| name | releases-mcp |
| description | Use when the user asks about recent releases, changelogs, what's new in a library, breaking changes, version updates, or wants to compare products. Activates for questions like "what changed in Next.js 15?", "latest Tailwind releases", "compare Bun vs Deno releases". |
Releases.sh — Changelog Lookup
When the user asks about releases, changelogs, or version updates, use the Releases.sh MCP tools to fetch current data instead of relying on training data. Training data is stale for fast-moving libraries; these tools read the live registry.
When to Use This Skill
Activate when the user:
- Asks what's new or changed in a library/product ("What changed in Next.js 15?")
- Wants recent releases or changelogs ("Show me the latest Tailwind releases")
- Asks about breaking changes or migration ("Were there breaking changes in Prisma 6?")
- Wants to compare release activity between products ("Compare Bun vs Deno releases")
- Mentions version updates, release notes, or changelogs for a specific product
- Asks about a curated topic feed ("what's new across the AI labs?")
The Tools
The hosted server exposes these tools. There is no AI summarization or comparison tool — you synthesize those yourself from the data below.
search — unified search across four sections: orgs, catalog (products + standalone sources), collections, and releases. Your default entry point.get_latest_releases — recent releases, optionally scoped by organization or product. Use since / until for time windows.list_organizations / get_organization — browse and inspect orgs.list_catalog / get_catalog_entry — browse and inspect catalog entries. Each entry carries entryType: "product" | "source". get_catalog_entry also serves CHANGELOG slices (see below).get_release — fetch one release in full by its rel_ id (ids come from search / get_latest_releases).list_collections / get_collection / get_collection_releases — curated cross-org "playlists" (e.g. "Frontier AI Labs", "Coding Agents") independent of the category taxonomy.lookup_domain — resolve a URL/domain to the org that owns it. Use when you have a URL-shaped input rather than a name.
The server also exposes signed-in personal-account tools — follow / unfollow / list_follows, get_personalized_feed, and whats_changed (releases since the user's last check across their follows). They require an authenticated connection (OAuth or a user API key) and error for anonymous clients; the reader tools above need no auth. Reach for them only when the user asks about their follows or feed — for general "what's new in X" questions, the reader tools answer without sign-in.
How to Look Up Releases
Step 1: Resolve the entity
Start with search and the product or company name — it returns orgs, catalog, collections, and releases in one call, so you usually don't need a separate lookup. Narrow with type (e.g. type: ["catalog"] for a fast registry-only lookup, type: ["releases"] for pure release content).
If a name doesn't resolve, try variations:
- The company instead of the product ("Vercel" rather than "Next.js")
- The GitHub org ("supabase")
- A domain — or use
lookup_domain directly (e.g. "tailwindcss.com")
- A
{org}/{repo} GitHub coordinate ("vercel/next.js"). When nothing matches a coordinate-shaped query, the registry probes GitHub on demand and the response carries a lookup field with status indexed / existing / empty / not_found / deferred. Coordinate matching is case-insensitive.
Step 2: Pick the right follow-up
- "What's new?" / "Latest releases" →
get_latest_releases with organization or product. Add since (e.g. "30d", "6m", or an ISO date) for "last month" / "since v4" style asks.
- Keyword across the whole registry →
search with a descriptive query; narrow with type.
- One release in full (to quote a note verbatim) →
get_release with the rel_ id from search results.
- Entity metadata →
get_catalog_entry (products/sources) or get_organization (orgs, with an AI overview preview; include_overview: true for the full briefing).
- Full maintained CHANGELOG.md →
get_catalog_entry with include_changelog: true. This only applies to source entries that track a checked-in CHANGELOG.md — products and tag-only repos (e.g. Next.js, which ships GitHub releases but no CHANGELOG file) return none. For large files, pass changelog_tokens (recommended brackets: 2000 / 5000 / 10000 / 20000) to get a heading-aligned slice, then chain via the returned nextOffset. Every response reports totalTokens so you can budget calls upfront.
- A curated topic feed →
list_collections to discover, get_collection_releases for the interleaved cross-org feed.
Step 3: Compare products (no built-in tool)
There is no compare_products or summarize_changes tool on the hosted server. To compare, fetch each product separately (get_catalog_entry for metadata, get_latest_releases for recent activity) and synthesize the comparison yourself. Both products must be indexed — if one isn't found, say which is missing rather than guessing.
Step 4: Present results
- Lead with what answers the user's question.
- Include version numbers and dates when available.
- Quote key changes from the release notes (keep quotes short).
- If results are sparse, say the product may not be fully indexed yet — don't fabricate release info.
Guidelines
- Pass the user's full question into query parameters for better relevance.
- For time windows, use
since / until on get_latest_releases and search (relative shorthand like "90d" or ISO dates).
- The
kind filter (platform|sdk|mobile|desktop|docs|integration|tool) behaves differently by surface: on release results a source inherits its parent product's kind, so kind: "sdk" returns content under any SDK product; on catalog results it matches the row's own kind only. Reach for it when a query is explicitly scoped to one kind ("which SDKs shipped this week").
- If a product isn't found, say so clearly — don't invent releases.
