GitHub Release Note

Goal

Generate release notes following the project's standard, using only real project information. Compare the current version against the previous version.

Inputs you must collect before starting

• Project (short name)
• New version (e.g.: v2.4.0)
• Comparison base (e.g.: v2.3.1)
• Repository URL (if you cannot infer it)

If the user does not provide the comparison base, use the tag immediately before the new version. If there is no previous tag, use v0.0.0. If the user does not provide the new version, auto-detect it by running step 0 (git tag discovery), then show the detected latest tag to the user and confirm before proceeding.

[!IMPORTANT] Never trust tag values remembered from earlier in the session or from prior conversations. Tags can be created, deleted, or pushed at any moment — including mid-session. Step 0 is mandatory on every invocation, even if you already saw the "latest tag" minutes ago. Treat any tag value not freshly read from git in this turn as unknown.

Procedure

0. Discover real tags first (mandatory, always re-run, hard gate) — before assuming any version, run these commands and show their full output to the user:

   git remote -v
   git fetch --tags --force --prune origin 2>&1
   git tag --sort=-version:refname | head -10
   git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || echo "(no local tags)"
   gh release view --json tagName,name,publishedAt 2>&1 || echo "(gh release view failed)"
   gh release list --limit 5 2>&1 || echo "(gh release list failed)"

   Mandatory cross-checks:

   a. Fetch must succeed. If git fetch prints any error (auth, network, no remote), STOP and report the exact error to the user. Do not continue with stale local tags unless the user explicitly says "use local only".

   b. Compare local vs. remote. If gh release view returns a tag that is newer than git tag --sort=-version:refname | head -1, the local clone is out of date even after fetch — STOP and tell the user the remote latest release tag verbatim. Ask whether they want to (i) pull the tag and retry, or (ii) generate notes for a different range.

   c. Hard assertion on the chosen new version. Whatever version you are about to use as <NEW> MUST appear in the output of git tag --sort=-version:refname from this turn. If it does not appear, STOP — do not run any git rev-list, git log, git diff --stat, or validation commands against that version. Tell the user the tag is missing locally and list the tags that DO exist.

   d. Forbidden inference sources for <NEW>. Do not pick the new version from any of these — they are not source of truth:

   • The v2.4.0 / v2.3.1 examples in this skill file (SKILL.md, EXAMPLE.md).
   • Filenames of existing release-v*.md files in the working directory.
   • Versions in package.json, Cargo.toml, pyproject.toml, go.mod.
   • Tag values remembered from earlier in the session or prior conversations. The only authoritative sources are: git tag output (post-fetch) and gh release output, both produced in the current turn.

   e. Always print and confirm. After running the commands, print this block verbatim and wait for explicit user confirmation before continuing:

   Detected:
     - Local latest tag:  <from git tag>
     - Remote latest tag: <from gh release view, or "unknown">
     - Proposed NEW:      <value>
     - Proposed BASE:     <value>
   Confirm to proceed (yes / change).

   Also look for the most recent release-v*.md file in the current directory and detect the language it was written in (for language detection only, per the Language rule below). The release-note filename is not a source of truth for the latest tag.

1. Validate that the tags or commits exist in the repository.
2. Collect range metrics: commits, files changed, lines added and removed.
3. Read commits and relevant changes, grouping by topic.
4. Build the final text with an executive summary and sections: New Features, Performance, Refactors, Bug Fixes, Security, Tests, Infrastructure.
5. If there are relevant dependency changes, list them in a table with final versions.
6. List documentation changes (files in docs/ or equivalent).
7. Include contributors extracted from git log.
8. Generate a compare link in GitHub format: /compare/<BASE>...<NEW>.
9. Write the final release note to a file named release-<NEW>.md in the current directory (e.g.: release-v2.4.0.md). Use the Write tool to create the file.

Constraints

• Do not invent features, metrics, or numbers.
• If there is no evidence in git, do not mention it.

Language rule

• Detect the language of the most recent release-v*.md file found in the current directory. Write all descriptive content (summaries, bullet text, table values, contributor lines) in that same language.
• If no previous release file exists, default to English.
• Section titles and topic headings (e.g. Executive summary, New Features, Bug Fixes, Performance, Refactors, Security, Tests, Infrastructure, Dependencies, Documentation, Contributors, Breaking changes) must always remain in English, regardless of the content language.

Output format

Follow exactly the template in EXAMPLE.md (same directory as this skill), adapting all content to the current project range.

Adaptation rules:

• If a section has no content in the range (e.g.: no Security changes), omit it entirely — do not include an empty section.
• Keep the section order as shown in the example.
• Replace the fictional project with the real project name.
• Replace fictional metrics with the real metrics collected in step 2 of the procedure.
• Use the same writing style: user-centered language, concise bullets, concrete numbers where available.

Example request

"Create release notes for nexus-api v2.4.0 comparing with v2.3.1"