generate-release-notes

name	generate-release-notes
description	Generate comprehensive release notes for Bit from git commits and pull requests. Use when creating release notes, building changelogs, documenting version releases, or preparing a new Bit release.

Generate Release Notes for Bit

This skill helps generate release notes for Bit following the established patterns and guidelines.

Important: Intermediate Files

All intermediate steps must be saved to releases-docs/temp-files/ for review. This folder is gitignored.

Required intermediate files:

1. raw-commits.md - Raw commit data from GitHub API
2. filtered-commits.md - Two sections: filtered out commits and kept commits

Workflow

Follow these steps to generate release notes:

Step 1: Setup Temp Directory

First, ensure the temp directory exists:

mkdir -p releases-docs/temp-files

Step 2: Determine the Commit Range

1. Get the latest release tag and commit:

   # Get latest release tag
   gh release view --repo teambit/bit --json tagName -q '.tagName'
   
   # Get the commit SHA for the tag (handles annotated tags)
   TAG="v1.12.158"  # Replace with actual tag
   TAG_REF=$(gh api "repos/teambit/bit/git/refs/tags/$TAG" -q '.object.sha')
   TAG_TYPE=$(gh api "repos/teambit/bit/git/refs/tags/$TAG" -q '.object.type')
   
   if [ "$TAG_TYPE" = "tag" ]; then
       # Annotated tag - get the commit it points to
       RELEASE_COMMIT=$(gh api "repos/teambit/bit/git/tags/$TAG_REF" -q '.object.sha')
   else
       # Lightweight tag - already have the commit
       RELEASE_COMMIT=$TAG_REF
   fi
   

2. Determine the starting point:

   • If user provides a specific commit hash, use that as FROM_COMMIT
   • If not provided, use HEAD (latest commit on master)

Step 3: Fetch Commits and Save to raw-commits.md

Use the GitHub API to get commits between the release and the starting point:

# Compare commits between release and HEAD (or specific commit)
gh api "repos/teambit/bit/compare/${RELEASE_COMMIT}...${FROM_COMMIT}" \
    --jq '.commits[] | "\(.sha[0:7]) | \(.commit.message | split("\n")[0]) | \(.commit.author.name)"'

Save the output to releases-docs/temp-files/raw-commits.md with the following format:

# Raw Commits

Generated: {DATE}
From: {FROM_COMMIT or HEAD}
To: {RELEASE_TAG} ({RELEASE_COMMIT})
Total commits: {COUNT}

## Commits

| Hash    | Message                      | Author      |
| ------- | ---------------------------- | ----------- |
| abc1234 | feat: add new feature (#123) | Author Name |
| def5678 | fix: resolve bug (#456)      | Author Name |

...

Step 4: Filter Commits and Save to filtered-commits.md

Analyze each commit and categorize into two groups:

FILTER OUT (do not include in release notes):

• Version bump commits: bump teambit version to X.X.X [skip ci]
• CI-only changes: commits that only modify CircleCI config
• Skip CI markers: commits with [skip ci] in the message
• Auto-merge commits: Merge branch 'X' into master

KEEP (include in release notes):

• All feature commits (feat:)
• All fix commits (fix:)
• All performance commits (perf:)
• Dependency updates (go in Internal section)
• Refactoring commits (go in Internal section)

Save to releases-docs/temp-files/filtered-commits.md with the following format:

# Filtered Commits

Generated: {DATE}

## Filtered Out ({COUNT} commits)

These commits are excluded from the release notes:

| Hash    | Message                                   | Reason       |
| ------- | ----------------------------------------- | ------------ |
| abc1234 | bump teambit version to 1.13.5 [skip ci]  | Version bump |
| def5678 | ci, temporarily set tag to increment by 2 | CI change    |

...

## Kept for Release Notes ({COUNT} commits)

These commits will be included in the release notes:

| Hash    | Message                         | Category     |
| ------- | ------------------------------- | ------------ |
| ghi9012 | feat: add new command (#123)    | New Features |
| jkl3456 | fix: resolve issue (#456)       | Bug Fixes    |
| mno7890 | chore(deps): bump lodash (#789) | Internal     |

...

Step 5: Enrich Commit Information

For commits that are merge commits or have unclear messages, fetch PR details:

# Get PR details by number
gh pr view 12345 --repo teambit/bit --json title,body,labels

# Search for PR by commit
gh pr list --repo teambit/bit --search "SHA_HERE" --state merged --json number,title,body

Look for:

• PR title and description
• Labels (feat, fix, perf, etc.)
• Related issues

Step 6: Categorize Changes

Group the KEPT commits into these categories based on content:

Category	Indicators
New Features	New commands, new major functionality, "Introduce", "feat:" prefix
Improvements	Enhancements, "Support", "Allow", "Add option", improvements to existing features
Performance	"Optimize", "perf:", "Reduce memory", "Speed up", "Improve performance"
Bug Fixes	"Fix", "fix:", bug corrections, issue resolutions
Internal	Dependency updates, refactoring, CI changes, code cleanup, test improvements

Step 7: Write Release Notes

Follow the guidelines in releases-docs/guideline.md:

1. Section Order: New Features → Improvements → Performance → Bug Fixes → Internal
2. Only include sections that have content
3. Format each item:
   • Start with a verb (Fix, Add, Support, Improve, Introduce)
   • Include PR numbers at the end: (#1234) or (#1234, #1235)
   • Use backticks for: commands, flags, file names, config properties
   • Use bold for major feature names

Step 8: Save the Release Notes

Save to releases-docs/releases/ folder:

• If version provided: releases-docs/releases/v{VERSION}.md
• If no version: releases-docs/releases/new-release.md

Important: Do NOT include the header metadata (title, tag, draft, etc.) - only the release content starting from the sections.

Example Output Format

### New Features

- New `bit validate` command to run a complete `test`, `lint`, `compile` and `typecheck` for a project (#10022)
- **Bit Scripts** for simple shell commands or function execution for components (#10028)

### Improvements

- `bit recover` command now supports component and glob patterns (#10033)
- Improve error messages in CLI (#10027, #9983)

### Performance

- Don't read and parse the lockfile multiple times for calculating deps graph (#10019)

### Bug Fixes

- Fix an issue where test duration had incorrect format (#9940)
- Fix an issue where `bit new` wasn't resolving a remote env (#9981)

### Internal

- Update dependencies (#10018, #10015, #10006)
- Modernize some legacy code (#10024, #10014)

Output Files Summary

File	Location	Purpose
raw-commits.md	releases-docs/temp-files/	Raw commit data for review
filtered-commits.md	releases-docs/temp-files/	Filtered/kept commits for review
v{VERSION}.md or new-release.md	releases-docs/releases/	Final release notes

Reference Files

• Guidelines: releases-docs/guideline.md - Detailed formatting and style guidelines
• Examples: releases-docs/releases/ - Previous release notes for reference patterns

Helper Scripts (Optional)

The releases-docs/scripts/ directory contains shell scripts for manual use:

• get-release-commits.sh [FROM_COMMIT] [TO_TAG] - Fetches commits between releases
• filter-commits.sh - Filters out uninteresting commits (pipe input to it)

These scripts are provided for manual/CLI use. When using this skill, Claude uses the gh API commands directly as they work from any directory without needing the local git repository.

Tips

1. Group related PRs - Multiple PRs for the same feature should be one line item
2. Be concise - Users scan release notes; keep items short and clear
3. Focus on user impact - Describe what changed for the user, not implementation details
4. Check for typos - Common in commit messages; fix them in release notes
5. Verify PR numbers - Ensure all referenced PRs exist and are correct