| name | create-draft-release-notes |
| description | Create or update draft GitHub releases for the current project's main GitHub repository, then organize GitHub-generated release notes into user-friendly sections without rewriting release note items. Use for preparing, formatting, categorizing, creating, or updating GitHub release notes or draft releases. |
Create Draft Release Notes
Overview
Create a GitHub draft release, organize the generated notes by conventional commit type, and save the organized body back to the draft. Preserve each release note item exactly; only split accidentally joined bullets, move bullets into sections, and adjust headings.
Draft Release Workflow
Input: a release tag/title such as v2.0.6. If title and tag differ, ask for the tag.
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Resolve repo as <owner>/<repo>.
Prefer an explicit repo from the user. Otherwise infer the current project's main GitHub repository from project metadata or the current GitHub remote. For npm projects, package.json repository is a useful signal; in monorepos, inspect the package or project being released rather than assuming the workspace root. Ignore subdirectory metadata such as repository.directory because GitHub releases are repository-level. If the repo is ambiguous, ask.
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Set variables:
repo="<owner>/<repo>"
release_tag="v2.0.6"
release_title="$release_tag"
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Verify access and ensure the release does not already exist:
gh auth status
gh repo view "$repo" --json nameWithOwner --jq '.nameWithOwner'
gh release view "$release_tag" -R "$repo" --json tagName,isDraft,url
If the release exists, stop unless the user explicitly asked to update that draft.
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Infer the previous tag:
previous_tag="$(gh release list -R "$repo" --exclude-drafts --exclude-pre-releases --limit 1 --json tagName --jq '.[0].tagName')"
gh release list -R "$repo" --exclude-drafts --exclude-pre-releases --limit 5
Ask for confirmation if the previous tag is missing, surprising, or part of a non-standard range.
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Before creating anything, state the repo and range: previous_tag -> release_tag. If the user did not explicitly ask to create the draft in this turn, ask for confirmation.
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Create the draft with GitHub-generated notes:
gh release create "$release_tag" -R "$repo" --draft --generate-notes --notes-start-tag "$previous_tag" --title "$release_title"
Add --verify-tag when the release must use an existing remote tag.
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Organize and save the draft body:
tmp_dir="$(mktemp -d)"
gh release view "$release_tag" -R "$repo" --json body --jq '.body' > "$tmp_dir/generated.md"
node .agents/skills/create-draft-release-notes/scripts/create-draft-release-notes.mjs "$tmp_dir/generated.md" > "$tmp_dir/organized.md"
gh release edit "$release_tag" -R "$repo" --draft --title "$release_title" --notes-file "$tmp_dir/organized.md"
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Return the draft URL:
gh release view "$release_tag" -R "$repo" --json url --jq '.url'
Markdown-Only Workflow
Use this when the user provides generated release note Markdown and only wants it organized:
node .agents/skills/create-draft-release-notes/scripts/create-draft-release-notes.mjs release-notes.md
Omit the file path to read from stdin. Review that every original item still appears once and non-item sections remain.
Categories
Emit non-empty sections in this order:
### Breaking Changes 🍭
### New Features 🎉
### Performance 🚀
### Bug Fixes 🐞
### Refactor 🔨
### Document 📖
### Other Changes
Classify by the item prefix:
- Breaking Changes:
type!: or type(scope)!:, plus breaking: / break:.
- New Features:
feat: / feat(scope):, plus feature:.
- Performance:
perf:.
- Bug Fixes:
fix:.
- Refactor:
refactor:.
- Document:
docs: / docs(scope):, plus doc:.
- Other Changes: everything else.
Keep each category in generated top-to-bottom order.
Preservation Rules
- Do not rewrite bullet text, authors, URLs, PR numbers, package names, scopes, punctuation, or casing.
- Do not drop comments,
**Full Changelog**, or other non-item sections.
- Do not add commentary to the release note itself.
- Do not emit empty category sections.
Resources
scripts/create-draft-release-notes.mjs: deterministic formatter for generated release note Markdown.