| name | changelog-review |
| description | Claude Code changelog analysis for plugin impact. Use when checking new features, breaking changes, or upgrade opportunities from a Claude Code release. |
| user-invocable | false |
| allowed-tools | Bash(git log *), Bash(git diff *), Read, Write, Edit, Glob, Grep, WebFetch, TodoWrite |
| created | "2026-01-14T00:00:00.000Z" |
| modified | "2026-06-23T00:00:00.000Z" |
| reviewed | "2026-06-23T00:00:00.000Z" |
Claude Code Changelog Review
When to Use This Skill
| Use this skill when... | Use another skill instead when... |
|---|
| Reviewing Claude Code releases for breaking changes that affect plugins | Distilling project session learnings into rules and recipes |
| Discovering new Claude Code features that plugins can leverage | Use project-skill-scripts instead when auditing skills for script-extraction wins |
| Tracking deprecations before they break installed plugins | Use project-continue instead when resuming feature work, not platform review |
Expertise for analyzing Claude Code changelog and identifying impacts on plugin development.
Core Purpose
Review Claude Code releases to:
- Identify breaking changes requiring plugin updates
- Discover new features plugins can leverage
- Track deprecations before they become problems
- Ensure plugins follow current best practices
Change Categories
High Impact (Action Required)
| Category | Example Changes | Action |
|---|
| Breaking changes | API changes, renamed tools | Update affected plugins immediately |
| Security fixes | Permission vulnerabilities | Review and update permission rules |
| Deprecations | Removed features/fields | Remove deprecated usage |
| Hook changes | New events, schema changes | Update hooks-plugin |
Medium Impact (Review Recommended)
| Category | Example Changes | Action |
|---|
| New features | New tools, frontmatter fields | Consider plugin enhancements |
| Permission updates | New wildcard patterns | Update permission documentation |
| SDK changes | New callbacks, streaming | Update SDK-related skills |
| MCP improvements | OAuth, server configs | Update agent-patterns-plugin |
Low Impact (Information Only)
| Category | Example Changes | Action |
|---|
| Bug fixes | UI improvements | Note in changelog |
| Performance | Startup optimizations | No action needed |
| IDE features | VS Code updates | No action needed |
Plugin Impact Matrix
Map changelog categories to plugins:
| Claude Code Area | Affected Plugins |
|---|
| Hooks | hooks-plugin, configure-plugin |
| Skills/Commands | All plugins with skills/commands |
| Agents | agents-plugin, agent-patterns-plugin |
| MCP servers | agent-patterns-plugin |
| Permissions | configure-plugin, hooks-plugin |
| Git operations | git-plugin |
| Testing tools | testing-plugin |
| SDK changes | agent-patterns-plugin |
Version Tracking
Version state stored in .claude-code-version-check.json:
{
"lastCheckedVersion": "2.1.7",
"lastCheckedDate": "2026-01-14",
"changelogUrl": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anthropics/claude-code/main/CHANGELOG.md",
"reviewedChanges": [
{
"version": "2.1.7",
"date": "2026-01-14",
"relevantChanges": [],
"actionsRequired": []
}
]
}
Analysis Process
Step 1: Fetch Current State
cat .claude-code-version-check.json | jq -r '.lastCheckedVersion'
Step 2: Fetch Changelog
Use WebFetch to get the current changelog from:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anthropics/claude-code/main/CHANGELOG.md
Step 3: Identify New Versions
Compare fetched changelog versions against lastCheckedVersion.
Extract all changes since that version.
Step 4: Categorize Changes
For each change, determine:
- Impact level (high/medium/low)
- Affected plugins
- Required action
Step 5: Generate Report
Produce a report with:
- New versions found
- High-impact changes requiring immediate action
- Medium-impact changes worth reviewing
- Suggestions for plugin improvements
Step 6: Update Version Tracking
Update .claude-code-version-check.json with:
- New lastCheckedVersion
- New lastCheckedDate
- Summary of reviewed changes
Change Detection Patterns
Breaking Changes
Look for:
- "BREAKING" or "Breaking Change" headers
- "Removed" sections
- "Migrat" keywords
- "deprecated" becoming "removed"
Hook System Changes
Look for:
- "hook" mentions in features
- New hook events (SessionStart, SessionEnd, SubagentStart, etc.)
- Schema changes for hook input/output
- Permission decision updates
Skill/Command Changes
Look for:
- "skill" or "slash command" mentions
- Frontmatter field changes
- Discovery mechanism updates
- New fields like "context: fork"
Agent/Subagent Changes
Look for:
- "agent" or "subagent" mentions
- Task tool changes
- Agent configuration options
- New agent types
Permission Changes
Look for:
- "permission" mentions
- Wildcard pattern updates
- Security fixes
- Bash permission changes
Report Format
For the human-readable review report template (Summary / High-Impact /
Medium-Impact / Action Items / Next Steps), see REFERENCE.md.
The CI path opens a triage issue instead — see Automation Integration below.
Automation Integration
The .github/workflows/changelog-review.yml workflow runs this review weekly.
Its analysis is delegated to a unit-tested script so the logic is reviewable
outside the YAML:
bash scripts/analyze-changelog.sh --excerpt <slice> --repo-dir . \
--tracked <ver> --latest <ver>
The script (scripts/analyze-changelog.sh, tested by
scripts/tests/test-analyze-changelog.sh) emits structured KEY=VALUE output
and, beyond keyword counts, carries a deprecation/removal → plugin-code
bridge: for any tool/setting/command named in a deprecation or BREAKING
removal line, it greps this repo's skills/hooks/agents/rules and surfaces the
files that still reference it as triage candidates. Two miss classes drive this:
- #1638 — a deprecated identifier (e.g.
TaskOutput) that stayed referenced
in a hook script because the old keyword map only ever pointed at
.claude/rules/*.md. Caught by the deprecat|removed|renamed|unshipped forms.
- #1733 — a BREAKING tool removal phrased verb-after with a
/-separated
pair (BREAKING: TeamCreate/TeamDelete tools removed, 2.1.178) that the
deprecation-grammar forms missed, leaving the agent-patterns-plugin:agent-teams
skill referencing removed tools unflagged. Caught by the BREAKING-line
extractor.
Reviewing the changelog is never doc-only. Every run treats updating rule
docs and fixing plugin code that references a removed/renamed
tool/setting/env-var as part of the same task — the ACTIONABLE_DEPRECATION
candidates are the highest-priority section of the tracking issue, and a
referenced removed identifier is a correctness bug (the skill would instruct
Claude to call a tool that no longer exists), not just stale prose.
Workflow flow:
- Run weekly on schedule
- Fetch changelog and compare versions (skip-if-exists is drift-aware: an open
but unactioned tracking issue no longer suppresses newer versions)
- If new versions found: run the analyzer, open ONE tracking issue (highest
priority = deprecated identifiers still referenced in our code), ratchet the
version JSON via a tiny PR
- Label issues appropriately
Agentic Optimizations
| Context | Command |
|---|
Analyze a changelog slice (structured KEY=VALUE) | bash scripts/analyze-changelog.sh --excerpt <slice> --repo-dir . --tracked <ver> --latest <ver> |
| Triage filter — code-compliance candidates only | … analyze-changelog.sh … | grep -E '^(ACTIONABLE_DEPRECATION|DEPRECATED_TOKENS)=' |
| List the surfaced candidate files | … analyze-changelog.sh … | sed -n '/^CANDIDATES:/,/^=== END/p' |
| Roll-up status only | … analyze-changelog.sh … | grep -E '^(STATUS|ISSUE_COUNT)=' |
| Run the analyzer regression tests | bash project-plugin/skills/changelog-review/scripts/tests/test-analyze-changelog.sh |
Quick Reference
Relevant Claude Code URLs
Version Number Format
Claude Code uses semantic versioning: MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH
- MAJOR: Breaking changes
- MINOR: New features
- PATCH: Bug fixes
Issue Labels
| Label | Use For |
|---|
changelog-review | All changelog-related issues |
breaking-change | Breaking changes requiring updates |
enhancement | New feature opportunities |
maintenance | General housekeeping |
