| name | changelog |
| description | Generates and publishes a monthly Sensible product changelog. Invoke whenever the user wants to write, draft, or publish a monthly changelog, or mentions writing up a release summary given a list of PRs. The user will provide PR numbers (from the frontend or backend GitHub repo, or both) and optionally a list of doc topic URLs. The skill structures the input, fetches PR context, drafts the changelog in Sensible's house style, gets user approval, then publishes as a hidden draft to readme.com. |
Sensible Changelog Skill
Repos
- Backend:
sensible-hq/sensible
- Frontend:
sensible-hq/sensible-app
- Docs:
sensible-hq/sensible-docs
Subskill: Fetch new release PRs
Before drafting a changelog, run the fetch subskill to pull any new release notes from Slack, annotate them, and queue them in the readme.io draft. See fetch-release-prs.md for the full flow. This is also callable on its own whenever the user wants to sync the latest PRs without drafting a changelog.
Step 1: Parse input, fetch PR titles, confirm with user
The user will paste an unstructured blob. It may contain any mix of:
- PR numbers from the backend or frontend repo (possibly labeled "frontend"/"backend")
- PR numbers from the docs repo (
sensible-docs) — labeled "docs" or inferrable from context
- Doc topic URLs (
https://docs.sensible.so/...)
- Pasted doc content (raw markdown or prose the user has copied directly)
1a. Parse out each of these. For PR numbers:
- If labeled by repo, use that. If unlabeled, try fetching from all three repos in parallel and use whichever returns a valid result. If still ambiguous, ask.
For pasted doc content: treat it as the user-facing description for the associated feature — note it in the summary as "pasted content" so the user can see it was captured.
Similarity hints: If the user says something like "this is similar to a past change" or "find the old wording for X", note which entries need a past-changelog search and carry that forward to Step 3b.
1b. Fetch PR titles immediately — run in parallel so the confirmation summary is useful:
gh pr view <number> --repo <org/repo> --json number,title,mergedAt
1c. Present a structured summary for the user to review before any further work:
## Input summary — please confirm before I continue
**PRs:**
- [#1234](https://github.com/sensible-hq/sensible/pull/1234) — backend — "Add Remove Lines preprocessor"
- [#567](https://github.com/sensible-hq/sensible-app/pull/567) — frontend — "Batch document upload UI"
- [#89](https://github.com/sensible-hq/sensible-docs/pull/89) — docs — "Add remove-lines reference page"
**Doc topics:**
- https://docs.sensible.so/docs/remove-lines
- Pasted content: "The Remove Lines preprocessor removes matched text from all pages…"
**Skipping (no user-facing changes):**
- [#890](https://github.com/sensible-hq/sensible/pull/890) — "Refactor auth middleware" — infra only
Proceed?
Wait for confirmation before continuing.
Step 2: Fetch full PR context
Fetch all confirmed PR bodies in parallel — this is the only batched step:
gh pr view <number> --repo <org/repo> --json title,body,mergedAt,labels
From each body, extract:
- What changed (the "what")
- Why it matters or how users use it (the "so what")
- Any linked doc pages or feature names
Ignore boilerplate (checklists, "how to test", internal notes). Focus on user-facing description.
Non-user-facing PRs: If a PR is clearly infra-only, a refactor, a test change, or has no user-visible effect, skip it. Note it under "Skipping" in the Step 1 summary.
Steps 3–4: Per-entry loop (do not batch)
Complete all sub-steps for one PR before starting the next. Batching these steps is the most common source of skipped research and missing doc links.
Read these three files once before starting the loop — they apply to every entry:
/home/franc/GitHub/sensible-docs/.claude/style-guide/changelog-style-guide.md/home/franc/GitHub/sensible-docs/.claude/style-guide/writing-rules.md/home/franc/GitHub/sensible-docs/.claude/preferences/editorial-preferences.md
3a. Source the description
Use the best available source in priority order:
- Pasted doc content — if the user pasted doc text directly, use it as-is.
- Docs PR — fetch body and diff:
gh pr view <number> --repo sensible-hq/sensible-docs --json title,body,files
gh pr diff <number> --repo sensible-hq/sensible-docs
Use added lines (+) as the primary source.
- Doc URL → local file — derive the path from the slug:
https://docs.sensible.so/docs/remove-lines → slug = "remove-lines"
Check: /home/franc/GitHub/sensible-docs/docs/remove-lines.md
/home/franc/GitHub/sensible-docs/reference/remove-lines.md
- Code PR body — use the user-facing description from the backend/frontend PR.
- MCP fallback —
mcp__sensible-docs__search with the feature name. Least reliable.
3b. Search past changelogs for similar entries
Do this if:
- The user flagged it as similar to a past change, or
- The feature is a repeat pattern (another LLM model update, another JsonLogic operator, another preprocessor parameter, another method configurability improvement)
grep -ril "<relevant terms>" \
/home/franc/GitHub/sensible-docs/.claude/skills/changelog/references/changelogs/
Read the matching section. Model the new entry on the same sentence structure, level of detail, and phrasing — update only the specifics. Record the source for the review step (https://docs.sensible.so/changelog/<slug>).
If no past match exists, draft from scratch.
3c. Draft the entry
Use the entry template in .claude/skills/changelog/structural-check.md. Draft directly into the template so the doc link slot and heading format are present from the start.
Key reminders:
- Heading:
## New feature:, ## Improvement:, ## UX improvement:, ## UX improvements:, ## Deprecation:
- Body: second person, 2–5 sentences, prose over bullets
- Doc link:
[text](doc:slug) — every entry needs one; use <!-- DOC LINK NEEDED --> if no public page exists
- Parameter names: Title Case in prose — "the Ignore Form Data parameter", not
`ignoreFormData`
3d. Per-entry checklist (fill out before moving to the next PR)
PR #NNNN — [title]
[ ] Source: [which source was used and why]
[ ] Past changelog: [searched / not applicable — if applicable: modeled on <month-year>]
[ ] Entry drafted using template
[ ] Heading type confirmed: [New feature / Improvement / UX improvement / Deprecation]
[ ] Doc link: [slug used / DOC LINK NEEDED comment added]
Do not move to the next PR until all five boxes are filled.
After the loop: assemble and order
Once all entries are drafted, assemble them in order: New features first, then Improvements, then UX improvements, then Deprecations. Within each group, lead with the most significant. Write the intro paragraph last (third person, no doc links).
Step 5: Style check, then review with user
Run the docs-checker skill (.claude/skills/docs-checker/SKILL.md) on the full draft. Fix all errors and warnings it returns. Use judgment on suggestions — Google style rules often don't apply to changelogs.
Then run the structural-check subskill (.claude/skills/changelog/structural-check.md) to verify doc links and image format.
After fixing, print the full draft. If any entries were modeled on past changelog entries, print a reference list:
**Based on:**
- "Filter past extractions" (August 2023): https://docs.sensible.so/changelog/august-2023
Then ask:
"Does this look right? Any edits before I publish?"
Incorporate feedback. Do not publish until the user explicitly approves.
Step 6: Publish as hidden draft
Once approved, write the body to a temp file and run scripts/publish_changelog.py:
cat > /tmp/changelog_body.txt << 'CHANGELOG_EOF'
<paste full body here>
CHANGELOG_EOF
python /home/franc/GitHub/sensible-docs/.claude/skills/changelog/scripts/publish_changelog.py "March 2026" < /tmp/changelog_body.txt
Flags:
- (no flag) — create new draft (auto-avoids slug conflicts)
--update — replace the entire body of an existing draft--append — append content to an existing draft
The script handles auth, the POST/PUT request, and prints the draft URL on success or the full error on failure.
Updating a single section without touching the rest
Use scripts/update_section.py when Frances has already edited the draft and you need to rewrite one section only:
cat << 'EOF' | python /home/franc/GitHub/sensible-docs/.claude/skills/changelog/scripts/update_section.py july-2026 "## Improvement: Advanced configurability"
For the [Region](doc:region) method, you can now relax the criteria ...
EOF
The script matches the first heading that starts with the given prefix, replaces from that heading to the next ## heading, and PUTs the full body back. All other sections are left exactly as they are.
