Input name	Description	Required	Default Value
allowUpdates	An optional flag which indicates if we should update a release if it already exists. Defaults to false.	false	""
artifactErrorsFailBuild	An optional flag which indicates if artifact read or upload errors should fail the build.	false	""
artifact	An optional set of paths representing artifacts to upload to the release. This may be a single path or a comma delimited list of paths (or globs)	false	""
artifacts	An optional set of paths representing artifacts to upload to the release. This may be a single path or a comma delimited list of paths (or globs)	false	""
artifactContentType	The content type of the artifact. Defaults to raw	false	""
body	An optional body for the release.	false	""
bodyFile	An optional body file for the release. This should be the path to the file	false	""
commit	An optional commit reference. This will be used to create the tag if it does not exist.	false	""
discussionCategory	When provided this will generate a discussion of the specified category. The category must exist otherwise this will cause the action to fail. This isn't used with draft releases	false	false
draft	Optionally marks this release as a draft release. Set to true to enable.	false	""
generateReleaseNotes	Indicates if release notes should be automatically generated.	false	false
name	An optional name for the release. If this is omitted the tag will be used.	false	""
omitBody	Indicates if the release body should be omitted.	false	false
omitBodyDuringUpdate	Indicates if the release body should be omitted during updates. The body will still be applied for newly created releases. This will preserve the existing body during updates.	false	false
omitName	Indicates if the release name should be omitted.	false	false
omitNameDuringUpdate	Indicates if the release name should be omitted during updates. The name will still be applied for newly created releases. This will preserve the existing name during updates.	false	false
omitPrereleaseDuringUpdate	Indicates if the prerelease flag should be omitted during updates. The prerelease flag will still be applied for newly created releases. This will preserve the existing prerelease state during updates.	false	false
owner	Optionally specify the owner of the repo where the release should be generated. Defaults to current repo'sowner.	false	""
prerelease	Optionally marks this release as prerelease. Set to true to enable.	false	""
removeArtifacts	Indicates if existing release artifacts should be removed.	false	false
replacesArtifacts	Indicates if existing release artifacts should be replaced.	false	true
repo	Optionally specify the repo where the release should be generated.	false	current repo
tag	An optional tag for the release. If this is omitted the git ref will be used (if it is a tag).	false	""
token	The GitHub token. Typically, this will be `${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}`. If you are using a personal access token it should have access to the `repo` scope.	false	github.token

Action Outputs

Output name	Description
id	The identifier of the created release.
html_url	The HTML URL of the release.
upload_url	The URL for uploading assets to the release.

Example

This example will create a release when a tag is pushed:

name: Releases

on: 
  push:
    tags:
    - '*'

jobs:

  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: write
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - uses: ncipollo/release-action@v1
      with:
        artifacts: "release.tar.gz,foo/*.txt"
        bodyFile: "body.md"
        token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Notes

You must provide a tag either via the action input or the git ref (i.e push / create a tag). If you do not provide a tag the action will fail.
If the tag of the release you are creating does not yet exist, you should set both the tag and commit action inputs. commit can point to a commit hash or a branch name (ex - main).
In the example above only required permissions for the action specified (which is contents: write). If you add other actions to the same workflow you should expand permissions block accordingly.