Advisory lock service for CI/CD pipelines

Version updated for https://github.com/releasetools/mutex to version v1.3.0.

  • This action is used across all versions by 0 repositories.

Action Type

This is a Node action using Node version 24.

Go to the GitHub Marketplace to find the latest changes.

Action Summary

This GitHub Action helps manage shared resources by using an advisory lock in a PostgreSQL table. It allows one CI job at a time to access a shared resource, ensuring that no two jobs can interfere with each other. The action provides options for specifying the lock ID, reason, owner, expiration, wait period, and auto-release settings, and it supports commenting on GitHub pull requests and posting to Slack if configured.

What’s Changed

DATABASE_URL is no longer read. Any workflow or shell still passing it fails with MUTEX_DATABASE_URL not found until it is renamed:

env:
  MUTEX_DATABASE_URL: ${{ secrets.DATABASE_URL }} # was DATABASE_URL:

1.2.2 read both and warned when the old name was used; that warning names the variable to set. The Action’s DATABASE_URL input is gone with it.

  • Removed DATABASE_URL. MUTEX_DATABASE_URL is the only name mutex reads, in the Action and the CLI, so a lock can no longer land in whatever database something else set that name to.
  • Added explicit direct and server profiles, including a background TCP server that keeps PostgreSQL connections warm for faster CLI lock operations, a systemd template, and a rootless per-user macOS LaunchAgent.
  • Running mutex without arguments now prints the general help instead of returning a usage error.
  • mutex server status and mutex server stop now identify a missing profiles file instead of claiming the implicit direct connection is a configured profile.
  • Published the CLI as the public @releasetools/mutex package with provenance, so npm and mise can install it without cloning the repository.
  • The npm package description now explains how its Postgres-backed TTL locks coordinate the GitHub Action and CLI.
  • Renamed the release artifact command to npm run package:release, reflecting that it assembles both the GitHub Action and npm CLI package.
  • Added npm run cli:link for building and linking a checkout and npm run check for formatting, building, and testing it locally.