The `metadata` section in GoReleaser allows you to attach **custom metadata** to your release artifacts. By adding information such as timestamps or commit hashes, you improve traceability and consistency for your software releases.

---

## Configuration Example

```yaml
metadata:
  mod_timestamp: "{{ .CommitTimestamp }}"
```

This configuration updates the modification timestamp for all artifacts, aligning them with the commit that generated them.

---

## Key Benefits

1. **Traceability**
   Including commit timestamps in metadata makes it easy to identify when a build was created. This is invaluable for debugging and pinpointing specific versions of your artifacts.

2. **Consistency**
   Ensures that the metadata accurately reflects the project’s source code history, making it easier to correlate code changes with released artifacts.

---

## Configuration Option: `mod_timestamp`

The `mod_timestamp` option specifies the modification timestamp for your artifacts.

- **Template Variable**:
  `{{ .CommitTimestamp }}`
  This variable dynamically replaces the `mod_timestamp` with the actual timestamp of the commit, ensuring the artifacts are tightly linked to their source history.

---

# Quoting the GoReleaser documentation:

- https://goreleaser.com/customization/release/

## Metadata

GoReleaser creates some metadata files in the `dist` directory before it
finishes running.

You can also set some global defaults that can be used by other features.

```yaml title=".goreleaser.yaml"
metadata:
  # Set the modified timestamp on the metadata files.
  #
  # Templates: allowed.
  mod_timestamp: "{{ .CommitTimestamp }}"

  # The maintainers of this software.
  # Most features will only use the first maintainer defined here.
  #
  # <!-- md:inline_pro -->.
  # <!-- md:inline_version v2.1 -->.
  # Templates: allowed.
  maintainers:
    - "Foo Bar <foo at bar dot com>"

  # SPDX identifier of your app's license.
  #
  # <!-- md:inline_pro -->.
  # <!-- md:inline_version v2.1 -->.
  # Templates: allowed.
  license: "MIT"

  # Your homepage.
  #
  # <!-- md:inline_pro -->.
  # <!-- md:inline_version v2.1 -->.
  # Templates: allowed.
  homepage: "https://example.com/"

  # Your app's description.
  # Sometimes also referred as "short description".
  #
  # <!-- md:inline_pro -->.
  # <!-- md:inline_version v2.1 -->.
  # Templates: allowed.
  description: "Software to create fast and easy drum rolls."

  # Your app's full description, sometimes also referred to as "long description".
  #
  # It can be a string directly, or you can use `from_url` or `from_file` to
  # source it from somewhere else.
  #
  # <!-- md:inline_pro -->.
  # <!-- md:inline_version v2.1 -->.
  # Templates: allowed.
  full_description:
    # Loads from an URL.
    from_url:
      # Templates: allowed.
      url: https://foo.bar/README.md
      headers:
        x-api-token: "${MYCOMPANY_TOKEN}"

    # Loads from a local file.
    # Overrides `from_url`.
    from_file:
      # Templates: allowed.
      path: ./README.md
```

<!-- md:templates -->