Release Notes Generator

Release Notes Generator

Create release notes summarizing features, fixes, and breaking changes for releases.

When to Use

Use this skill when you need to:

• Prepare release notes for a new version
• Summarize changes for users/stakeholders
• Document migration steps for breaking changes

Use keep-a-changelog-generator instead when you need to maintain the project's CHANGELOG.md file. This skill writes the narrative announcement for a single release; that one keeps the structured, cumulative changelog.

Release Notes Structure

# Release v1.2.0

## Highlights

Brief summary of the most important changes (2-3 sentences).

## New Features

### Feature Name
Description of what it does and why it matters.

**Usage:**
```typescript
// Code example

Improvements

• Improvement 1
• Improvement 2

Bug Fixes

• Fixed issue with X (#123)
• Resolved Y when Z

Breaking Changes

Change Name

What changed: Description

Migration:

// Before
oldMethod();

// After
newMethod();

Dependencies

• Updated package-name from 1.0.0 to 2.0.0

## Information Gathering

### Git Commands

```bash
# Commits since last release
git log v1.1.0..HEAD --oneline

# Detailed commit messages
git log v1.1.0..HEAD --format="%h %s%n%b%n---"

# Files changed
git diff v1.1.0..HEAD --stat

# Contributors
git log v1.1.0..HEAD --format="%an" | sort | uniq

Writing Guidelines

Highlights Section

Focus on user value:

• What can users do now that they couldn't before?
• What problems are solved?
• Why should they upgrade?

Feature Descriptions

Include:

• What it does
• Why it matters
• Basic usage example

Breaking Changes

Must include:

• Clear description of what changed
• Why it changed
• Step-by-step migration guide
• Code examples (before/after)

Version Numbers

Follow semantic versioning:

• Major (1.0.0): Breaking changes
• Minor (0.1.0): New features, backward compatible
• Patch (0.0.1): Bug fixes, backward compatible

Example Release Notes

# Release v1.2.0

## Highlights

This release adds health data visualization and improves task scheduling
performance. Users can now view their health trends over time.

## New Features

### Health Data Visualization

View your health metrics in interactive charts.

**Usage:**
```typescript
import { HealthChart } from './components/health';

<HealthChart data={healthData} timeRange="week" />

Improvements

• Task scheduling is now 50% faster
• Improved error messages for authentication failures

Bug Fixes

• Fixed race condition in account state initialization (#45)
• Resolved infinite loop when no tasks exist (#52)

Breaking Changes

useHealthData Hook

What changed: useHealthData() now returns an object instead of array

Migration:

// Before
const [data, isLoading] = useHealthData();

// After
const { data, isLoading } = useHealthData();

## Checklist

- [ ] Highlights summarize key changes
- [ ] All new features documented with examples
- [ ] Breaking changes have migration guides
- [ ] Bug fixes reference issue numbers
- [ ] Version number follows semver