Release Notes Expert

Release Notes Expert

Overview

Transform raw technical changes -- tickets, changelogs, git logs, PRDs -- into clear, user-benefit-oriented release notes. This skill ensures every release communicates value to the right audience in the right tone, via a 5-step methodology: gather input, classify each change into one of five categories, rewrite for user benefit, adjust tone for the audience, and assemble.

When to Use

• Product Releases -- Announcing new versions to customers, partners, or internal stakeholders.
• Sprint Demos -- Summarizing what shipped for sprint review audiences.
• Changelog Maintenance -- Keeping a running log of changes across releases.
• Customer Communication -- Preparing release announcements for email, in-app, or documentation.

Core Capabilities

• 5-category classification — New Features, Improvements, Bug Fixes, Breaking Changes, Deprecations with explicit assignment rules
• User-benefit rewriting — lead with the outcome, plain language, 1-3 sentences; detects developer-perspective phrasing
• Audience tone guidance — B2B/enterprise, consumer, developer/API, internal
• Automated generation — release_notes_generator.py groups entries, formats markdown/JSON, and flags technical language for rewrite

Clarify First

Before generating the release notes, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:

• Audience — B2B/enterprise, consumer, developer/API, or internal (sets the entire tone matrix and how much detail to include)
• Source changes — the tickets/PRs/changelog to translate, classified into the 5 categories (nothing generates without these)
• Breaking changes & deprecations — what changed, the required action, and by when (forces the mandatory breaking-change fields that protect user trust)

Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the artifact.

Quick Start

python scripts/release_notes_generator.py --input changes.json --product-name "Acme App" --version "2.5.0"
python scripts/release_notes_generator.py --demo --product-name "Acme App" --version "1.0.0"

Include only categories that have entries. Breaking changes must state what changed, what the user must do, and by when. See the references for the full methodology, output template, and flag reference.

References