release-app-store-changelog

name	release-app-store-changelog
description	Create user-facing App Store release notes from git history. Use when asked to generate release changelog, App Store "What's New" text, or release notes based on git tags.

App Store Changelog

Overview

Generate comprehensive, user-facing changelog from git history since the last tag, then translate commits into clear App Store release notes.

Workflow

1) Collect Changes

Get commits since the last tag:

# Find the last tag
git describe --tags --abbrev=0

# List commits since last tag
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --oneline

# Or with more detail
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --pretty=format:"%h %s" --no-merges

If comparing specific refs:

git log v1.2.3..HEAD --oneline --no-merges

If no tags exist:

git log --oneline --no-merges -50  # Last 50 commits

2) Triage for User Impact

Scan commits and identify user-visible changes:

Include:

• New features
• UI changes
• Behavior changes
• Bug fixes users would notice
• Performance improvements with visible impact

Exclude:

• Refactors
• Dependency bumps
• CI changes
• Developer tooling
• Internal logging
• Analytics changes (unless affecting user privacy/behavior)

Group changes by theme:

• New: New features and capabilities
• Improved: Enhancements to existing features
• Fixed: Bug fixes

3) Draft App Store Notes

Write short, benefit-focused bullets:

• Use clear verbs and plain language
• Avoid internal jargon, ticket IDs, file paths
• Prefer 5-10 bullets unless user specifies different length
• Each bullet: one sentence, starts with a verb

Language guidance:

• Translate technical terms to user-facing descriptions
• Avoid: "API", "refactor", "nil", "crash log", "dependency"
• Use: "Improved", "Added", "Fixed", "Updated"
• Keep tense consistent (present or past)

Examples:

• "Added account switching from the profile menu."
• "Improved timeline loading speed on slow connections."
• "Fixed media attachments not opening in full screen."

4) Validate

• Every bullet maps to a real change in the range
• No duplicate bullets describing the same change
• No internal jargon or file paths
• Final list fits App Store text limits (if provided)

Output Format

What's New

• Added [feature description]
• Improved [enhancement description]
• Fixed [bug fix description]

Or with sections:

What's New in [Version]

New
• [Feature 1]
• [Feature 2]

Improved
• [Enhancement 1]

Fixed
• [Bug fix 1]
• [Bug fix 2]

Quick Commands

# Full workflow: commits since last tag with files changed
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --stat --no-merges

# Just commit messages
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --pretty=format:"- %s" --no-merges

# List all tags
git tag -l --sort=-v:refname

# Compare two specific tags
git log v1.1.0..v1.2.0 --oneline --no-merges

Tips

• If a change is ambiguous, ask for clarification
• Drop changes that are clearly internal-only
• When in doubt, describe as "small improvement" only if user-visible
• Respect storefront character limits if provided