Versionator

A semantic version management CLI tool that manages versions in a plain text VERSION file.

Documentation: https://benjaminabbitt.github.io/versionator/

Features

• Single source of truth: Plain text VERSION file
• SemVer 2.0.0 compliant: Full support for pre-release and build metadata
• Deliberate version control: Explicit major/minor/patch commands for teams who prefer manual versioning
• Auto-bump available: Optional commit message parsing via bump command (+semver: tags or Conventional Commits)
• Code embedding: Generate version constants for 10+ languages
• CI/CD integration: Output version variables for GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, etc.
• Git integration: Create tags and release branches

Language Support

Generate version constants for your codebase (sorted by TIOBE Index):

Language	Format	Documentation
Python	python	_version.py
C	c, c-header	version.c, version.h
C++	cpp, cpp-header	version.cpp, version.hpp
Java	java	Version.java
C#	csharp	Version.cs
JavaScript	js	version.js
Go	go	version.go
TypeScript	ts	version.ts
PHP	php	Version.php
Swift	swift	Version.swift
Kotlin	kotlin	Version.kt
Rust	rust	version.rs
Ruby	ruby	version.rb

Data formats: JSON (json), YAML (yaml) — see emit command

Container files: Docker — Containerfile/Dockerfile with OCI labels

Documentation

Full documentation: https://benjaminabbitt.github.io/versionator/

Quick Install

# Linux (x64)
curl -LO https://github.com/benjaminabbitt/versionator/releases/latest/download/versionator-linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar xzf versionator-linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo mv versionator-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/versionator

# Or use container (Docker/Podman)
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/workspace ghcr.io/benjaminabbitt/versionator version

See Installation for all platforms.

Quick Start

versionator init        # Create VERSION file (0.0.1)
versionator patch +     # 0.0.1 -> 0.0.2  (aliases: increment, inc, +)
versionator release     # Create tag v0.0.2

About This Project

Versionator is a hobby project solving a real problem. It could be solved with less—a regex parses most version strings just fine. Instead, there's a 370-line formal EBNF grammar covering SemVer, Go pseudo-versions, .NET assembly versions, and more. Written on a Sunday afternoon because formal grammars are fun and passion projects permit glorious digressions.

The grammar might have value to someone, sometime. If it doesn't, that's fine too. It has value to me.

See Grammar-Based Parser for the full philosophy.

License

BSD-3-Clause