Changelog

Changelog

Add changelog entries as individual files in docs/changelog-entries/, then regenerate docs/changelog.mdx before opening or updating the PR.

Use a single long-lived branch for changelog automation: automation/changelog. The automation should update the existing open changelog PR from that branch when possible instead of opening multiple concurrent changelog PRs.

Principles

1. User-facing only. No infrastructure, CI, security hardening, billing internals, queue fixes, cron changes, self-hosting features, or anything users don't directly see or interact with.
2. Lead with a headline. Each entry has a theme name in the description field (e.g., "Chat Everywhere", not "v2.28"). The theme should immediately tell users what changed.
3. One short paragraph explaining the headline feature — what it does and why it matters. Write for end users, not developers.
4. 3–5 bullets max for other notable improvements in that release. If you can't fill 3 bullets, roll the changes into the next entry that has a strong headline.
5. Skip releases without a standout feature. Not every deploy needs a changelog entry. Only write one when there's something worth headlining.
6. Casual, clear tone. Use "you" and "your", not "users". No jargon. No version numbers as headlines.

Format

Create or update docs/changelog-entries/YYYY-MM-DD.mdx with frontmatter + markdown:

---
description: "Headline Theme"
---

One or two sentences about the main feature.

- Bullet one
- Bullet two
- Bullet three

The date is derived from the filename automatically.

Do not hand-edit docs/changelog.mdx. Regenerate it with node docs/scripts/build-changelog.mjs.

What to include

• New features users can try
• Meaningful UX improvements they'll notice
• New platform/integration support

What to skip

• Bug fixes (unless they were widely reported)
• Security hardening (unless there was a public incident)
• Infrastructure, performance, CI/CD changes
• Billing or pricing internals
• Self-hosting or developer-only changes
• Internal refactors, lint fixes, dependency updates

Process

1. Review recent merged PRs: gh pr list --repo elie222/inbox-zero --state merged --limit 30 --json number,title,mergedAt
2. Filter to user-facing changes only
3. Group into a theme — find the headline
4. Check for an existing open changelog PR from automation/changelog to main: gh pr list --repo elie222/inbox-zero --head automation/changelog --base main --state open --json number,title,url
5. Create or update today's file docs/changelog-entries/YYYY-MM-DD.mdx with frontmatter (description) and markdown content
6. If today's file already exists, merge the new updates into that file instead of creating a second entry for the same day
7. Regenerate docs/changelog.mdx: node docs/scripts/build-changelog.mjs
8. Commit both docs/changelog-entries/YYYY-MM-DD.mdx and docs/changelog.mdx
9. If the open PR from automation/changelog exists, update that branch and PR; otherwise create it from automation/changelog

Branch workflow

Before making changes, reset the automation branch to the latest main so each run starts from a clean base:

git fetch origin
git checkout -B automation/changelog origin/main

After updating the changelog files, push that branch and create or update the PR from automation/changelog to main.