git for-each-ref Command in CI

git for-each-ref iterates over refs and prints them in a fully customizable format.

When you need scriptable, sortable output over tags or branches (more than git tag -l offers), for-each-ref is the plumbing tool. It is ideal for finding the latest release programmatically.

Common flags

--sort=<key> - sort by a field, e.g. -creatordate or -version:refname
--format=<fmt> - output with placeholders like %(refname:short) and %(objectname)
--count=N - limit to the first N refs after sorting
--points-at <commit> - only refs that point at the given commit
<pattern> - restrict to refs matching a glob (e.g. refs/tags/v*)

Example

shell

# Latest tag plus its SHA, newest first
git for-each-ref --sort=-version:refname --count=1 \
  --format='%(refname:short) %(objectname:short)' refs/tags

In CI

for-each-ref with --sort=-version:refname --count=1 is a precise way to grab the newest release tag and any metadata in one call, avoiding fragile parsing of git tag output. Use --points-at to find which tag (if any) the current commit carries.

Key takeaways

git for-each-ref gives sorted, custom-formatted ref output for release scripts.
--count=1 with version sorting reliably returns the latest tag.
--points-at reveals whether the current commit is itself a release.