gh_tools

Tools and CLI binaries for common GitHub Actions workflows and repository automation tasks in Dart and Flutter projects.

Table of Contents

• Installation
• Tools / Binaries
  • detect_changes
    • GitHub Actions Example
  • pubspec_tag
    • GitHub Actions Example
  • scan_pubspec
    • GitHub Actions Example
  • update_repo_properties
    • Example Properties File .github/properties.yaml

---

Installation

Activate gh_tools:

dart pub global activate gh_tools

... or from a GitHub Action you can instead use:

- uses: islandlifetechnologies/gh_tools@v1

That will automatically get the latest binaries for either Linux, MacOS, or Windows and bind them to the runner path.

---

Tools / Binaries

detect_changes

Evaluates changed files for a PR or push against defined glob filters.

detect_changes 1.0.0

    --filters (mandatory)    Filter definitions (YAML/JSON).
    --mode                   Default filter mode. And requires all filters to match, or will match on any filter.
                             [and, or (default)]
-h, --help                   Show usage.
-v, --version                Show version.
-t, --token                  GitHub access token.

GitHub Actions Example

name: Validate PR (Matrix)

on:
  pull_request:
    types: [opened, reopened, synchronize]

concurrency:
  group: ${{ github.workflow }}-${{ github.ref }}
  cancel-in-progress: true

env:
  filters: |
    package_one:
      paths:
        - packages/package_one/**
    package_two:
      paths:
        - packages/package_two/**
    package_three:
      paths:
        - packages/package_three/**
  doc_filters: |
    readme:
      paths:
        - README.md

jobs:
  detect_changes:
    name: "Detect Changes"
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      CHANGES: ${{ steps.detect_changes.outputs.CHANGES }}
      CHANGES_ARRAY: ${{ steps.detect_changes.outputs.CHANGES_ARRAY }}
      DOC_CHANGES: ${{ steps.detect_doc_changes.outputs.CHANGES }}
    steps:
      - uses: islandlifetechnologies/gh_tools@v1

      - name: Checkout Code Base
        uses: actions/checkout@v7

      - name: Look for Changes
        id: detect_changes
        shell: bash
        run: |
          detect_changes \
            --filters "${{ env.filters }}" \
            --token "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"

      - name: Look for Doc Changes
        id: detect_doc_changes
        shell: bash
        run: |
          detect_changes \
            --filters "${{ env.doc_filters }}" \
            --token "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"

  ## Utilizes the CHANGES map to specifically target a single change set.
  update_docs:
    needs:
      - detect_changes
    if: fromJSON(needs.detect_changes.outputs.DOC_CHANGES).readme == true
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout Code Base
        uses: actions/checkout@v7

      - name: Setup Dart
        uses: dart-lang/setup-dart@v1

      - uses: islandlifetechnologies/markup@v1

      - name: Run markup
        run: |
          markup -i README.md

      - name: Post Markdown to GitHub
        uses: test-room-7/action-update-file@v2
        with:
          branch: ${{ github.head_ref || github.ref_name }}
          file-path: |
            **/*.md
            **/*.png
            **/*.svg
          commit-msg: "[actions skip]: Auto-generated Markdown TOCs"
          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

  ## Utilizes the CHANGES_ARRAY to build a matrix of packages that have changed.
  ## Each package is validated in parallel.
  monorepo_split:
    needs:
      - detect_changes
    if: ${{ needs.detect_changes.outputs.CHANGES_ARRAY != '[]' && needs.detect_changes.outputs.CHANGES_ARRAY != '' }}
    strategy:
      fail-fast: false
      matrix:
        package: ${{ fromJSON(needs.detect_changes.outputs.CHANGES_ARRAY) }}
    name: "Validate ${{ matrix.package }}"
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout Code Base
        uses: actions/checkout@v7

      - name: Setup Dart
        uses: dart-lang/setup-dart@v1

      - name: Validate ${{ matrix.package }}
        run: |
          dart pub get
          dart format --set-exit-if-changed lib test
          dart analyze
          dart test
        working-directory: packages/${{ matrix.package }}

Outputs written to $GITHUB_OUTPUT:

• CHANGES: JSON object of filter matches, e.g. {"core": true, "web": false, "docs": true}
• CHANGES_ARRAY: JSON list of matched filter keys, e.g. ["core", "docs"]

The CHANGES option is typically easier to use when looking for a single change set, while CHANGES_ARRAY is typically easier to use when building a matrix of jobs. The above example shows how both can be utilized together.

---

pubspec_tag

Extracts the information from the pubspec and utilizes that to create a tag for the repository.

pubspec_tag 1.0.0

    --branch        Branch name to scan the project for.  Default to the repository's default branch.
    --changelog     Scan for the version to exist in the changelog and fail if not.
                    (defaults to "true")
    --dry-run       Perform all calculations but make no changes.
                    (defaults to "false")
    --major         Add a tag for the major version; ie: v1
                    (defaults to "true")
    --minor         Add a tag for the minor version; ie: v1.2
                    (defaults to "true")
    --overwrite     Overwrite the existing tag if it exsts; fails if false.
                    (defaults to "true")
    --path          The path to the project; default is current directory.
                    (defaults to ".")
    --prefix        Prefix for the version tag.
                    (defaults to "v")
-h, --help          Show usage.
-v, --version       Show version.
-r, --repository    Repository to utilize.  Defaults to the current repository.
-t, --token         GitHub access token.

GitHub Actions Example

- uses: islandlifetechnologies/gh_tools@v1

- name: Checkout Code Base
  uses: actions/checkout@v7

- name: Create Tag
  run: pubspec_tag --token "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"

---

scan_pubspec

Extracts pubspec metadata and exports it for downstream workflow steps.

scan_pubspec 1.0.0

-f, --format                    Output format.

          [github] (default)    GitHub Actions output format
          [json]                JSON format

-o, --output                    Output file path.
-p, --pubspec                   Path to pubspec.yaml.
                                (defaults to "./pubspec.yaml")
-h, --help                      Show usage.
-v, --version                   Show version.

GitHub Actions Example

- uses: islandlifetechnologies/gh_tools@v1

- name: Checkout Code Base
  uses: actions/checkout@v7

- name: Scan Pubspec
  id: pubspec
  run: scan_pubspec --pubspec ./pubspec.yaml

- name: Create Release
  if: steps.pubspec.outputs.PUBSPEC_VERSION_PRE_RELEASE == ''
  run: echo "Releasing version ${{ steps.pubspec.outputs.PUBSPEC_VERSION }}"

Outputs emitted:

Key	Description	Example
PUBSPEC_NAME	Package name	gh_tools
PUBSPEC_DESCRIPTION	Package description	Tools for GitHub activities.
PUBSPEC_VERSION	Full version string	1.2.3-beta.1
PUBSPEC_VERSION_MAJOR	Major version number	1
PUBSPEC_VERSION_MINOR	Minor version number	2
PUBSPEC_VERSION_PATCH	Patch version number	3
PUBSPEC_VERSION_PRE_RELEASE	Pre-release identifier	beta.1
PUBSPEC_FLUTTER_SDK	Contains Flutter dependency	true / false
PUBSPEC_PUBLISH_TO	Target package repository	none
PUBSPEC_REPOSITORY	Repository or homepage URL	https://github.com/...

---

update_repo_properties

Updates GitHub custom repository properties from a YAML or JSON file.

update_repo_properties 1.0.0

-p, --properties    Properties file path (YAML/JSON).
                    (defaults to ".github/properties.yaml")
-h, --help          Show usage.
-v, --version       Show version.
-r, --repository    Repository to utilize.  Defaults to the current repository.
-t, --token         GitHub access token.

Example Properties File (.github/properties.yaml)

language: Dart
framework: CLI
last_updated: ${now()}
tier: production
tags:
  - automation
  - tooling