prepare-release

name	prepare-release
description	Prepare a release - determine the next version from commits, bump package.json, update CHANGELOG.md, and create a release branch. Use when the user asks to prepare, cut, or start a release.

Prepare release

Collect changes

1. Run git tag -l '[0-9]*' --sort=-v:refname | head -1 to find the last version tag. If no tag exists, use all commits.
2. Run git log --oneline <last-tag>..HEAD (or git log --oneline if no tag exists) to list commits since last release.
3. Read package.json and CHANGELOG.md.

Recommend version and confirm

Determine bump type:

• major: BREAKING CHANGE in body or ! suffix (e.g. feat!:)
• minor: feat: commits
• patch: fixes, deps, chores, refactors, perf, build, docs only

Show a grouped commit summary and proposed version (e.g. 0.2.3 → 0.2.4 patch).

Stop here and wait for user confirmation before proceeding.

Create release branch

Run git checkout -b release/vX.Y.Z so any aborted release only needs the branch deleted, leaving the current branch untouched.

Update versions

Run npm version <X.Y.Z> --no-git-tag-version to update package.json and package-lock.json.

Update CHANGELOG.md

Load and follow the update-changelog skill to categorize the collected commits, then replace ## [Unreleased] with ## [X.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD and add a new empty ## [Unreleased] section above it.

Commit

1. git add package.json package-lock.json CHANGELOG.md
2. git commit -m "chore: release vX.Y.Z"
3. Report the branch name.