hf-release-notes

name	hf-release-notes
description	Generate Hugging Face Hub (huggingface_hub) release notes from cached PR JSON files. Use when asked to draft release notes from PR files.

HF Release Notes

Overview

Generate release notes for huggingface_hub from cached PR JSON files. This skill reads PR metadata, categorizes entries, and produces a formatted markdown release notes document.

Output directory: The prompt will specify the output directory as <output_dir>. All paths below use this placeholder.

Workflow

1. Read PR data

Read all PR JSON files from <output_dir>/tmp/pr_*.json. Each file contains:

{
  "number": 1234,
  "title": "...",
  "author": "username",
  "merged_at": "2026-01-15T10:30:00Z",
  "body": "...",
  "labels": ["highlight", "cli"],
  "url": "https://github.com/huggingface/huggingface_hub/pull/1234",
  "doc_diffs": [
    {
      "filename": "docs/source/en/guides/cli.md",
      "status": "modified",
      "patch": "@@ -10,6 +10,10 @@ ..."
    }
  ]
}

The doc_diffs field contains unified diffs for any .md files under docs/ that were changed in the PR. This is empty ([]) for PRs with no documentation changes.

2. Identify highlights

A PR should be highlighted if:

• It has the "highlight" label on GitHub, or
• You judge it significant enough to deserve a detailed section (e.g., a major new feature, a meaningful UX improvement, or a notable breaking change) even without the label.

Use your judgment — not every feature PR needs a highlight, but don't limit highlights to only labeled PRs. Each highlight section follows this structure:

1. Emoji header — e.g., ## 🖥️ New CLI commands
2. Prose summary — 2-5 sentences describing the user-visible change in flowing text. Avoid bullet points here; write natural sentences. Only use bullets if the content truly calls for a list (e.g., enumerating 4+ distinct sub-features).
3. Code examples — if the PR introduces new commands or APIs, include a fenced code block with a concrete usage example (cherry-pick from doc diffs when available).
4. PR attribution lines — one bullet per PR that contributed to this highlight: - PR title by @author in #1234

3. Classify standard items

For non-highlight PRs, classify into sections using references/sections.md heuristics based on:

• PR labels
• PR title keywords
• PR body content

4. Use doc diffs and fetch relevant documentation

For highlighted PRs and other PRs that introduce new features, commands, or APIs:

Use doc diffs first:

• Check the doc_diffs field in the PR JSON. If present, these contain the actual documentation changes made in the PR (unified diff format).
• Use these diffs to understand what was documented, extract code examples, and write more accurate summaries. The diffs show exactly what the PR author wrote in the docs.
• The filename field maps to a docs page URL. For example, docs/source/en/guides/cli.md → https://huggingface.co/docs/huggingface_hub/main/en/guides/cli

Fetch full doc pages when needed:

1. Start by fetching the docs index page to discover the site structure: https://huggingface.co/docs/huggingface_hub/main/en/index
2. Based on the PR content (title, body, labels), identify which doc pages might be relevant. For example:
   • A CLI PR → check https://huggingface.co/docs/huggingface_hub/main/en/guides/cli
   • An Inference PR → check https://huggingface.co/docs/huggingface_hub/main/en/guides/inference
   • A new API class or method → check the corresponding reference page
3. Fetch the candidate doc page to confirm it covers the feature from the PR.
4. Only include a doc link if the page genuinely documents the feature.

How to reference:

• In highlight sections, add a line like: 📚 **Documentation:** [Guide name](https://huggingface.co/docs/huggingface_hub/main/en/guides/...)
• In standard sections, append the doc link inline after the attribution when relevant: - PR title by @author in #1234 — [docs](https://huggingface.co/docs/huggingface_hub/main/en/...)
• Do NOT add doc links for internal/CI/test PRs or PRs that don't have user-facing docs.
• Do NOT fabricate doc URLs — only link to pages you have actually fetched and verified.

5. Generate release notes

Output to <output_dir>/RELEASE_NOTES_<version>.md using the structure from references/release-notes-template.md:

• Title: # [vX.Y.Z] <tagline> (derive tagline from main highlights; always use the base version without prerelease suffix, e.g. [v1.8.0] even when generating for v1.8.0.rc0)
• One section per highlight with emoji header and narrative
• Standard sections for remaining items (only include sections with items)

6. Quality checks

Before finishing:

• Verify every PR from <output_dir>/tmp/ appears exactly once
• Do NOT include any PR that does not have a corresponding file in <output_dir>/tmp/ — those PRs belong to a different release and must not appear in these notes
• No empty sections
• Consistent emoji headings
• Every item ends with attribution: by @author in #1234
• Doc links point to real, verified pages

Input

• Version string (e.g., "v1.3.8")
• PR JSON files in <output_dir>/tmp/

Output

• Release notes markdown at <output_dir>/RELEASE_NOTES_<version>.md

Resources

• references/release-notes-template.md: Skeleton structure for release notes
• references/sections.md: Keyword-based section mapping and guidance
• Documentation site: https://huggingface.co/docs/huggingface_hub/main/en/index