Release Skills

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

Supported Projects

| 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 |

---

Workflow

Step 1: Detect Configuration

1. Check for .releaserc.yml (optional config)
2. Auto-detect version file (priority: package.json → pyproject.toml → Cargo.toml → marketplace.json → VERSION)
3. Scan for changelog files: CHANGELOG*.md, HISTORY*.md, CHANGES*.md
4. Identify language of each changelog by suffix

Language Detection: | Pattern | Language | |---------|----------| | CHANGELOG.md (no suffix) | en | | CHANGELOG.zh.md / CHANGELOG_CN.md | zh | | CHANGELOG.ja.md / CHANGELOG_JP.md | ja | | CHANGELOG.{lang}.md | Corresponding language |

Output:

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

Step 2: Analyze Changes

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

Categorize by conventional commit:

• feat: → Features
• fix: → Fixes
• docs: → Documentation
• refactor: → Refactor
• perf: → Performance
• chore: → Skip in changelog

Breaking Change Detection:

• BREAKING CHANGE in message or body
• Removed public APIs, renamed exports

Warn if breaking changes: "Consider major version bump (--major)."

Step 3: Determine Version

Priority:

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

Display: 1.2.3 → 1.3.0

Step 4: Generate Changelogs

For each changelog file:

1. Identify language from filename
2. Detect third-party contributors via merged PRs
3. Generate content in that language:
   • Section titles in target language
   • Date format: YYYY-MM-DD
   • Attribution: (by @username) for non-owner contributors
4. Insert at file head, preserve existing content

Section Titles: | Type | en | zh | ja | |------|----|----|-----| | feat | Features | 新功能 | 新機能 | | fix | Fixes | 修复 | 修正 | | docs | Documentation | 文档 | ドキュメント | | breaking | Breaking Changes | 破坏性变更 | 破壊的変更 |

Format:

## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22

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

### Fixes
- Fix memory leak in connection pool

Step 5: Group by Module (Optional)

For monorepos, group commits by affected skill/module:

baoyu-cover-image:
  - feat: add new style options
  → README updates: options table

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

Step 6: User Confirmation

Present:

• Changelog preview
• Proposed version bump
• Changes summary

Ask:

1. Confirm version bump (show recommended)
2. Push to remote? (Yes/No)

Step 7: Create Release

# Stage files
git add <version-file> CHANGELOG*.md

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

# Tag
git tag v{VERSION}

# Push (if confirmed)
git push origin main
git push origin v{VERSION}

Output:

Release v1.3.0 created.
Tag: v1.3.0
Status: Pushed to origin

---

Scripts

| Script | Purpose | |--------|---------| | scripts/prepare_release.py | Prepare release with version bump | | scripts/release_notes.py | Generate release notes from commits | | scripts/roadmap_changelog.py | Generate changelog from roadmap |

---

Configuration (.releaserc.yml)

Optional overrides:

version:
  file: package.json
  path: $.version

changelog:
  files:
    - path: CHANGELOG.md
      lang: en
    - path: CHANGELOG.zh.md
      lang: zh

commit:
  message: "chore: release v{version}"

tag:
  prefix: v

---

Dry-Run Mode

With --dry-run:

• Show all proposed changes
• Preview changelog entries
• List commits to create
• No actual changes made

---

Version Paths

| File | Path | |------|------| | package.json | $.version | | pyproject.toml | project.version | | Cargo.toml | package.version | | marketplace.json | $.metadata.version | | VERSION | Direct content |

---

Quality Criteria

Good releases:

• Clear changelog entries describing user-facing changes
• Proper contributor attribution
• Consistent multi-language content
• No orphaned tags (always with commit)
• Version bump matches change significance

---

NEVER

• Force push to main/master
• Skip user confirmation before push
• Create tags without commits
• Include internal/chore changes in user-facing changelog
• Push without explicit user consent
• Add Co-Authored-By to release commits (they're automated)