Git Release Notes

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".

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

bash

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

bash

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

Generate Notes Between Branches

bash

scripts/gather_commits.sh main release/2.0

Workflow

1. Gather Commits

Run scripts/gather_commits.sh <from_ref> <to_ref> 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):

markdown

# 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):

text

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

Keep a Changelog (keepachangelog.com):

markdown

## [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:

text

🚀 **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 <from> <to> — Outputs JSON array of commits with hash, author, date, subject, body