release-skills

$2c

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

• Check for .releaserc.yml (optional config override)

• If present, inspect whether it defines release hooks

• 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)

• Scan for changelog files using glob patterns:

• CHANGELOG*.md

• HISTORY*.md

• CHANGES*.md

• Identify language of each changelog by filename suffix

• 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

• 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):

• User flag --major/--minor/--patch → Use specified

• BREAKING CHANGE detected → Major bump (1.x.x → 2.0.0)

• feat: commits present → Minor bump (1.2.x → 1.3.0)

• 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:

• Identify language from filename suffix

• 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

• 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

• 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:

• Identify changed files per commit

• 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

• 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):

-

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

-

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>"

-

Commit message format:

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

• <type>: feat, fix, refactor, docs, perf, etc.

• <scope>: skill name or "project"

• <description>: Clear, meaningful description of changes

Example Commits:

git commit -m "feat(baoyu-cover-image): add watercolor and minimalist styles"

git commit -m "fix(baoyu-comic): improve panel layout for long dialogues"

git commit -m "docs(project): update architecture documentation"

Common README Updates Needed:

Change Type

README Section to Check

New options/flags

Options table, usage examples

Renamed options

Options table, usage examples

New features

Feature description, examples

Breaking changes

Migration notes, deprecation warnings

Restructured internals

Architecture section (if exposed to users)

Step 7: Generate Changelog and Update Version

• Generate multi-language changelogs (as described in Step 4)

• Update version file:

• Read version file (JSON/TOML/text)

• Update version number

• Write back (preserve formatting)

• Create release notes file:

• Prefer the new version section from CHANGELOG.md

• If no English/default changelog exists, use the first detected changelog

• Extract only the exact ## {VERSION} - {YYYY-MM-DD} section through the next ##

• Match both plain version and tag-prefixed headings when needed, e.g. 1.2.3 and v1.2.3

• Keep breaking changes near the top; if needed, add a short highlight before other sections

• Write notes to a UTF-8 temp file and reuse it for annotated tag messages, GitHub Releases, and publish_artifact

• In normal mode, stop rather than creating an empty tag or GitHub Release when notes cannot be found

Version Paths by File Type:

File

Path

package.json

$.version

pyproject.toml

project.version

Cargo.toml

package.version

marketplace.json

$.metadata.version

VERSION / version.txt

Direct content

Step 8: User Confirmation

Before creating the release commit, ask user to confirm:

Use AskUserQuestion with three questions:

-

Version bump (single select):

• Show recommended version based on Step 3 analysis

• Options: recommended (with label), other semver options

• Example: 1.2.3 → 1.3.0 (Recommended), 1.2.3 → 1.2.4, 1.2.3 → 2.0.0

-

Push to remote (single select):

• Options: "Yes, push after commit", "No, keep local only"

-

Publish GitHub Release (single select):

• Offer this only when GitHub release support is available

• Default to "Yes, publish after tag push" when the user also chose push

• If the user keeps the release local, do not create or edit a GitHub Release

Example Output Before Confirmation:

Commits created:

  1. feat(baoyu-cover-image): add watercolor and minimalist styles

  2. fix(baoyu-comic): improve panel layout for long dialogues

  3. docs(project): update architecture documentation

Changelog preview (en):

  ## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22

  ### Features

  - Add watercolor and minimalist styles to cover-image

  ### Fixes

  - Improve panel layout for long dialogues in comic

Release notes source: CHANGELOG.md#1.3.0

Ready to create release commit, annotated tag, and GitHub Release.

Step 9: Create Release Commit and Annotated Tag

After user confirmation:

-

Stage version and changelog files:

git add <version-file>

git add CHANGELOG*.md

-

Create release commit:

git commit -m "chore: release v{VERSION}"

-

Create annotated tag:

git tag -a v{VERSION} -F <release-notes-file>

If .releaserc.yml sets tag.sign: true, use git tag -s with the same notes file.

-

Push if user confirmed (Step 8):

git push origin main

git push origin v{VERSION}

Note: Do NOT add Co-Authored-By line. This is a release commit, not a code contribution.

Step 10: Publish Release Artifacts and GitHub Release

Project artifact publishing and GitHub Releases are separate outputs:

-

Project artifacts:

• If release.hooks.publish_artifact exists, run it once per prepared target

• Pass the same {release_notes_file} used for the tag and GitHub Release

• In dry-run mode, pass {dry_run}=true and report what would be published

-

GitHub Release:

• Run only if the user confirmed remote publishing and GitHub support is available

• Ensure the tag exists on the remote before creating the release

• Create or update using the extracted notes:

if gh release view v{VERSION} >/dev/null 2>&1; then

  gh release edit v{VERSION} --title "v{VERSION}" --notes-file <release-notes-file>

else

  gh release create v{VERSION} --title "v{VERSION}" --notes-file <release-notes-file> --verify-tag

fi

• Never inline multiline release notes into shell commands

Post-Release Output:

Release v1.3.0 created.

Commits:

  1. feat(baoyu-cover-image): add watercolor and minimalist styles

  2. fix(baoyu-comic): improve panel layout for long dialogues

  3. docs(project): update architecture documentation

  4. chore: release v1.3.0

Tag: v1.3.0

Tag type: annotated

GitHub Release: published  # or "skipped/local only"

Status: Pushed to origin  # or "Local only - run git push when ready"

Backfill Existing GitHub Releases

Use this mode when the user asks to backfill historical releases or passes --backfill-releases.

• Do not bump versions, edit changelogs, or create release commits.

• List existing tags in version order and detect missing releases:

git tag --sort=v:refname

gh release view <tag>

• For each tag without a GitHub Release:

• Normalize the changelog lookup by stripping the configured tag prefix, e.g. v1.2.3 -> 1.2.3

• Extract the matching section from CHANGELOG.md; fall back to the first matching changelog file

• Skip or ask before publishing if no matching changelog section exists

• Create the release with:

gh release create <tag> --title "<tag>" --notes-file <release-notes-file> --verify-tag

• Detect lightweight tags with git cat-file -t <tag> (commit means lightweight, tag means annotated).

• Do not rewrite public lightweight tags by default. Converting an existing remote tag to an annotated tag requires explicit user confirmation because it rewrites a published reference.

Configuration (.releaserc.yml)

Optional config file in project root to override defaults:

# .releaserc.yml - Optional configuration

# Version file (auto-detected if not specified)

version:

  file: package.json

  path: $.version  # JSONPath for JSON, dotted path for TOML

# Changelog files (auto-detected if not specified)

changelog:

  files:

    - path: CHANGELOG.md

      lang: en

    - path: CHANGELOG.zh.md

      lang: zh

    - path: CHANGELOG.ja.md

      lang: ja

  # Section mapping (conventional commit type → changelog section)

  # Use null to skip a type in changelog

  sections:

    feat: Features

    fix: Fixes

    docs: Documentation

    refactor: Refactor

    perf: Performance

    test: Tests

    chore: null

# Commit message format

commit:

  message: "chore: release v{version}"

# Tag format

tag:

  prefix: v  # Results in v1.0.0

  sign: false

# Additional files to include in release commit

include:

  - README.md

  - package.json

Dry-Run Mode

When --dry-run is specified:

=== DRY RUN MODE ===

Project detected:

  Version file: package.json (1.2.3)

  Changelogs: CHANGELOG.md (en), CHANGELOG.zh.md (zh)

Last tag: v1.2.3

Proposed version: v1.3.0

Changes grouped by skill/module:

  baoyu-cover-image:

    - feat: add watercolor style

    - feat: add minimalist style

    → Commit: feat(baoyu-cover-image): add watercolor and minimalist styles

    → README updates: options table

  baoyu-comic:

    - fix: panel layout for long dialogues

    → Commit: fix(baoyu-comic): improve panel layout for long dialogues

    → No README updates

Changelog preview (en):

  ## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22

  ### Features

  - Add watercolor and minimalist styles to cover-image

  ### Fixes

  - Improve panel layout for long dialogues in comic

Changelog preview (zh):

  ## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22

  ### 新功能

  - 为 cover-image 添加水彩和极简风格

  ### 修复

  - 改进 comic 长对话的面板布局

Commits to create:

  1. feat(baoyu-cover-image): add watercolor and minimalist styles

  2. fix(baoyu-comic): improve panel layout for long dialogues

  3. chore: release v1.3.0

No changes made. Run without --dry-run to execute.

Example Usage

/release-skills              # Auto-detect version bump

/release-skills --dry-run    # Preview only

/release-skills --minor      # Force minor bump

/release-skills --patch      # Force patch bump

/release-skills --major      # Force major bump (with confirmation)

/release-skills --backfill-releases  # Create missing GitHub Releases for existing tags

When to Use

Trigger this skill when user requests:

• "release", "发布", "create release", "new version", "新版本"

• "bump version", "update version", "更新版本"

• "prepare release"

• "release notes", "GitHub Release", "回填 Release"

• "push to remote" (with uncommitted changes)

Important: If user says "just push" or "直接 push" with uncommitted changes, STILL follow all steps above first.