release-skills

Release Skills

Universal release workflow supporting any project type with multi-language changelog.

User Input Tools

When this skill prompts the user, follow this tool-selection rule (priority order):

1. Prefer built-in user-input tools exposed by the current agent runtime — e.g., AskUserQuestion, request_user_input, clarify, ask_user, or any equivalent.
2. Fallback: if no such tool exists, emit a numbered plain-text message and ask the user to reply with the chosen number/answer for each question.
3. Batching: if the tool supports multiple questions per call, combine all applicable questions into a single call; if only single-question, ask them one at a time in priority order.

Concrete AskUserQuestion references below are examples — substitute the local equivalent in other runtimes.

Quick Start

Just run /release-skills - auto-detects your project configuration.

Supported Projects

Project Type	Version File	Auto-Detected
Node.js	package.json	✓
Python	pyproject.toml	✓
Rust	Cargo.toml	✓
Claude Plugin	marketplace.json	✓
Generic	VERSION / version.txt	✓

Options

Flag	Description
--dry-run	Preview changes without executing
--major	Force major version bump
--minor	Force minor version bump
--patch	Force patch version bump
--backfill-releases	Create missing GitHub Releases for existing tags from changelog sections

Workflow

Step 1: Detect Project Configuration

1. Check for .releaserc.yml (optional config override)
   • If present, inspect whether it defines release hooks
2. Auto-detect version file by scanning (priority order):
   • package.json (Node.js)
   • pyproject.toml (Python)
   • Cargo.toml (Rust)
   • marketplace.json or .claude-plugin/marketplace.json (Claude Plugin)
   • VERSION or version.txt (Generic)
3. Scan for changelog files using glob patterns:
   • CHANGELOG*.md
   • HISTORY*.md
   • CHANGES*.md
4. Identify language of each changelog by filename suffix
5. Detect GitHub release support:
   • Check whether origin points to GitHub
   • Check whether gh is installed and authenticated
   • Check existing releases with gh release list --limit 5 when available
6. Display detected configuration

Project Hook Contract:

If .releaserc.yml defines release.hooks, keep the release workflow generic and delegate project-specific packaging/publishing to those hooks.

Supported hooks:

Hook	Purpose	Expected Responsibility
prepare_artifact	Make one target releasable	Validate the target is self-contained, sync/embed local dependencies, optionally stage extra files
publish_artifact	Publish one releasable target	Upload the prepared target (or a staged directory if the project uses one), attach version/changelog/tags

Supported placeholders:

Placeholder	Meaning
{project_root}	Absolute path to repository root
{target}	Absolute path to the module/skill being released
{artifact_dir}	Absolute path to a temporary staging directory for this target, when the project uses one
{version}	Version selected by the release workflow
{dry_run}	true or false
{release_notes_file}	Absolute path to a UTF-8 file containing release notes/changelog text

Execution rules:

• Keep the skill generic: do not hardcode registry/package-manager/project layout details into this SKILL.
• If prepare_artifact exists, run it once per target before publish-related checks that need the final releasable target state.
• Write release notes to a temp file and pass that file path to publish_artifact; do not inline multiline changelog text into shell commands.
• If hooks are absent, fall back to the default project-agnostic release workflow.

Language Detection Rules:

Changelog files follow the pattern CHANGELOG_{LANG}.md or CHANGELOG.{lang}.md, where {lang} / {LANG} is a language or region code.

Pattern	Example	Language
No suffix	CHANGELOG.md	en (default)
_{LANG} (uppercase)	CHANGELOG_CN.md, CHANGELOG_JP.md	Corresponding language
.{lang} (lowercase)	CHANGELOG.zh.md, CHANGELOG.ja.md	Corresponding language
.{lang-region}	CHANGELOG.zh-CN.md	Corresponding region variant

Common language codes: zh (Chinese), ja (Japanese), ko (Korean), de (German), fr (French), es (Spanish).

Output Example:

Project detected:
  Version file: package.json (1.2.3)
  Changelogs:
    - CHANGELOG.md (en)
    - CHANGELOG.zh.md (zh)
    - CHANGELOG.ja.md (ja)

Step 2: Analyze Changes Since Last Tag

LAST_TAG=$(git tag --sort=-v:refname | head -1)
git log ${LAST_TAG}..HEAD --oneline
git diff ${LAST_TAG}..HEAD --stat

Categorize by conventional commit types:

Type	Description
feat	New features
fix	Bug fixes
docs	Documentation
refactor	Code refactoring
perf	Performance improvements
test	Test changes
style	Formatting, styling
chore	Maintenance (skip in changelog)

Breaking Change Detection:

• Commit message starts with BREAKING CHANGE
• Commit body/footer contains BREAKING CHANGE:
• Removed public APIs, renamed exports, changed interfaces

If breaking changes detected, warn user: "Breaking changes detected. Consider major version bump (--major flag)."

Step 3: Determine Version Bump

Rules (in priority order):

1. User flag --major/--minor/--patch → Use specified
2. BREAKING CHANGE detected → Major bump (1.x.x → 2.0.0)
3. feat: commits present → Minor bump (1.2.x → 1.3.0)
4. Otherwise → Patch bump (1.2.3 → 1.2.4)

Display version change: 1.2.3 → 1.3.0

Step 4: Generate Multi-language Changelogs

For each detected changelog file:

1. Identify language from filename suffix
2. Detect third-party contributors:
   • Check merge commits: git log ${LAST_TAG}..HEAD --merges --pretty=format:"%H %s"
   • For each merged PR, identify the PR author via gh pr view <number> --json author --jq '.author.login'
   • Compare against repo owner (gh repo view --json owner --jq '.owner.login')
   • If PR author ≠ repo owner → third-party contributor
3. Generate content in that language:
   • Section titles in target language
   • Change descriptions written naturally in target language (not translated)
   • Date format: YYYY-MM-DD (universal)
   • Third-party contributions: Append contributor attribution (by @username) to the changelog entry
4. Insert at file head (preserve existing content)

Section Title Translations (built-in):

Type	en	zh	ja	ko	de	fr	es
feat	Features	新功能	新機能	새로운 기능	Funktionen	Fonctionnalités	Características
fix	Fixes	修复	修正	수정	Fehlerbehebungen	Corrections	Correcciones
docs	Documentation	文档	ドキュメント	문서	Dokumentation	Documentation	Documentación
refactor	Refactor	重构	リファクタリング	리팩토링	Refactoring	Refactorisation	Refactorización
perf	Performance	性能优化	パフォーマンス	성능	Leistung	Performance	Rendimiento
breaking	Breaking Changes	破坏性变更	破壊的変更	주요 변경사항	Breaking Changes	Changements majeurs	Cambios importantes

Changelog Format:

## {VERSION} - {YYYY-MM-DD}

### Features
- Description of new feature
- Description of third-party contribution (by @username)

### Fixes
- Description of fix

### Documentation
- Description of docs changes

Only include sections that have changes. Omit empty sections.

Third-Party Attribution Rules:

• Only add (by @username) for contributors who are NOT the repo owner
• Use GitHub username with @ prefix
• Place at the end of the changelog entry line
• Apply to all languages consistently (always use (by @username) format, not translated)

Multi-language Example:

English (CHANGELOG.md):

## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22

### Features
- Add user authentication module (by @contributor1)
- Support OAuth2 login

### Fixes
- Fix memory leak in connection pool

Chinese (CHANGELOG.zh.md):

## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22

### 新功能
- 新增用户认证模块 (by @contributor1)
- 支持 OAuth2 登录

### 修复
- 修复连接池内存泄漏问题

Japanese (CHANGELOG.ja.md):

## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22

### 新機能
- ユーザー認証モジュールを追加 (by @contributor1)
- OAuth2 ログインをサポート

### 修正
- コネクションプールのメモリリークを修正

Step 5: Group Changes by Skill/Module

Analyze commits since last tag and group by affected skill/module:

1. Identify changed files per commit
2. Group by skill/module:
   • skills/<skill-name>/* → Group under that skill
   • Root files (CLAUDE.md, etc.) → Group as "project"
   • Multiple skills in one commit → Split into multiple groups
3. For each group, identify related README updates needed

Example Grouping:

baoyu-cover-image:
  - feat: add new style options
  - fix: handle transparent backgrounds
  → README updates: options table

baoyu-comic:
  - refactor: improve panel layout algorithm
  → No README updates needed

project:
  - docs: update CLAUDE.md architecture section

Step 6: Commit Each Skill/Module Separately

For each skill/module group (in order of changes):

1. Check README updates needed:

   • Scan README*.md for mentions of this skill/module
   • Verify options/flags documented correctly
   • Update usage examples if syntax changed
   • Update feature descriptions if behavior changed

2. Stage and commit:

   git add skills/<skill-name>/*
   git add README.md README.zh.md  # If updated for this skill
   git commit -m "<type>(<skill-name>): <meaningful description>"
   

3. Commit message format:

   • Use conventional commit format: <type>(<scope>): <description>
   • <type>:

---

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