar to how other package managers handle publishing:

• npm: Requires explicit npm publish command
• pnpm: Requires explicit pnpm publish command
• Changesets: Separate changeset version and changeset publish commands

The request is to bring similar safety to nx release through configuration.

---

Would the Nx team be open to this feature? I'm happy to contribute a PR if this aligns with the project's direction.

[MartinDavi]

Wow it's surprising this isn't already an option - I am just moving our publishing step to our gitlab-ci, very surprised there is no option in nx.json to prevent publishing locally.

[atissedrescaleway]

We're using nx to handle our monorepo, and we're missing an option like this : we will never want to publish our internal apps.

Edit : Just noticed the option now exists : https://nx.dev/docs/guides/nx-release/publish-in-ci-cd#automatically-skip-publishing-locally

[ThePlenkov]

it was there on the moment of the feature proposal. Key point here - to skip publish we always need to provide ----skip-publish which is still creating the risk of publishing from a local machine and we don't want that intentionally. I want to be able to prevent publishing by clear settings that publish must be skipped by default

[MartinDavi]

Yes, this needs to be a flag in the nx.json, absolutely.