breaking-changes

name	breaking-changes
description	Audit pull requests for breaking changes in the Zowe Explorer monorepo. Examines PR descriptions, review comments, and diffs to identify API and behavioral breaking changes, with special sensitivity to packages/zowe-explorer-api. Reconciles labels with user confirmation. Use when asked to audit breaking changes, check for breaking changes, or review a set of PRs for breaking impact.
compatibility	Requires gh CLI with repo access and GitHub API access for PR details, review history, and labels.

Breaking Change Audit

Audit pull requests in the Zowe Explorer repository for breaking changes. This skill examines a range of commits, identifies API and behavioral breaking changes, assesses their impact, reconciles breaking-change labels, and returns structured results.

Gotchas

• Extender API is sacred: packages/zowe-explorer-api/ is high-sensitivity. NEVER allow removal of public APIs without @deprecated annotations and keeping them for 1+ major version.
• API signature stability: Public API method signatures must not change (except for adding optional parameters). This includes parameter types, return types, parameter order, and parameter names that extenders may rely on.
• Namespaces matter: Watch out for changes in namespaces like MainframeInteraction or Types. Changes to these are almost always breaking for extenders.
• UI/Internal is flexible: packages/zowe-explorer/ is moderate-sensitivity. Changes here are generally fine unless they break Zowe V3 Conformance requirements (e.g., command naming, VS Code conventions) or default behaviors expected by extenders through VS Code APIs (such as FileSystemProvider, editor behavior, etc.).
• Behavioral breaks: Altered return values, changed defaults, or modified command behaviors can break backward compatibility even if the type signature remains the same.

Audit Workflow

Follow this exact sequence when auditing:

• Step 1: Fetch PRs: Ask the user for a commit range (e.g., v2.14.0..HEAD) if not provided. Use the gh CLI to get the full list of PRs merged within that range.
• Step 2: Examine PRs: For each PR, study the description, linked issues, review history, and complete code diff. Look for API (compile-time) and behavioral (runtime) breaks.
• Step 3: Assess Impact: Determine if the change affects zowe-explorer-api (extender impact, high severity) or zowe-explorer (internal/UI impact, moderate severity).
• Step 4: Reconcile Labels: Compare findings against existing breaking-change labels.
  • If unlabeled but appears breaking: Explain why and ask user to confirm adding the label.
  • If labeled but does not appear breaking: Explain why and ask user to confirm removing the label.
• Step 5: Present Results: Output the final list using the report template below.

Report Template

Use this exact template for the final output, sorting items from most impactful to least impactful:

# Breaking Changes Audit Report

## High Impact (`zowe-explorer-api`)
- **PR #[Number]: [Title]**
  - **Type:** [API / Behavioral]
  - **Impact:** [Brief summary of who is affected and how]
  - **Details:** [1-2 bullets explaining the break]
  - **Migration:** [How to avoid breaking changes for extenders]

## Moderate/Low Impact (`zowe-explorer`)
- **PR #[Number]: [Title]**
  - **Type:** [API / Behavioral]
  - **Impact:** [Brief summary]
  - **Details:** [1-2 bullets]
  - **Migration:** [If applicable]