orbit-pm-release-notes

name	orbit-pm-release-notes
description	Auto-draft release notes for a WordPress plugin from CHANGELOG.md + git diff + visual regression diffs. Generates user-facing announcement (blog post, email, in-plugin notice), readme.txt changelog, GitHub release notes, and a tweet-thread. Use when the user says "release notes", "draft announcement", "changelog → blog post", "what to write for v2.4".

🪐 orbit-pm-release-notes — Auto-draft release notes

Most plugin teams write release notes 90 minutes before pushing. This skill does the heavy lift in 5 minutes — you edit, you don't draft.

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Quick start

claude "/orbit-pm-release-notes Draft v2.5 release notes from CHANGELOG.md and the git diff since v2.4."

Or via the script:

bash ~/Claude/orbit/scripts/draft-release-notes.sh --from v2.4.0 --to HEAD

Output: 4 files in reports/release-notes/:

• blog.md — long-form announcement (blog post)
• email.md — newsletter / customer email
• readme.txt — WP.org-formatted changelog entry
• social.md — tweet thread / LinkedIn / social

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What it does

1. Read the inputs

• CHANGELOG.md — what the dev team wrote
• git log v2.4.0..HEAD --oneline — every commit since last release
• reports/version-compare-*.md — what /orbit-version-compare measured
• reports/screenshots/release-diff/ — what changed visually

2. Classify changes

• 🆕 New features (top of the post — most exciting)
• ⚡ Performance improvements (with measurable numbers)
• 🐛 Bug fixes
• 🔒 Security patches (mention but don't dwell — Patchstack-style restraint)
• 🌐 Translations / i18n
• 🧹 Internal refactors (often skipped from user-facing notes)

3. Pull metrics where possible

• "30% faster page load" — back it up with the Lighthouse / Editor perf number
• "Reduced bundle by 80KB" — pull from /orbit-bundle-analysis diff
• "Fixed crash affecting 3% of users" — only if you have the data

4. Adopt the right voice per channel

Channel	Tone	Length
Blog	Excited but measured, screenshots, deep dive	800-1500 words
Email	Warm, customer-focused, scannable	250-500 words
readme.txt changelog	Terse, factual, bullet list	50-150 words
Social	Headline + 1-2 visuals, links	280 chars × 3-5 thread
In-plugin notice	Subtle, dismissible	1-2 sentences

5. Hide what shouldn't be public

• Internal refactors (mention only if user-affecting)
• Codenames / sprint names
• Failed experiments (keep in private retro)

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Example output (blog.md)

# My Plugin 2.5 — Faster, Cleaner, Now with Block Bindings

April 29, 2026 · POSIMYTH Team

We just shipped 2.5 with three focuses: speed, the new Block Bindings API,
and a refresh of the settings UI.

## ⚡ 30% faster admin (and we have the receipts)

Lighthouse on the Settings page: **74 → 95 (Performance score)**. We got there by:
- Lazy-loading the colour picker (only loads when needed)
- Dropping a 60KB icon font in favour of inline SVGs
- Switching the activity log to virtualised rendering

[Lighthouse before/after screenshot]

## 🆕 Block Bindings API support

If you're on WP 6.5+, you can now bind any block attribute to data from your
plugin via the official Block Bindings API. No more custom render filters.

[Tutorial link]

## 🎨 Settings UI refresh

The Settings page got a real design pass — empty states with CTAs, error
messages that actually help, dark mode that respects your admin colour scheme.

[Before/after screenshots from /orbit-version-compare]

## Plus 12 bug fixes
[bullet list]

— POSIMYTH Team

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Output

reports/release-notes/
├── blog.md          ← long-form for blog
├── email.md         ← newsletter
├── readme.txt       ← WP.org changelog (paste into your readme.txt)
├── social.md        ← tweet thread
└── notice-html.txt  ← in-plugin admin notice HTML

Each is a draft — you ALWAYS edit before publishing. Treat as 80% complete, your job is the last 20%.

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Pair with

• /orbit-changelog-test — verify every claimed change has a test
• /orbit-version-compare — measure-backed claims
• /orbit-pm-rice — what's worth highlighting (top RICE = top of the post)

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Sources & Evergreen References

Canonical docs

• Keep a Changelog — format spec
• WP.org readme.txt format — submission format
• Conventional Commits — commit message → release-note pipeline

Rule lineage

• Keep a Changelog format — stable since 2014, widely adopted
• WP.org readme — format unchanged for years

Last reviewed

• 2026-04-29