Git Release Notes

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name: git-release-notes description: Generate polished release notes and changelogs from git history. Analyzes commits between tags/refs, categorizes changes (features, fixes, breaking changes, etc.), and produces formatted release notes in multiple styles. Use when asked to generate release notes, create a changelog, summarize changes between versions, write release documentation, or prepare a GitHub release. Triggers on "release notes", "changelog", "what changed since", "summarize commits", "version bump notes", "prepare release".

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Git Release Notes

Generate formatted release notes from git commit history. Analyzes commits between any two refs (tags, branches, SHAs) and produces categorized, human-readable release notes.

Quick Usage

Generate Notes Between Tags

scripts/gather_commits.sh v1.2.0 v1.3.0

Then format the JSON output into release notes using the formatting rules below.

Generate Notes Since Last Tag

scripts/gather_commits.sh $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0) HEAD

Generate Notes Between Branches

scripts/gather_commits.sh main release/2.0

Workflow

1. Gather Commits

Run scripts/gather_commits.sh to get structured commit data (JSON array).

If no refs provided, ask user for:

The starting point (tag, branch, or SHA)

The ending point (default: HEAD)

2. Categorize Commits

Group commits by type using conventional commit prefixes and content analysis:

| Category | Prefixes / Signals | Emoji | |----------|-------------------|-------| | Breaking Changes | BREAKING CHANGE:, !: in subject | 💥 | | Features | feat:, feature:, add: | ✨ | | Bug Fixes | fix:, bugfix:, hotfix: | 🐛 | | Performance | perf: | ⚡ | | Documentation | docs:, doc: | 📚 | | Refactoring | refactor: | ♻️ | | Testing | test:, tests: | 🧪 | | CI/Build | ci:, build:, chore: | 🔧 | | Dependencies | deps:, dep:, "bump", "upgrade" in subject | 📦 | | Other | Anything else | 📝 |

If commits don't follow conventional commits, analyze the commit message content to infer categories.

3. Format Release Notes

Default format (GitHub Release style):

# v1.3.0
> Released on 2026-03-26 | 47 commits | 5 contributors
💥 Breaking Changes
Remove deprecated legacy_auth endpoint (#234)
✨ Features
Add dark mode support (#220)
Implement batch export for CSV/JSON (#215)
🐛 Bug Fixes
Fix race condition in queue processor (#228)
Correct timezone handling for UTC offset (#225)
⚡ Performance
Optimize database queries for dashboard load (#222)
📦 Dependencies
Bump express from 4.18 to 4.21
🔧 Other
Update CI pipeline for Node 22
Full Changelog: v1.2.0...v1.3.0

4. Alternative Formats

Compact (for small releases):

v1.3.0 — Dark mode, batch export, 5 bug fixes. Breaking: removed legacy_auth.

Keep a Changelog (keepachangelog.com):

## [1.3.0] - 2026-03-26
Added
Dark mode support
Changed
Optimized dashboard queries
Removed
Deprecated legacy_auth endpoint
Fixed
Race condition in queue processor

Slack/Discord announcement:

🚀 v1.3.0 is out!
Highlights:
→ Dark mode support
→ Batch CSV/JSON export
→ 5 bug fixes
⚠️ Breaking: legacy_auth endpoint removed — migrate to /v2/auth

Customization

Users can specify:

Format — github (default), compact, keepachangelog, slack

Include/exclude categories — "skip docs and chore commits"

Group by — category (default), author, scope

PR links — auto-detect GitHub PR numbers (#NNN)

Contributors — list contributors at the bottom

Scope filter — only include commits touching certain paths

Scripts

scripts/gather_commits.sh — Outputs JSON array of commits with hash, author, date, subject, body