- name
- aicr-release-notes
- description
- Use when drafting the human-readable GitHub release notes summary for an
upcoming AICR release. Triggers on "release notes", "draft release notes",
"/aicr-release-notes", or any request to summarize commits since the last
tag into a polished release announcement.
Runs tools/changelog, groups commits into thematic highlights, mirrors the
style of the previous release, and writes a Markdown draft to a temp file
for hand-editing before publishing.
# AICR Release Notes Draft
Generates the user-facing release notes summary that goes into the GitHub
Releases body (e.g. <https://github.com/NVIDIA/aicr/releases/tag/v0.13.0>),
NOT the raw `tools/changelog` commit list that already appears below the
summary. Output is a draft — the author hand-edits before publishing.
## When to Use
- User asks to draft release notes, release summary, or release announcement
- User invokes `/aicr-release-notes`
- A tag is about to be cut and the maintainer needs the highlights paragraph
Do NOT use this skill to publish a release, push a tag, or edit
`CHANGELOG.md`. It only writes a Markdown draft to a temp file.
## Inputs
`tools/changelog` is the single source of truth for:
- Which tag range is being summarized (it picks the latest stable tag
and prints `[MSG] Changes since vX.Y.Z` to stderr).
- The set of commits to consider.
- The author handle for every commit (already rendered as
`by [@handle](https://github.com/handle)` at the end of each line).
Do NOT re-derive any of this with separate `git log`, `gh api`, or
`gh pr list` calls. If `tools/changelog` doesn't surface it, it
doesn't belong in the summary.
No optional input is needed. Do not ask for or guess the target tag —
the filename is fixed (see Step 5) and the body never names the new
tag (GitHub renders the tag in the release header).
## Procedure
### Step 1 — Gather raw material
Run in parallel:
```bash
# Commit list since last stable tag — single source of truth
tools/changelog
# Previous release body for style mirroring (use the tag from
# tools/changelog's "[MSG] Changes since vX.Y.Z" stderr line)
gh release view <previous-tag> --json body --jq '.body'
```
If `tools/changelog` errors ("No release tags found", empty output),
stop and ask the user how to proceed — do not invent a range.
### Step 2 — Classify commits into themes
Read every line of `tools/changelog` output. Group by **user-visible
impact**, NOT by conventional-commit scope. The goal is a release-notes
narrative, not a mirror of `git log`. Useful theme buckets, in rough
priority order:
1. **Headline feature** — the single most significant new capability
(often a new command, a new deployer, a new contract). Open paragraph
should name 3–4 of these inline as bolded phrases.
2. **New deployer / output target** — bundler additions, new packaging.
3. **Recipes & overlays** — new accelerator/service/intent combinations,
new mixins. Use a bulleted sub-list when there are 3+.
4. **Validation / evidence / supply chain** — anything that strengthens
trust: BOM, SBOM, signing, evidence verification, conformance.
5. **Docs / DX** — new doc site features, CLI ergonomics, config
unification.
6. **Other improvements** — collect leftover user-visible wins.
**Exclude from the narrative** (they still appear in the raw changelog
below the summary on the GitHub release page):
- `deps:` bumps and Renovate/Dependabot lines
- CI plumbing that doesn't change developer experience
- Pure refactors with no user-visible effect UNLESS the cumulative effect
is a public API surface change worth flagging (e.g. "Per-Builder
DataProvider isolation" got a mention because it's a contract change
for embedders of `pkg/client/v1` / `pkg/aicr`)
- Test-only changes
- Doc-style fixups
### Step 3 — Draft the Markdown
Match the exact structure of the previous release. Required sections, in
order:
1. **Opening paragraph** — one sentence. "This release focuses on
…, …, …, and …." Each major theme is `**bolded**` inline. No
heading above it.
2. **`### Highlights`** — heading exactly as written.
3. **`**Theme Name**` blocks** — each starts with bolded title, em dash
(` — `, with spaces), then 1–3 sentences OR a bulleted sub-list.
Use sub-lists when enumerating 3+ concrete items (e.g. recipes added).
4. **`### Deprecations`** — **required whenever the release deprecates or
removes anything on the four frozen surfaces** (CLI, REST, Go SDK, bundle
and artifact schemas); omit the heading entirely when it does not. One
bullet per item: what is deprecated, the replacement, and the release that
removes it. This is a release-blocking section, not a courtesy — see the
[deprecation policy](https://github.com/NVIDIA/aicr/blob/main/RELEASE.md#deprecation-policy).
Every bullet here must also have an entry in `docs/user/deprecations.md`;
if it does not, the deprecation is incomplete and the release is not ready.
5. **Closing credits line** — `***Thanks to*** @user1, @user2, …, and
@mchmarny.` Alphabetical (case-insensitive) by handle, with
`@mchmarny` moved to the final position preceded by `and `.
**Style rules** drawn from prior releases:
- Issue/PR references use `[NVIDIA/aicr#NNN](https://github.com/NVIDIA/aicr/issues/NNN)`
form, NOT a bare `#NNN`.
- External product links use full URLs in markdown
(`[docs.nvidia.com/aicr](https://docs.nvidia.com/aicr)`).
- Backtick CLI commands: `` `aicr validate` ``, `` `aicr evidence verify` ``.
- Use em dashes (` — `) not hyphens for the inline definition pattern.
- No emoji. No "What's Changed" heading. No version-comparison link
(GitHub adds those automatically).
- Keep total length comparable to the previous release (~250–400 words
in the summary, not counting the auto-appended changelog).
### Step 4 — Build the contributor list
The thanks line comes **entirely** from the `by [@handle](...)`
annotations already present in `tools/changelog` output. Extract every
unique `@handle` with a simple grep/awk over the changelog text:
```bash
tools/changelog 2>/dev/null \
| grep -oE 'by \[@[^]]+\]' \
| sed -E 's/by \[@//; s/\]$//' \
| sort -uf \
| grep -viE '\[bot$'
```
Note the `[^]]+` capture stops at the FIRST `]`, so handles like
`dependabot[bot]` come out as `dependabot[bot` (no trailing `]`). The
final `grep -viE '\[bot$'` accounts for this — do NOT change it to
`'\[bot\]$'` or bots will leak into the thanks line.
Then:
- Drop any handle ending in `[bot` after extraction (bot accounts:
`dependabot[bot]`, `github-actions[bot]`, `renovate[bot]`,
`copy-pr-bot`, etc.).
- Sort alphabetically (case-insensitive).
- Move `mchmarny` to the final slot preceded by `and `.
- Do NOT link the @-mentions in the output — GitHub auto-links them.
### Step 5 — Write the draft
Write to `$TMPDIR/aicr-release-notes.md` — fixed filename, no version
suffix. Do NOT write under the repo tree — this is a hand-edit draft,
not a checked-in artifact. Overwrite any prior draft at that path.
**Append an "Unresolved questions for hand-edit" section at the bottom
of the file**, separated from the credits line by a horizontal rule
(`---`). The author edits the file directly, so questions belong in
the file, not in chat. Typical content:
- Calls the author should make about emphasis (e.g., "should the X
bump be promoted to a highlight?")
- Things to verify before publishing (issue references, feature
completeness, prior-release framing)
- Anything the skill chose to omit that the author may want back
Format the section as:
```markdown
---
## Unresolved questions for hand-edit
1. **<topic>** — <one-or-two sentence note explaining the call to make>
2. **<topic>** — <…>
```
This section is for the author's eyes only and gets deleted before
publishing.
After writing, print to chat:
1. A ready-to-run macOS clipboard command on its own line in a fenced
bash block: `pbcopy < <absolute-path>`. The user copies that line,
runs it, and pastes into the GitHub release form. Do not print the
bare path on a separate line — the `pbcopy` form is the path.
2. A one-line summary of which themes the draft surfaced (so the user
can quickly tell if you missed something).
Do NOT cat the full draft back into chat — the user will open the file
directly. Do NOT print the unresolved questions separately — they are
already in the file.
## Output Format Reference
The structure to mirror, with placeholders:
```markdown
This release focuses on <theme-1-bolded>, <theme-2-bolded>, <theme-3-bolded>, and <theme-4-bolded>.
### Highlights
**<Theme 1 Title>** — <1–3 sentence narrative explaining what shipped and
why it matters to a user. Reference commands in backticks. Link issues as
[NVIDIA/aicr#NNN](https://github.com/NVIDIA/aicr/issues/NNN).>
**<Theme 2 Title>** — <narrative>
**<Theme with enumerated items>**
* <Concrete item 1>
* <Concrete item 2>
* <Concrete item 3>
**Other Improvements**
* <Leftover user-visible win 1>
* <Leftover user-visible win 2>
**<Supply Chain or Trust Theme>** — <narrative>
***Thanks to*** @alice, @bob, @carol, and @mchmarny.
```
## Failure Modes
- **`tools/changelog` is empty** — likely the tag already exists or
`LAST_TAG..HEAD` is empty. Ask the user which range to summarize.
- **`gh release view` fails** — the previous tag may not have a release
yet. Fall back to reading the README's recent-releases section or
ask the user to point at a reference release for style.
- **Repo state has uncommitted changes** — fine, `tools/changelog` only
reads git history. No need to stash.
## What This Skill Does NOT Do
- Does not run `git tag` or push tags
- Does not create the GitHub release
- Does not edit `CHANGELOG.md` or any in-repo file
- Does not re-derive commit ranges, author handles, or commit lists
outside of `tools/changelog` output
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