---

name: git-release-notes description: Automatically generates changelogs, GitHub release notes, and social announcements from Git tag diffs using AI-powered commit analysis.

git-release-notes

Automatically generates changelogs, GitHub release notes, and social announcements from Git tag diffs using AI-powered commit analysis.

Overview

This skill analyzes Git commit history between tags to automatically generate professional release artifacts. It handles both conventional commits and free-form messages, categorizes changes by type, and produces formatted output for various platforms.

Core capabilities:

• Diff commits between Git tags and classify them by type (feat/fix/chore/breaking)
• Generate Keep-a-Changelog formatted CHANGELOG.md entries
• Create GitHub Releases-ready markdown with categorized sections
• Produce 1-3 sentence announcements for Slack/Discord/social media
• Support monorepo filtering by path prefix
• Handle both conventional commits and free-form commit messages
• Configurable output tone (technical/friendly/marketing)

Usage Scenarios

Trigger phrases:

• "Generate changelog for v1.4.0"
• "Create release notes from tag v2.0.1"
• "Make announcement for the latest release"
• "Update CHANGELOG.md with changes since last tag"
• "Summarize commits between v1.3.0 and v1.4.0"
• "Produce release notes for the git tag"

Common use cases:

• Preparing release documentation for GitHub Releases
• Updating project changelogs automatically
• Creating social media announcements for new versions
• Summarizing development progress between releases
• Maintaining release notes for open source projects

Installation

Requirements:

• Node.js 16+ (required for script execution)
• Git CLI (required for repository access)
• OpenClaw agent system (required for skill activation)

Setup steps:

1. Install the skill via clawhub: clawhub install git-release-notes
2. Ensure Node.js is installed and available in PATH
3. Verify Git repository is initialized and has tags
4. The skill will automatically load when triggered

Quick Start

Basic usage:

# Generate changelog for latest release
generate-release-notes.js --from v1.4.0

# Create GitHub release notes
generate-release-notes.js --from v1.4.0 --outputFormat release-notes

# Make social announcement
generate-release-notes.js --from v1.4.0 --outputFormat announcement

# With monorepo filtering
generate-release-notes.js --from v1.4.0 --monorepoPath packages/core

# Custom tone
generate-release-notes.js --from v1.4.0 --tone marketing

Output preview:

## [1.4.0] - 2024-01-15

### Added
- New authentication system with OAuth 2.0 support
- Dark mode toggle for better accessibility

### Fixed
- Memory leak in background processing
- Incorrect calculation in billing module

### Changed
- Updated dependencies to latest versions
- Improved error handling for API requests

Configuration

CLI Options Reference

| Option | Description | Default | |--------|-------------|---------| | --from | Starting Git tag (required) | - | | --to | Ending Git tag | HEAD | | --outputFormat | Output format (changelog/release-notes/announcement) | changelog | | --tone | Output tone (technical/friendly/marketing) | technical | | --monorepoPath | Path prefix for monorepo filtering | - | | --templatePath | Custom template file | - | | --help | Show help information | - |

Template Customization

You can customize output templates by creating custom template files:

# Use custom template
generate-release-notes.js --from v1.4.0 --templatePath ./custom-template.md

Monorepo Filtering

For monorepo projects, filter commits by path prefix:

# Filter commits in packages/core directory
generate-release-notes.js --from v1.4.0 --monorepoPath packages/core

Tone Settings

Available tone options:

• technical: Detailed, precise language for developers
• friendly: Conversational, approachable tone
• marketing: Promotional, benefit-focused language

Advanced Usage

Custom Templates

Create custom templates in the same format as the default templates. The script supports Handlebars-like syntax with variables:

## [{{version}}] - {{date}}

### {{category}}
{{#each commits}}
- {{this}}
{{/each}}

Integration with CI/CD

Add to your GitHub Actions workflow:

- name: Generate Release Notes
  run: node scripts/generate-release-notes.js --from ${{ github.ref_name }}
  id: release-notes
- name: Create GitHub Release
  uses: actions/create-release@v1
  with:
    body: ${{ steps.release-notes.outputs.markdown }}

API Usage

The script can be imported as a Node.js module:

const { generateReleaseNotes } = require('./scripts/generate-release-notes');

const result = await generateReleaseNotes({
  fromTag: 'v1.4.0',
  toTag: 'HEAD',
  outputFormat: 'changelog',
  tone: 'technical'
});

Examples

Real-world Output Samples

Conventional Commits:

feat(auth): add OAuth 2.0 support
fix(database): resolve memory leak in connection pool
refactor(api): improve error handling

Free-form Commits:

Add new authentication system
Fix bug in billing calculation
Update dependencies

Monorepo Example:

# Only include commits from packages/core
generate-release-notes.js --from v1.4.0 --monorepoPath packages/core

Test Case Demonstrations

Test case 1: Basic changelog

• Input: Commits between v1.3.0 and v1.4.0
• Expected: Categorized changelog with features, fixes, changes

Test case 2: Announcement generation

• Input: Latest release commits
• Expected: 1-2 sentence social media announcement

Test case 3: Monorepo filtering

• Input: Repository with multiple packages
• Expected: Only commits from specified path prefix

Troubleshooting

Common issues:

1. Git tag not found

   • Ensure the tag exists: git tag
   • Verify tag format: v1.4.0, not 1.4.0

2. No commits found

   • Check tag order: --from should be older than --to
   • Verify repository has commits between tags

3. Template errors

   • Check template syntax
   • Ensure template file exists and is readable

4. Permission denied

   • Run with appropriate permissions
   • Check file system access

Debug tips:

# Enable verbose output
DEBUG=git-release-notes generate-release-notes.js --from v1.4.0

# Check git configuration
git log --oneline v1.3.0..v1.4.0

Contributing

Development setup:

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/openclaw/git-release-notes.git
cd git-release-notes

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run tests
npm test

# Build the skill
npm run build

Test guidelines:

• Write tests for all major functionality
• Include edge cases (empty commits, invalid tags)
• Test both conventional and free-form commits
• Verify template rendering works correctly

Code style:

• Use ES6+ JavaScript features
• Follow Prettier formatting
• Include JSDoc comments for public functions
• Write descriptive commit messages

Release process:

1. Update version in package.json
2. Update CHANGELOG.md
3. Run tests and build
4. Publish to npm and update clawhub
5. Update skill documentation