ci check posts no-release comment but exits 1 when no bump files exist

[schalkneethling]

Summary

bumpy ci check can update the PR comment with a no-release message that says the PR is good to go, while the same command exits with code 1 because no bump files exist.

That makes the PR guidance contradict the required CI outcome.

Example

In schalkneethling/css-property-type-validator, a Dependabot PR updates vitest only in devDependencies for managed workspace packages. The Bumpy config has dependencyBumpRules.devDependencies: false, so no package release is expected.

The PR comment says:

Merging this PR will not cause a version bump for any packages. If these changes should not result in a new version, you're good to go.

But the workflow step fails:

pnpm exec bumpy ci check --strict

with:

error No bump files found in this PR.
Updated PR comment
Error: Process completed with exit code 1.

Why this is confusing

From reading the installed @varlock/bumpy@1.10.2 code, this seems to happen because:

• the PR changes files under a managed package, so findChangedPackages reports that package as changed;
• devDependencies: false prevents a release from being planned;
• with zero bump files, ci check posts formatNoBumpFilesComment(...) and then exits 1.

So the required workaround is an empty bump file, but the posted comment says the opposite.

Expected behavior

Either:

• the no-release/no-bump-files case should pass when no package release is planned, or
• the PR comment should clearly say an empty bump file is required to acknowledge no release intent, especially when ci check will fail.

Workaround

pnpm exec bumpy add --empty --message "No package release needed."

Thanks for Bumpy. The release-intent workflow is really useful; this just made a dependency-only PR a bit tricky to interpret.

[theoephraim]

Have to dig in a bit to figure out what's best. Thanks for bumping with bumpy 🐸