Generate Human-Readable Changelog Entries

Generate changelog entries for add-on packages following the add-on release workflow.

When to use this skill

Use when:

• Preparing a release for an add-on package
• User asks to generate release notes or changelog for an add-on
• User invokes /qv-addon-changelog

Workflow

Step 1: Identify Target Add-on

If the user doesn't specify, ask which add-on package they want to generate a changelog for.

Step 2: Identify version and changes (mandatory version bump + upstream tag diff)

Identify the full set of changes for the target add-on package only, validate the version bump in the target add-on package.json against main, and compute diff from the previous released tag to HEAD:

1. Find the PR base and head: The base is main. The head is the current branch/commit that the PR will merge.
2. Read versions:
   • Read package.json from main (prev_version) and from HEAD (current_version).
   • Always compare package.json between main and HEAD.

3. Mandatory version bump check:

   • If the version in package.json is unchanged compared to main, stop and display this exact warning to the user, substituting <addon> with the actual add-on name:

   ---

   ⚠️⚠️⚠️ VERSION BUMP REQUIRED ⚠️⚠️⚠️
   The version in packages/<addon>/package.json is unchanged compared to main.
   If this PR includes any changes that must be released in the package, you must bump the package version, commit/push it and re-run this command.

4. Resolve upstream release tag for prev_version:
   • Check addon release workflow tag format in .github/workflows/create-github-release.yml (tag_name).
   • Use that format to build upstream_tag for prev_version.
   • The tag pattern currently used is <short_addon_name>-v<version> (example: llamacpp-embed-v0.10.7)
5. Compute release diff from upstream tag to PR head (package-scoped):
   • Primary range for changelog generation: upstream_tag...HEAD (or upstream_tag..HEAD for commit listing).
   • Scope all comparisons to the target package path using path filtering:
     • diff scope example: git diff upstream_tag...HEAD -- packages/<addon>/
     • commit scope example: git log upstream_tag..HEAD -- packages/<addon>/
   • This ensures the changelog is based on changes since the previous released version, up to the latest commit in the PR branch.
   • If upstream_tag does not exist locally/remotely, warn clearly and fall back to main...HEAD.
6. Do not include uncommitted changes or untracked files: If any uncommitted/untracked files are present, ignore them.

The goal is to produce a single, package-scoped change set that reflects what will be released next for the target add-on: from the previous released tag (prev_version) to the current PR head (HEAD).

Step 3: Collect PRs included in this release

1. Extract PR numbers from commit messages in the package-scoped range upstream_tag..HEAD -- packages/<addon>/ (or fallback main...HEAD -- packages/<addon>/ if tag is missing)
   • Look for patterns like #123, (#123), or Merge pull request #123
2. For each PR found, use gh pr view <number> to get:
   • PR title
   • PR number
   • PR URL
3. Filter PRs to package-relevant only:
   • Keep PRs that actually touch files under packages/<addon>/.
   • If needed, verify with gh pr view <number> --json files and drop unrelated PRs.
4. Build a list of PRs to include in the release notes

Step 4: Generate changelog entry (single source of truth)

Create or update the matching version section in CHANGELOG.md with these guidelines:

Format Requirements

1. Version heading: Use exactly ## [X.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD
   • X.Y.Z must match package.json version in HEAD
   • Date must be the release date in YYYY-MM-DD
2. Introduction: Write a brief 2-3 sentence summary of what this release brings
3. Sections: Create each section using narrative prose style. Omit a section if there is no information related with it:
   • Breaking Changes: Lead with impact, explain what changed and why, provide clear migration steps with before/after code
   • New APIs: Describe what's possible now, show practical usage examples
   • Features: Explain benefits in user terms, not just what was added
   • Bug Fixes: Describe what was broken and how it's fixed
   • Other: Summarize briefly
   • Use section headings like ## Breaking Changes, ## Features, etc. inside the version block
4. Pull Requests: At the end, include a "## Pull Requests" section listing all PRs in this release:

   ## Pull Requests
   
   - [#123](https://github.com/tetherto/qvac/pull/123) - PR title here
   - [#124](https://github.com/tetherto/qvac/pull/124) - Another PR title

5. Workflow compatibility requirement (mandatory):
   • The release workflow extracts the GitHub release body from CHANGELOG.md by taking text after ## [X.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD until the next version heading ## [.
   • Therefore:
     • Keep all release content for a version inside that block.
     • Do not create standalone release notes files.
     • Ensure the version block is non-empty.
6. Style Guidelines:
   • Use complete sentences, not bullet fragments
   • Lead with benefits/impact
   • Group related changes together
   • Add context where helpful (why this matters)
   • Keep code examples clean and commented
   • Remove internal jargon, make it accessible
   • Skip entries with no informational value — generic entries like "Updated models" or "Bumped dependencies" without specific details should be omitted

Example

CHANGELOG.md (excerpt):

## [0.4.0] - 2026-02-18

This release introduces automated GitHub releases and improves mobile test reliability.

## Features

### Automated GitHub Releases

The release process is now automated with enforced changelog entries. When a version bump is detected on merge to main, a GitHub release is automatically created using the matching `CHANGELOG.md` version block.

## Bug Fixes

### Mobile E2E Test Workflow Fix

Fixed an issue where mobile E2E tests would fail when the "On PR Trigger" workflow was manually run via workflow_dispatch.

## Pull Requests

- [#67](https://github.com/tetherto/qvac/pull/67) - Fix mobile E2E tests workflow_dispatch
- [#70](https://github.com/tetherto/qvac/pull/70) - feat: automate GitHub releases with mandatory release notes