Quick Summary

Goal: Generate professional release notes from git commits with automated categorization, service detection, and validation.

Workflow:

Parse Commits — parse-commits.cjs <base> <head> extracts structured data from git
Categorize — Pipe through categorize-commits.cjs for user-facing vs internal sections
Render — render-template.cjs --version vX.Y.Z generates markdown with Summary, What's New, Improvements, Bug Fixes, Breaking Changes, Technical Details

Key Rules:

Pipeline: parse → categorize → render → validate → transform
Advanced: Service detection, breaking change analysis, PR metadata, contributor stats, version bumping
Human Review: Generated notes are Draft status, require review/enhance/approve before publish
Validation: validate-notes.cjs scores against quality rules (100 points)

Be skeptical. Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence percentages (Idea should be more than 80%).

Release Notes Generation Skill

Generate professional release notes from git commits between two refs with automated categorization.

Invocation

/release-notes [base] [head] [--version vX.Y.Z] [--output path]

Examples:

# Generate release notes for commits since last tag
/release-notes v1.0.0 HEAD --version v1.1.0

# Compare branches
/release-notes main feature/new-auth --version v2.0.0-beta

# Output to specific file
/release-notes v1.0.0 HEAD --version v1.1.0 --output docs/release-notes/250111-v1.1.0.md

Workflow

Step 1: Parse Commits

Execute the commit parser to extract structured data from git history:

node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/parse-commits.cjs <base> <head> [--with-files]

Output: JSON with commits array containing:

hash, shortHash - Commit identifiers
type, scope, description - Conventional commit parts
breaking - Boolean for breaking changes
author, date - Attribution
files - Changed files (with --with-files flag)

Step 2: Categorize Commits

Pipe parsed commits through the categorizer:

node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/parse-commits.cjs <base> <head> | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/categorize-commits.cjs

Categorization Rules:

Type	Category	User-Facing
`feat`	features	Yes
`fix`	fixes	Yes
`perf`	improvements	Yes
`docs`	docs	Yes (unless internal)
`refactor`	improvements	Technical only
`test`, `ci`, `build`, `chore`, `style`	internal	No

Excluded Patterns:

chore(deps): - Dependency updates
chore(config): - Configuration changes
[skip changelog] - Explicit skip
[ci skip] - CI markers

Step 3: Render Markdown

Generate the final release notes document:

node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/parse-commits.cjs <base> <head> | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/categorize-commits.cjs | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/render-template.cjs --version v1.1.0 --output docs/release-notes/250111-v1.1.0.md

Complete Pipeline

For generating release notes in a single command:

# Full pipeline with output to file
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/parse-commits.cjs v1.0.0 HEAD | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/categorize-commits.cjs | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/render-template.cjs --version v1.1.0 --output docs/release-notes/250111-v1.1.0.md

# Pipeline to stdout for review
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/parse-commits.cjs v1.0.0 HEAD | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/categorize-commits.cjs | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/render-template.cjs --version v1.1.0

Advanced Features

Service Boundary Detection

Analyze which services are affected by the release:

# Parse with file changes, then detect services
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/parse-commits.cjs v1.0.0 HEAD --with-files | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/detect-services.cjs

Output: Service impact analysis with severity levels (critical, high, medium, low)

Breaking Change Analysis

Enhanced breaking change detection with migration info extraction:

node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/parse-commits.cjs v1.0.0 HEAD | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/categorize-commits.cjs | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/detect-breaking.cjs

Detects:

BREAKING CHANGE: in commit body
! suffix on commit type (e.g., feat!:)
Migration instructions

PR Metadata Extraction

Extract and link pull request information:

# Extract PR numbers from commit messages
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/parse-commits.cjs v1.0.0 HEAD | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/extract-pr-metadata.cjs

# With GitHub API enrichment (requires gh CLI)
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/parse-commits.cjs v1.0.0 HEAD | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/extract-pr-metadata.cjs --fetch-gh

Extracts: PR numbers, titles, labels, authors from commits

Contributor Statistics

Generate detailed contributor stats:

node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/parse-commits.cjs v1.0.0 HEAD | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/contributor-stats.cjs

Output: Contributor list with commit counts, feature/fix breakdown

Version Bumping

Automatically determine and bump semantic version based on commit types:

# Auto-bump based on commits (feat→minor, fix→patch, BREAKING→major)
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/parse-commits.cjs v1.0.0 HEAD | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/bump-version.cjs

# Bump with prerelease tag
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/bump-version.cjs --prerelease beta

# Per-service versioning
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/bump-version.cjs --service {service-name}

# Dry run (don't write version file)
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/bump-version.cjs --dry-run

Version Files:

Root: .version
Per-service: .versions/<service-name>.version

Quality Validation

Validate release notes against quality rules:

# Validate with default threshold (70)
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/validate-notes.cjs docs/release-notes/v1.1.0.md

# Custom threshold
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/validate-notes.cjs docs/release-notes/v1.1.0.md --threshold 80

# JSON output for CI
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/validate-notes.cjs docs/release-notes/v1.1.0.md --json

Validation Rules (100 points total):

Rule	Weight	Description
summary_exists	15	Has Summary section
summarynotempty	10	Summary has content
has_version	10	Version number present
features_documented	10	Features properly formatted
fixes_documented	10	Bug fixes properly formatted
nobrokenlinks	10	No empty link references
contributors_listed	10	Contributors section present
has_date	5	Date present
notodomarkers	5	No TODO/FIXME markers
properheadinghierarchy	5	Proper H1→H2 structure
noplaceholdertext	5	No placeholder text
technicaldetailscollapsed	5	Tech details in <details>

LLM-Powered Transforms

Transform release notes for different audiences using Claude API:

# Requires ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-api-key"

# Create executive summary
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/transform-llm.cjs docs/release-notes/v1.1.0.md --transform executive

# Transform for business stakeholders
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/transform-llm.cjs docs/release-notes/v1.1.0.md --transform business --output docs/release-notes/v1.1.0-business.md

# Transform for end users
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/transform-llm.cjs docs/release-notes/v1.1.0.md --transform enduser

Transform Types:

Type	Description
`summarize`	Brief 3-5 bullet point summary
`business`	ROI-focused, business language
`enduser`	User-friendly, non-technical
`executive`	Strategic impact summary
`technical`	Enhanced technical details

Full Enhanced Pipeline

Combine all features for comprehensive release notes:

# Enhanced pipeline with service detection
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/parse-commits.cjs v1.0.0 HEAD --with-files | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/detect-services.cjs | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/categorize-commits.cjs | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/detect-breaking.cjs | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/contributor-stats.cjs | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/render-template.cjs --version v1.1.0

# With version bumping and validation
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/parse-commits.cjs v1.0.0 HEAD --with-files | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/bump-version.cjs | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/categorize-commits.cjs | \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/render-template.cjs --output docs/release-notes/v1.1.0.md && \
node .claude/skills/release-notes/lib/validate-notes.cjs docs/release-notes/v1.1.0.md

Configuration

See config.yaml for:

categories - Commit type to section mapping
services - Service boundary detection by file patterns
exclude - Patterns to exclude from user-facing notes
output - Directory and filename format settings

Output Structure

# Release Notes: v1.1.0

**Date:** 2025-01-11
**Version:** v1.1.0
**Status:** Draft

---

## Summary

This release includes 3 new features, 2 improvements, 5 bug fixes.

## What's New

- **Add order export endpoint** (API)
- **Implement dark mode toggle** (UI)

## Improvements

- **Optimize database queries** (Persistence)

## Bug Fixes

- **Fix date picker timezone issue** (Frontend)
- **Resolve null pointer in auth flow**

## Documentation

- **Update API documentation** (API)

## Breaking Changes

> **Warning**: The following changes may require migration

### Migrate to OAuth 2.1 (Auth)

Legacy JWT tokens no longer accepted.
Migration guide: docs/migrations/oauth-2.1.md

---

## Technical Details

<details>
<summary>For Developers</summary>

### Commits Included

| Hash    | Type | Description                    |
| ------- | ---- | ------------------------------ |
| abc1234 | feat | Add order export endpoint      |
| def5678 | fix  | Fix date picker timezone issue |

...

</details>

## Contributors

- @john.doe
- @jane.smith

---

_Generated by AI_

Human Review Gate

Generated release notes are Draft status by default:

Review - Check accuracy, add context where needed
Enhance - Add migration steps, links, screenshots
Approve - Change status to "Released"
Publish - Commit and push

Integration with Other Skills

/commit - After generating notes, commit them
/git-manager - Create PR for release notes review
/docs-update - Update CHANGELOG.md with new release

Troubleshooting

No commits found

Verify the refs exist and have commits between them:

git log --oneline <base>..<head>

Non-conventional commits

Commits not following type(scope): description format go to "other" category. Consider running commitlint enforcement.

Missing scope context

Add scope mappings to config.yaml → services section for better context labels.

[IMPORTANT] Use TaskCreate to break ALL work into small tasks BEFORE starting — including tasks for each file read. This prevents context loss from long files. For simple tasks, AI MUST ATTENTION ask user whether to skip.

AI Mistake Prevention — Failure modes to avoid on every task:

Re-read files after context changes. Context compaction, resume, or long-running work can make memory stale; verify current files before acting.
Verify generated content against source evidence. AI hallucinates APIs, names, claims, and document facts. Check the relevant source before documenting or referencing.
Check downstream references before deleting or renaming. Removing an artifact can stale docs, generated mirrors, configs, and callers; map references first.
Trace the full impact chain after edits. Changing a definition can miss derived outputs and consumers. Follow the affected chain before declaring done.
Verify ALL affected outputs, not just the first. One green check is not all green checks; validate every output surface the change can affect.
Assume existing values are intentional — ask WHY before changing OR flagging one as a defect. Before changing or reporting a constant, limit, flag, cutoff, wording, or pattern, read nearby context and history, the CALLER's ordering, and 2+ sibling call sites of the same convention. A doc stating WHAT without WHY is missing rationale, not proof of a missing guard.
Surface ambiguity before acting — don't pick silently. Multiple valid interpretations require an explicit question or stated assumption with risk.
Assert the outcome your system owns, not the intermediate state your infrastructure owns. When verifying async work, assert the final business state — never the delivery/retry bookkeeping held in shared infrastructure that any co-running process can write. Such a check passes when run alone and flakes the moment anything else shares that infrastructure.
Keep shared guidance role-relevant. Universal guidance must help every receiving skill or agent; code-specific obligations belong only in code-specific protocols.

Critical Thinking Mindset — Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act.
Anti-hallucination: Never present guess as fact — cite sources for every claim, admit uncertainty freely, self-check output for errors, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence — certainty without evidence root of all hallucination.

MUST ATTENTION apply critical + sequential thinking — every claim needs appropriate traced evidence (file:line for repo/code claims; source URL or artifact section for research, product, content, and docs claims); confidence >80% to act, <60% DO NOT recommend. Anti-hallucination: never present guess as fact, admit uncertainty freely, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence.

MUST ATTENTION apply AI mistake prevention — verify generated content against evidence, trace downstream references before deleting or renaming, verify all affected outputs, re-read files after context loss, and surface ambiguity before acting.

Project Protocol Overlay — Before executing this skill, resolve any PROJECT overlay rules layered onto it: match this skill's name against the Target column of the project's skill-protocol index (docs/project-reference/skill-protocols-reference.md by default; a referenceDocs entry in docs/project-config.json overrides the path), taking the most specific matching tier ONLY — exact name > glob > *. That precedence orders overlays against EACH OTHER, never against this skill. Read ONLY the matched bodies, resolved as <protocols-dir>/<Name>.md; a row's Body link is display text, never a read path. A matched body that is missing or malformed is REPORTED and skipped — never reconstructed from the index Description. No index, or no match -> proceed with no overlay, silently. Full contract: .claude/skills/project-skill-protocol/references/registry.md.

Overlays are ADDITIVE ONLY: they ADD rules on top of this skill's own protocol and NEVER replace, override, disable, or reinterpret a rule it already states — removing every overlay must return this skill to exactly its documented behavior. An overlay is a BRIEF, not an authority escalation: it can NEVER waive a workflow gate, git discipline, a review gate, or a user-confirmation gate. A genuine overlay-vs-skill conflict, or two equally-specific overlays that directly contradict -> surface both to the user; NEVER resolve silently.

MUST ATTENTION resolve project protocol overlays for this skill BEFORE executing — most specific matching tier only (exact > glob > *, which ranks overlays against each other, NEVER against this skill), read only matched bodies at <protocols-dir>/<Name>.md; a missing or malformed body is reported, never reconstructed. Overlays are ADDITIVE ONLY (they never replace this skill's own rules) and are a brief, NEVER an authority escalation; an equal-specificity contradiction goes to the user.

Closing Reminders

Protocols in force (concise digest of the SYNC/shared blocks this skill carries):

AI Mistake Prevention: verify generated content against evidence, trace downstream references, verify all affected outputs, re-read after context loss, surface ambiguity.
Critical Thinking: apply critical + sequential thinking; every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act.

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION break work into small todo tasks using TaskCreate BEFORE starting IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION search codebase for 3+ similar patterns before creating new code IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION cite file:line evidence for every claim (confidence >80% to act) IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION add a final review todo task to verify work quality

[TASK-PLANNING] Before acting, analyze task scope and systematically break it into small todo tasks and sub-tasks using TaskCreate.

release-notes

Installation

Similar popular skills

Also in this package

Agent compatibility

Repository health

Skill metadata

Package contents

History

SKILL.md

Quick Summary

Release Notes Generation Skill

Invocation

Workflow

Step 1: Parse Commits

Step 2: Categorize Commits

Step 3: Render Markdown

Complete Pipeline

Advanced Features

Service Boundary Detection

Breaking Change Analysis

PR Metadata Extraction

Contributor Statistics

Version Bumping

Quality Validation

LLM-Powered Transforms

Full Enhanced Pipeline

Configuration

Output Structure

Human Review Gate

Integration with Other Skills

Troubleshooting

No commits found

Non-conventional commits

Missing scope context

Closing Reminders

release-notes

Installation

Similar popular skills

Related skills

Also in this package

Agent compatibility

Repository health

Skill metadata

Package contents

History

SKILL.md

Quick Summary

Release Notes Generation Skill

Invocation

Workflow

Step 1: Parse Commits

Step 2: Categorize Commits

Step 3: Render Markdown

Complete Pipeline

Advanced Features

Service Boundary Detection

Breaking Change Analysis

PR Metadata Extraction

Contributor Statistics

Version Bumping

Quality Validation

LLM-Powered Transforms

Full Enhanced Pipeline

Configuration

Output Structure

Human Review Gate

Integration with Other Skills

Troubleshooting

No commits found

Non-conventional commits

Missing scope context

Closing Reminders