Changelog Watcher

Monitor GitHub repos and npm packages for new releases and version updates. Summarizes changelogs and highlights breaking changes. Use when the user asks to check for updates, find new releases, review changelogs, track version updates, or asks "what's new in X". Also use when asked to run or schedule a changelog check, set up release monitoring, or report on recent releases for any software package or GitHub repo.

Maintains a watchlist of GitHub repos and npm packages, detects new releases, and produces markdown reports with breaking changes highlighted.

Files

• watchlist.json — user config (create from assets/watchlist.example.json)
• state.json — auto-managed last-seen versions (do not edit)
• scripts/compare_versions.py — main entry point; calls the others
• scripts/check_github.py — GitHub releases API
• scripts/check_npm.py — npm registry
• scripts/format_report.py — markdown report generator

For setup, watchlist format, cron scheduling, and rate limit guidance → read references/setup-guide.md.

Skill Directory

~/.openclaw/workspace/skills/changelog-watcher/

All script paths below are relative to this directory.

Usage

Check for new releases and print report

python3 scripts/compare_versions.py --update-state | python3 scripts/format_report.py

Dry-run (check without advancing state)

python3 scripts/compare_versions.py | python3 scripts/format_report.py

First-time setup (set baseline, no output)

cp assets/watchlist.example.json watchlist.json
# edit watchlist.json to your packages
python3 scripts/compare_versions.py --update-state

Workflow

1. Confirm watchlist.json exists. If not, guide user to copy from assets/watchlist.example.json and fill it in.
2. Run compare_versions.py (with --update-state unless doing a dry-run).
3. Pipe output to format_report.py.
4. Present the markdown report to the user.
5. If the user wants to schedule this: provide the cron line from references/setup-guide.md.

Adding Entries

To add a GitHub repo:

{"source": "github", "owner": "OWNER", "repo": "REPO", "name": "Display Name"}

To add an npm package:

{"source": "npm", "package": "package-name", "name": "Display Name"}

Append to the watch array in watchlist.json, then run the full pipeline.

Error Handling

• Rate limited (exit 2): Wait for the retry window; check how many GitHub entries are in the watchlist vs the 60/hr limit.
• Not found (exit 3): Verify the owner/repo or package name in the watchlist.
• Network error: Check connectivity; retry.
• First-run shows zero releases: Expected — first run sets the baseline only.