Release Doc

Quick Summary

Goal: Generate a detailed, AI-analyzed release document from git history — by time range (e.g., last 30 days) or custom comparison (e.g., v1.0.0..HEAD) or a user-described focus area.

Workflow:

1. Resolve Range — Determine the git range from user input
2. Dump Artifacts — Save log, file-status, and full diff to docs/release/ BEFORE analyzing
3. Categorize Changes — Group changed files by framework area (hooks, skills, agents, workflows, principles, config, docs)
4. Read Key Diffs — For each category, read the most significant changes via git show or git diff
5. Generate Doc — Write structured markdown release doc to docs/release/
6. Validate — Verify completeness and accuracy against the artifact files

Key Rules:

• Dump first, read second — NEVER analyze a diff you haven't saved to a file first
• Group by theme — Do not list commits chronologically; group by what area they impact
• Cite evidence — Every section claim must reference a specific commit hash or file path
• Custom focus honored — If user provides a focus prompt, weight that area more deeply
• Draft status — All generated docs are Draft; add "Status: Draft" to the header

Release Doc Skill

Generate a detailed, narrative release document by analyzing git history over a time range or between two refs.

Invocation

/release-doc [--days N] [--since DATE] [--range base..head] [--focus "custom prompt"] [--output path]

Examples:

# Last 30 days
/release-doc --days 30

# Since a specific date
/release-doc --since 2026-03-15

# Between two tags or commits
/release-doc --range v1.0.0..HEAD

# With custom focus area
/release-doc --days 30 --focus "what changed in hooks and workflow enforcement"

# Specify output file
/release-doc --days 30 --output docs/release/release-2026-Q1.md

Differences from /release-notes and /changelog

Step 1: Resolve Range

Determine the git range from the user's input:

# Time-based (--days N or --since DATE)
SINCE_DATE=$(date -d "-30 days" +%Y-%m-%d)    # Linux
SINCE_DATE=$(date -v-30d +%Y-%m-%d)            # macOS
git log --since="$SINCE_DATE" --oneline --format="%H %ad %s" --date=short

# Ref-based (--range base..head)
git log v1.0.0..HEAD --oneline --format="%H %ad %s" --date=short

# Count commits in range
git log --since="$SINCE_DATE" --oneline | wc -l

Identify the boundary commits:

# Oldest commit in range (for diff base)
OLDEST=$(git log --since="$SINCE_DATE" --format="%H" | tail -1)
# Newest
NEWEST=HEAD

Step 2: Dump Git Artifacts (MANDATORY BEFORE ANALYSIS)

CRITICAL: Run ALL dumps before reading ANY content. Use background runs for large diffs.

# Create output directory
mkdir -p docs/release

# 1. Full git log with bodies
git log --since="$SINCE_DATE" --format="%H %ad %s%n%b" --date=short \
  > docs/release/git-log-{PERIOD}.txt

# 2. File-level change status (A/M/D)
git diff ${OLDEST}^..HEAD --name-status \
  > docs/release/diff-file-status-{PERIOD}.txt

# 3. Diff stat summary (line counts)
git diff ${OLDEST}^..HEAD --stat \
  > docs/release/diff-stat-{PERIOD}.txt

# 4. Full consolidated diff (background — may be large)
git diff ${OLDEST}^..HEAD \
  > docs/release/git-diff-{PERIOD}-full.txt &

echo "Artifacts saved. Commit count: $(cat docs/release/git-log-{PERIOD}.txt | grep -c '^[a-f0-9]\{40\}')"

Replace {PERIOD} with a human-readable period string, e.g., 30d, 2026-03-15-to-2026-04-14.

Verify all artifact files exist and are non-empty before proceeding.

Step 3: Categorize Changes by Framework Area

Read docs/release/diff-file-status-{PERIOD}.txt and group files into categories:

# Count by area
grep -c "^[AMD]\s*.claude/hooks/" docs/release/diff-file-status-{PERIOD}.txt
grep -c "^[AMD]\s*.claude/skills/" docs/release/diff-file-status-{PERIOD}.txt
grep -c "^[AMD]\s*.claude/agents/" docs/release/diff-file-status-{PERIOD}.txt
grep -c "^[AMD]\s*.claude/workflows" docs/release/diff-file-status-{PERIOD}.txt
grep -c "^[AMD]\s*.claude/docs/" docs/release/diff-file-status-{PERIOD}.txt
grep -c "^[AMD]\s*docs/" docs/release/diff-file-status-{PERIOD}.txt
grep -c "^[AMD]\s*CLAUDE.md" docs/release/diff-file-status-{PERIOD}.txt

Standard category map for easy-claude projects:

For non-easy-claude projects, derive categories from the file path patterns actually present.

Step 4: Analyze Key Changes Per Category

For each category with significant changes (>5 files or >200 lines), read representative diffs:

# Most impactful commits (by files changed)
git log --since="$SINCE_DATE" --format="%H %s" --name-only | \
  grep -A100 "^[a-f0-9]\{40\}" | head -200

# Show specific commit detail
git show {COMMIT_HASH} --stat --format="%s%n%b"

# Diff for a specific file across the range
git diff ${OLDEST}^..HEAD -- .claude/hooks/init-prompt-gate.cjs

Analysis questions for each category:

• Hooks: What new gates or enforcement were added? What context injection changed? What was the trigger behavior before vs after?
• Skills: What new skills were created? What protocols were updated in existing skills? What was removed or merged?
• Agents: What agent definitions changed? Did tool lists or dispatch rules change?
• Workflows: What workflow steps were added/removed? Did sequence order change? Were any workflows merged or deleted?
• Principles: What rules in CLAUDE.md changed? Were confidence thresholds tightened? New hard gates added?
• Config: What new schema fields? What validation was added?
• Scripts/Tooling: What new utilities? What improved or automated?

Evidence requirement: For every claim in the doc, record {commit_hash}:{file_path} as your source.

Step 5: Handle Custom Focus Prompt

If user provided --focus "...", apply additional depth to that area:

1. Grep all changed files matching the focus keywords
2. Read the full diff for matching files (not just stat)
3. Include a dedicated top-level section for the focus area in the output doc
4. Cross-reference related changes in other areas (e.g., a new skill + its hook + its workflow entry)

Step 6: Generate the Release Doc

Write to docs/release/release-notes-{PERIOD}.md (or --output path).

Required structure:

# Release Notes — {Project Name}

**Period:** {START} → {END}
**Commits:** {N} commits | **Files changed:** {N} | **Insertions:** +{N} | **Deletions:** −{N}
**Status:** Draft

---

## Executive Summary

3-4 sentences. The most transformative changes, their business/developer impact, and the overall trajectory.

---

## {Category 1}: {Theme Name}

### What Changed

{Narrative description — not bullet-list of commits}

### Why It Matters

{Impact on how developers/AI uses the system}

### Key Additions / Modifications

| Item | Type | Effect |
| ---- | ---- | ------ |

---

## {Category 2}: ...

[repeat for each significant category]

---

## New Skills Added

| Skill | Command | Purpose |
| ----- | ------- | ------- |

## Skills Removed or Merged

| Skill | Reason |
| ----- | ------ |

## Principles & Rules Updated

| Rule | Before | After | Reason |
| ---- | ------ | ----- | ------ |

---

## Summary Statistics

| Category       | Count |
| -------------- | ----- |
| Commits        | {N}   |
| Files changed  | {N}   |
| New skills     | {N}   |
| Skills removed | {N}   |
| New hooks      | {N}   |
| Hooks modified | {N}   |
| Agents updated | {N}   |
| Net lines      | +{N}  |

---

_Generated: {DATE} | Branch: {BRANCH} | Range: {OLDEST_HASH}..{HEAD_HASH}_
_Artifacts: `docs/release/git-log-{PERIOD}.txt`, `docs/release/diff-file-status-{PERIOD}.txt`_

Step 7: Validate

After writing, verify:

• Every category section references at least one commit hash
• "New Skills" table is complete (cross-check against grep "^A.*skills" diff-file-status-*.txt)
• "Skills Removed" is complete (cross-check against grep "^D.*skills" diff-file-status-*.txt)
• Summary Statistics match the actual diff stat
• No section says "TODO" or contains unfilled template placeholders
• Artifact files are listed in the doc footer

Configuration: Category Map Override

For projects with custom directory structures, override the category map via project-config.json:

{
    "releaseDoc": {
        "categoryMap": {
            "{api-source-root}/**": "API Layer",
            "{ui-source-root}/**": "Frontend",
            "migrations/**": "Database Schema"
        },
        "outputDir": "docs/release",
        "focusAreas": ["hooks", "skills", "agents"]
    }
}

Integration with Other Skills

• /release-notes — Use after /release-doc to generate a consumer-facing version (tag-to-tag, conventional commits)
• /changelog — Use for individual feature changelog entries; /release-doc is for multi-week summaries
• /graph-blast-radius — Run before release to assess impact of the most changed files
• /docs-update — Update project reference docs after analyzing what changed
• /commit — Commit the generated release doc

Troubleshooting

Diff too large for context

Solution: The skill requires artifact files be written first — never read the full diff into context. Use git show {hash} for individual commits and grep -l to narrow file scope.

Time range yields 0 commits

# Verify date format (ISO 8601)
git log --since="2026-03-15" --oneline | head -5
# If empty, check git's date interpretation:
git log --format="%ad" --date=short | head -5

Non-easy-claude project structure

The skill auto-derives categories from file paths. For repositories without .claude/, group by discovered source roots, tests, docs, scripts, and config paths instead.

Workflow Recommendation

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION — NO EXCEPTIONS: If you are NOT already in a workflow, use AskUserQuestion to ask the user:

1. Execute /release-doc directly (Recommended) — Standalone analysis and doc generation
2. Run /production-readiness-review + /quality-gate first — Pre-release quality gate, then release doc

Next Steps

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION — NO EXCEPTIONS after completing this skill, use AskUserQuestion to present:

• "/release-notes (Recommended)" — Generate consumer-facing release notes from the same range
• "/commit" — Commit the generated release doc to version control
• "/docs-update" — Sync project reference docs with any changes discovered during analysis
• "Skip, done" — User decides

[IMPORTANT] Use TaskCreate to break ALL work into small tasks BEFORE starting. This prevents context loss during large diff analysis. Always dump git artifacts to external files before reading.

External Memory: Write ALL intermediate findings and git artifacts to docs/release/ — this is MANDATORY. Large diffs will overflow context. Never try to hold a 30-day diff in memory.

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

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: traced file:line proof per claim, confidence >80% to act, never guess.

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION dump ALL git artifacts to docs/release/ BEFORE reading any diff content IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION break work into small todo tasks using TaskCreate BEFORE starting IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION cite commit hash + file path for every claim in the generated doc IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION add a final review task to validate completeness against artifact files

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