Running monorel in Docker

monorel ships an OCI image at ghcr.io/disaresta-org/monorel for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64. Use it when:

• You're on macOS or Windows and don't want to deal with the unsigned-binary warnings (Gatekeeper / SmartScreen).
• You don't have Go installed and don't want to.
• You want a hermetic, reproducible monorel run pinned to a specific version.

The container ships the same monorel binary as the platform releases, just inside Linux.

Mac / Windows code signing

Distributing signed binaries for macOS and Windows requires paid developer certificates (Apple Developer Program at $99/year; Windows EV at $300+/year). monorel is a small open-source tool and doesn't carry those — the platform releases are unsigned, which is why your OS shows a security prompt the first time you run them. Docker sidesteps the signing question entirely.

Pull the image

docker pull ghcr.io/disaresta-org/monorel:latest
# or pin a version
docker pull ghcr.io/disaresta-org/monorel:0.1.0

Run a command

The container's WORKDIR is /workspace. Mount your repo at that path:

docker run --rm \
  -v "$PWD:/workspace" \
  ghcr.io/disaresta-org/monorel:latest plan

For commands that need a forge token (monorel publish, monorel preview --upsert, monorel release --publish), pass it via an environment variable. The shorthand -e GITHUB_TOKEN forwards the host's variable of the same name without retyping its value:

export GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_…   # (or use your shell's secret store)
docker run --rm \
  -v "$PWD:/workspace" \
  -e GITHUB_TOKEN \
  ghcr.io/disaresta-org/monorel:latest publish

Authoring a changeset

monorel add defaults to interactive prompts. Add -it so the container has a TTY:

docker run --rm -it \
  -v "$PWD:/workspace" \
  ghcr.io/disaresta-org/monorel:latest add

Or stay non-interactive with explicit flags (preferred for muscle memory):

docker run --rm \
  -v "$PWD:/workspace" \
  ghcr.io/disaresta-org/monorel:latest \
  add --package "transports/zerolog:minor" --message "Adds Lazy() helper."

Shell alias

To make the docker run shell less typing, drop one of these into your shell config:

# bash / zsh
monorel() {
  docker run --rm -it \
    -v "$PWD:/workspace" \
    -e GITHUB_TOKEN \
    -e GH_TOKEN \
    ghcr.io/disaresta-org/monorel:latest "$@"
}

Then monorel plan, monorel add, etc. work as if it were installed directly.

Notes

• The image runs as root by default. The files monorel creates (.changeset/*.md, CHANGELOG.md updates, the release commit) end up owned by uid 0 in your working tree. On Linux that's annoying; on macOS / Windows with Docker Desktop, the file-sharing layer handles ownership translation automatically.
• The image bundles git. Your repo must be a real git working tree (monorel release expects to commit + tag).
• monorel release creates the commit + tag inside the container. Use git push --follow-tags from the host afterward — that's not the container's job.