update-changelog

name	update-changelog
description	Orchestrate complete changelog workflow. Invoke `init-changelog` (if needed), `edit-changelog`, and `cleanup-changelog` skills in sequence. Use when the user or agent needs to update the changelog.

Update changelog

GOAL: orchestrate the complete changelog update workflow by invoking init-changelog, edit-changelog, and cleanup-changelog skills in sequence.

WHEN: use when the user requests to update the changelog or when the agent needs to ensure the changelog reflects the latest commits.

Purpose

This skill provides a single entry point for changelog management:

• Initializes CHANGELOG.md structure if missing (via init-changelog skill)
• Updates changelog from git commits (via edit-changelog skill)
• Cleans up formatting and removes empty sections (via cleanup-changelog skill)
• Handles dependencies and conditional logic intelligently

Prerequisites

• Requires an initialized Git repository
• Conventional commit format for user-facing changes (feat:, fix:, etc.)

Workflow

Follow these steps in sequence:

Step 1: Check for CHANGELOG.md

• Check if CHANGELOG.md exists in the repository root.
• If missing: Invoke the init-changelog skill to create it.
  • Verify the output status (SUCCESS, WARN, or ERROR).
  • If ERROR: Stop and report the error to the user.
  • If SUCCESS or WARN: Continue to Step 2.
• If exists: Continue directly to Step 2.

Step 2: Update from git commits

• Invoke the edit-changelog skill to update from git commits.
• Capture the status from the first line of output (SUCCESS, WARN, or ERROR).
• Handle the status:
  • If ERROR: Stop and report the error to the user.
  • If WARN (no new commits): Report to user that changelog already reflects latest commits. Skip Step 3 and proceed to Step 4.
  • If SUCCESS (changes made): Continue to Step 3.

Step 3: Cleanup formatting (conditional)

• Only run this step if edit-changelog reported SUCCESS.
• Invoke the cleanup-changelog skill to clean up formatting.
• This step runs: fix-markdown → remove-empty-headers.sh → fix-markdown

Step 4: Report completion

• Communicate a summary to the user indicating:
  • What actions the skill performed
  • Whether the changelog received updates
  • Any warnings or errors encountered during the process
• DONE

Behavior

Smart initialization:

• Automatically invokes init-changelog if CHANGELOG.md does not exist
• Skips initialization if CHANGELOG.md already exists

Conditional cleanup:

• Only runs cleanup-changelog if edit-changelog made changes (SUCCESS status)
• Skips cleanup if the update requires no changes (WARN status)

Error handling:

• Stops immediately on ERROR from any sub-skill
• Reports errors to the user

Output

Files created/modified:

• CHANGELOG.md - Created (if missing) or updated with new entries
• .last-aggregated-commit - Created (if missing) or updated to HEAD

Status communication:

• Reports initialization status when invoking init-changelog
• Reports update status from edit-changelog
• Reports cleanup status when invoking cleanup-changelog
• Provides final summary of all actions taken