| name | release-notes |
| description | Automated release workflow — reads version, categorizes unreleased commits, bumps semver, and updates CHANGELOG.md. |
Release Notes
Automates version bumping and changelog generation for the Popcorn GuineaPig plugin.
When to use
- Preparing a new release
- Generating a changelog description for the latest unreleased changes
- Before publishing to Maven Central
Steps
1. Read current version
Read popcornguineapigplugin/version.properties:
VERSION=<current>
2. Find the previous version
Use the CHANGELOG.md as the source of truth (tags may not exist):
- Read
CHANGELOG.md
- Extract the first
## [<version>] header — that is the previous released version
Fallback: if CHANGELOG.md has no version headers, use git describe --tags --abbrev=0.
3. Find the commit that last updated CHANGELOG.md
git log --oneline --diff-filter=M -- CHANGELOG.md | head -1
This gives the commit where the previous version's changelog entry was written.
4. List unreleased commits
git log <changelog-commit>..HEAD --oneline --no-merges
Exclude merge commits (they don't carry meaningful change descriptions).
5. Show changed files
git diff --stat <changelog-commit>..HEAD
Use this to understand the scope and identify areas affected (docs, source, tests, CI).
6. Categorize commits for semver bump
| Prefix / Pattern | Bump | Category |
|---|
breaking, BREAKING CHANGE, ! | Major | Breaking |
feat, feature, Add | Minor | Added |
fix, patch, Fixed | Patch | Fixed |
chore, Bump, Update, Merge | Patch | Changed |
refactor, Refactor, improve | Patch | Changed |
docs, Docs, update docs | Patch | Changed |
- If any commit is breaking → major bump
- Else if any commit is a feature → minor bump
- Else → patch bump
7. Categorize changes for CHANGELOG
Review both the commit messages AND the git diff --stat output to write meaningful changelog entries. Group by category:
- Added — new features, tasks, DSL fields, skills
- Fixed — bug fixes
- Changed — refactors, docs updates, minor improvements, dependency bumps
Tips:
- Look at the diff of key source files to understand new features at the architectural level (domain/data/presentation)
- New files under
docs/ → documentation updates
- New files under
ai/skills/ → new AI skills
- Changes in
ServiceLocator.kt → new dependencies wired in
8. Increment version
Update the VERSION property in popcornguineapigplugin/version.properties.
9. Update CHANGELOG.md
Prepend a new entry to CHANGELOG.md after the header line (before the previous version entry):
## [<new-version>]
### Added
- ...
### Fixed
- ...
### Changed
- ...
Omit sections that have no entries. Follow the existing format — no date suffix needed (unlike earlier versions).
10. Prompt user
After changes are made, prompt the user to:
git add popcornguineapigplugin/version.properties CHANGELOG.md
git commit -m "chore: bump to <new-version>; update CHANGELOG"
git tag v<new-version>
Do not commit or tag automatically — only present the commands.
