Release group "__default__" matches no projects. Please ensure all release groups match at least one project

[marc-wilson]

Current Behavior

I am trying to create a publishable package. When i run nx release publish, i get this:

Release group "default" matches no projects. Please ensure all release groups match at least one project

Expected Behavior

the command should work or have documentation around what a release group is and how to set it up.

GitHub Repo

No response

Steps to Reproduce

1. create a lib (ie: nx g lib libs/package/name --publishable --importPath @org/package/name)
2. run nx release publish --first-release
3. run nx release publish again
4. observe error

Nx Report

NX   Report complete - copy this into the issue template

Node           : 20.17.0
OS             : darwin-arm64
Native Target  : aarch64-macos
npm            : 10.8.2

nx                     : 20.3.1
@nx/js                 : 20.3.1
@nx/jest               : 20.3.1
@nx/eslint             : 20.3.1
@nx/workspace          : 20.3.1
@nx/angular            : 20.3.1
@nx/cypress            : 20.3.1
@nx/devkit             : 20.3.1
@nx/esbuild            : 20.3.1
@nx/eslint-plugin      : 20.3.1
@nx/module-federation  : 20.3.1
@nx/nest               : 20.3.1
@nx/node               : 20.3.1
@nx/vite               : 20.3.1
@nx/web                : 20.3.1
@nx/webpack            : 20.3.1
typescript             : 5.6.3
---------------------------------------
Community plugins:
@auth0/auth0-angular  : 2.2.3
@ngrx/component-store : 19.0.0
@ngrx/operators       : 19.0.0
apollo-angular        : 8.0.0

Failure Logs

There are no logs. Only the error. There is zero documentation around about release groups. there is a single mentioing of it in the publishable docs but no real description or information around what it is/how they work/how to configure.

https://nx.dev/recipes/nx-release/get-started-with-nx-release#customize-the-commit-message-and-tag-pattern

"When using release groups in which the member projects are versioned together, you can also leverage {releaseGroupName} and it will be interpolated appropriately in the commit/tag that gets created for that release group."

Package Manager Version

No response

Operating System

• macOS
• Linux
• Windows
• Other (Please specify)

Additional Information

No response

[marc-wilson]

Related: #20383

[marc-wilson]

It looks like when you generate a new lib with --publishable, a new package is installed (verdaccio) and a new project.json file is created. I assume verdaccio is a third party packaging system but it's not clear what the project.json file is. It almost looks like it's the same as the regulat project.json that's generated with every app, but instead it's put at the repository root?

[origranot]

Hey, can you share your nx.json?

[xiongemi]

could you try to add "fallbackCurrentVersionResolver": "disk" to your release.version.generatorOptions?

in project.json, add to release like:

  "release": {
    "version": {
      "generatorOptions": {
        "packageRoot": "dist/{projectRoot}",
        "currentVersionResolver": "git-tag",
        "fallbackCurrentVersionResolver": "disk"
      }
    }
  }

or in nx.json:

  "release": {
    "version": {
      "preVersionCommand": "npx nx run-many -t build",
      "generatorOptions": {
        "fallbackCurrentVersionResolver": "disk"
      }
    }
  },
``