Setup Semantic Release & Conventional Commits

Wire up automated versioning: conventional commits → commitlint → husky hooks → semantic-release. Version bumps, changelogs, and GitHub releases are derived from commit messages. Core principle: commits drive releases — enforce format at author time, automate the rest.

Skip if the project already has .releaserc*, uses another release tool (changesets, release-it, standard-version), or has no package.json. Prerequisites: package.json, git remote on GitHub, Node ≥18, and a CI environment (GitHub Actions).

Phase 1: Install

npm install --save-dev \
  @commitlint/cli@^19.0.0 @commitlint/config-conventional@^19.0.0 \
  semantic-release@^24.0.0 @semantic-release/changelog@^6.0.0 \
  @semantic-release/git@^10.0.0 husky@^9.0.0