generate-release-changelog

name	generate-release-changelog
description	Generate a polished changelog for the latest Git tag. Classifies commits by impact, adds product and technical perspective, and prints the result directly in chat. Triggers on /generate-release-changelog or requests to generate/draft a changelog for the latest release. Use when this capability is needed.
metadata	{"author":"archcore-ai"}

Generate Release Changelog

Produce a tight, human-readable changelog for the latest published Git tag and print it as the final assistant message. This skill is read-only — do not write, edit, or create any files, directories, or git/GitHub objects at any point.

The product owner reads this to understand what changed for users, not what was implemented. Optimize for impact density: every bullet must answer "what is different now from a user's seat?". Cut anything that does not.

Hard constraints (non-negotiable)

• No file writes: do not use Write, Edit, Bash mkdir/touch, or any equivalent.
• No remote writes: do not run git commit, git tag, git push, or gh release create/edit.
• Output is a single chat message in Markdown. No preamble ("Here's your changelog:"), no follow-up questions, no commentary after the changelog ends.
• If the commit range is empty, print a single line: No commits found between <previous> and <latest>. and stop.

Step 1 — Resolve the tag range

Run in parallel:

git tag --sort=-creatordate | head -5
git describe --tags --abbrev=0

• latest = output of git describe --tags --abbrev=0.
• previous = the next tag in the sorted list. If no previous tag exists, use git rev-list --max-parents=0 HEAD | head -1 and note "initial release" in the changelog.
• If the user provides a tag argument, treat that as latest; derive previous from the sorted list.

Step 2 — Collect commits

git log <previous>..<latest> --no-merges --pretty=format:'%H%x09%s%x09%an'

For each commit, capture changed files:

git show --stat --pretty=format:'' <sha> | head -40

For commits with ambiguous subjects (e.g., chore: misc, wip, update), inspect the diff only for paths that look load-bearing — skip obvious docs: / chore: commits:

git show <sha> -- <relevant-paths>

Step 3 — Classify commits

Map every commit to exactly one bucket. Conventional Commit prefixes are a hint; the diff is authoritative — a chore: commit that ships user-visible behavior belongs in Features.

Buckets (use this order in the output):

1. Breaking changes — backward-incompatible changes to config schema, flags, output format, file layout, or API contracts.
2. Features — new user-visible capability.
3. Improvements — enhancements to existing behavior (UX, performance, validation, compatibility).
4. Fixes — corrections to incorrect behavior.

Drop everything else. Do not include sections for documentation, refactors, tests, CI, dependency bumps, or internal cleanup. The only exception: if a commit changes something downstream users will feel — minimum Go version bump, removed dependency, security CVE — surface it under Breaking changes or Improvements with a product-facing sentence.

Skip purely cosmetic commits (whitespace, typo).

Merge near-duplicates into one bullet. Two commits that fix the same bug get one line. Three commits that build one feature get one line.

Step 4 — Write each bullet

Strict rules — apply to every bullet:

• One sentence. Maximum 15 words. Aim for 8–12.
• Lead with the user-visible state, not the work performed. Describe the new behavior as it now is.
• Name the concrete surface (flag, command, config field, file) only when it is the thing the user touches. Drop it if the impact is clearer without it.
• No filler: cut "now", "you can now", "users can", "we have", "this release", "added support for", "improved the way", "made it possible to".
• No commit-message echoes. Rewrite for a reader who has not seen the code.
• Active voice. Present tense.
• No commit SHAs, no author names, no PR/issue numbers unless they carry meaning the reader needs.

Examples (calibrate against these):

Avoid	Prefer
feat: improve working with cwd	Commands run from any subdirectory inside the repo.
Added support for storing local document relations in .sync-state.json so they survive across sync runs.	Local relations persist across syncs.
Fixed a bug where the init command would fail if the .archcore directory already existed with a partial config.	``init no longer fails on partial existing configs.
Improved the validation logic for sync mode fields to provide clearer error messages.	Sync-mode validation errors point at the offending field.
BREAKING: The project field has been removed from the configuration schema.	``projectfield removed fromsettings.json.

If you cannot write a bullet that meets these rules, the change probably does not belong in the changelog — drop it.

Step 5 — Output format

Emit exactly this structure (omit any section that would be empty):

# <latest-tag>
_<YYYY-MM-DD> · <N> commits_

<One sentence, max 20 words. The headline of the release in user-impact terms. Omit the line entirely if no single change dominates — do not pad.>

## Breaking changes
- ...

## Features
- ...

## Improvements
- ...

## Fixes
- ...

---
`<previous-tag>...<latest-tag>`

• Release date: git log -1 --format=%ai <latest-tag> (date portion only).
• Do not invent items not backed by a commit in the range.
• The headline is optional. Skip it rather than write a generic one ("This release brings improvements and fixes.").
• A release with three good bullets is better than one with twelve mediocre ones.

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Source: archcore-ai/cli — distributed by TomeVault.