release-notes

name	release-notes
description	Draft multi-audience release notes (customer, engineering, executive) from a git tag or range — classifies commits and merged PRs by type, pulls context from linked specs, and produces a reviewable draft. Never publishes anything itself. Use when cutting a release, tagging a version, or when asked "what shipped since <tag>?".
argument-hint	<tag | range | 'since last tag'> [--audience customer|engineering|executive|all]

Release notes — multi-audience draft from a git range

Ethos

!sh .aif/partials/ethos-include.sh 2>/dev/null || sh ~/.claude/skills/partials/ethos-include.sh

Input

$ARGUMENTS

Overview

Turns "what shipped?" from an archaeology exercise into a draft: resolve the range, gather the commits and merged PRs, classify them, and write notes tuned per audience. The output is a draft artifact for human review — this skill never tags, never publishes, never posts.

When to use

• Cutting a release / about to tag
• "Write the release notes for v1.4" / "what shipped since v1.3?"
• A recurring release digest (see ~/.claude/aif-references/trigger-recipes.md for scheduling)

Skip for: single-PR summaries (the PR description already is one), and changelogs for unreleased work (use /status).

Process

Step 1 — Resolve the range

# Explicit tag/range wins. Default: last tag -> HEAD.
last_tag=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || echo "")
[ -n "$last_tag" ] && echo "range: ${last_tag}..HEAD" || echo "no tags found"

If there are no tags and no explicit range was given, STOP and ask the user for a starting point — guessing a range produces notes that misrepresent the release.

Step 2 — Gather what shipped

git log --no-merges --pretty='%h %s' <range>
git log --merges --pretty='%h %s' <range>          # merged PRs (merge-commit repos)

For PR titles/bodies and linked issues, use gh pr list --state merged --search "merged:>**<date>**" or read the merge commits. Cross-repo releases: if .aif/config.yml declares repos:, ask whether siblings are part of this release and repeat per repo (skip silently in single-repo mode).

Step 3 — Classify

Bucket each change using the commit-prefix convention (org.commit_prefix_regex; default Conventional Commits):

Bucket	From	Audience weight
Breaking changes	! suffix, BREAKING CHANGE: footers, major API removals	all audiences, first
Features	feat:	customer + engineering
Fixes	fix:	customer (user-visible only) + engineering
Performance / reliability	perf:, infra fix:	engineering; customer only if user-visible
Internal (refactor/test/build/chore/docs)	everything else	engineering only, one compressed line

Read the diff (not just the subject) for anything ambiguous — a fix: that changes a public contract is a breaking change no matter what the subject says (ethos #1). If .aif/specs/ or org.spec_registry entries are referenced by the changes, pull the requirement titles for accurate feature descriptions; skip when neither exists.

Step 4 — Draft per audience

Write to ${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/release-notes-<version>.md (resolve the path in shell first — the Write tool doesn't expand variables). One file, three sections (or only the requested --audience):

# <version> — <date>

## Customer notes
<user-visible value only. No internal ticket ids, no repo names. Breaking changes
lead with WHAT the user must do. Empty buckets are omitted, never padded.>

## Engineering notes
<every change grouped by bucket, with PR links and migration steps. Breaking
changes include the upgrade path.>

## Executive summary
<3-5 sentences: what shipped, why it matters, risk posture. No bullet lists.>

Step 5 — Verify, then hand off

• Every breaking change in the draft traces to a real commit/PR (cite it).
• Nothing in the customer section references internal-only surfaces.
• Present the draft path to the user. Publishing (GitHub release, docs site, email) is the human's call — offer, don't act.

Failure modes to avoid

1. Trusting commit subjects over diffs — subjects lie; the release notes must not (ethos #1).
2. Padding empty sections ("various bug fixes and improvements") — omit instead.
3. Publishing anywhere without explicit human approval.
4. Treating the newest tag as the release being cut — the range END is usually HEAD or a release branch; confirm.