Release Notes

Release Notes Skill

Use this skill when the user wants to create release notes for a new version. This skill gathers all changes since a previous release, writes structured release notes following the project's established format, tags the repo, and pushes.

Input

The skill takes a version tag as input:

• Format: {major}.{minor}.{patch} (e.g., 1.24.0) - no v prefix, semver only
• Older releases (pre-1.23.0) used a v prefix (e.g., v1.0.22) - existing artifacts under docs/release-notes/v*.md and tags v1.0.x are preserved as-is, but new releases must use the bare-semver convention
• If the user provides a v-prefixed version for a new release, strip the prefix and confirm

Output

Creates a release notes file in docs/release-notes/ and tags the repo:

• docs/release-notes/{version}.md - Release notes markdown file (e.g., docs/release-notes/1.24.0.md)
• Git tag {version} pointing to the commit that includes the release notes

Workflow

Step 0: Confirm the Pre-Release Smoke Test Was Run (Gate)

Before doing any release-notes work, confirm the end-to-end release smoke test (tests/e2e_release_test.py) has been run against a live gateway and passed. This suite exercises the surface a release must not break: the registry is up, the built-in airegistry-tools server is healthy and its search tool works, servers/agents/skills support full CRUD, semantic search returns results, security scans run, and one real external MCP server (AWS knowledge base) is reachable end to end through the gateway proxy.

1. Ask the user, using AskUserQuestion, whether they have already run the release smoke test and it passed. Offer these options:

   • "Yes, it passed" (proceed to Step 1)
   • "No, run it now" (Recommended - run it for them, see below)
   • "Skip it" (proceed, but see the warning below)

2. If the user asks you to run it, run against the target gateway. It needs an admin/M2M bearer token file (Keycloak tokens expire in ~5 minutes, so regenerate first if unsure):

   # Local gateway with an admin token at ./.token
   uv run python tests/e2e_release_test.py --token-file .token --registry-url http://localhost
   
   # Remote gateway
   uv run python tests/e2e_release_test.py \
     --registry-url https://<gateway-host> --token-file .oauth-tokens/ingress.json

   The runner prints a pass/fail table and exits non-zero if any test fails.

   • If it exits non-zero (any FAILED), STOP. Do not proceed with the release. Report which tests failed and their messages, and help the user investigate. A release must not be cut with a failing smoke test.
   • SKIPPED is acceptable (e.g. the external AWS test skips on a network outage rather than failing) - only FAILED is a hard block.

3. If the user chooses to skip it, warn once that the release is being cut without an end-to-end verification, then proceed only if they confirm.

Only after this gate is resolved do you continue to Step 1.

Step 1: Determine the New Version Tag

1. Parse the version from user input. If not provided, ask the user what version to release.
2. Normalize to bare semver format (e.g., v1.24.0 becomes 1.24.0). Never prepend v for new releases.
3. Verify the tag does not already exist: git tag -l {version}.
4. If it exists, ask the user if they want to move it or choose a different version.

Step 2: Determine the Base Version (Ask User to Confirm)

The release notes are incremental from a previous version. Determine the base version:

1. List existing release notes files (covers both old v-prefixed and new bare-semver names):

   ls docs/release-notes/*.md

2. List existing git tags (any version-shaped tag, prefixed or bare):

   git tag --sort=-v:refname | grep -E '^v?[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+'

3. Find the most recent tag. Note that the project switched from v-prefixed (v1.0.22) to bare-semver (1.23.0, 1.24.0) - the most recent bare-semver tag is the right base for a new release.
4. Ask the user to confirm the base version using AskUserQuestion. Present the most recent tag as the recommended option and the 2-3 previous tags as alternatives. The user may want to skip intermediate tags (e.g., diff from 1.23.0 to 1.25.0, skipping 1.24.0).

Step 3: Gather All Changes Between Base and HEAD

Run these commands in parallel to gather change data:

# All commits (including merges) between base and HEAD
git log {base_tag}..HEAD --oneline

# Non-merge commits only (for detailed change analysis)
git log {base_tag}..HEAD --oneline --no-merges

# PR numbers in this release.
#
# DO NOT derive these from commit subjects. This repo is REBASE-AND-MERGE ONLY,
# so there are no "Merge pull request" commits and no "(#NNNN)" suffixes:
#   git log {base_tag}..HEAD --oneline --grep="Merge pull request"   -> 0 results
#   git log {base_tag}..HEAD --oneline | grep -oE "\(#[0-9]+\)$"     -> 0 results
# Those are the standard idioms on a squash-merge repo and they fail SILENTLY
# here, returning an empty list that reads like "no PRs in this release".
#
# Enumerate from the GitHub API by merge time instead, and see the base-window
# note below for which timestamp to use as the floor.
gh pr list --state merged --limit 200 \
  --json number,title,mergedAt,author,closingIssuesReferences \
  --jq "sort_by(.number) | reverse | .[] | select(.mergedAt > \"$BASE_WINDOW\") | \"#\(.number)|\(.author.login)|\(.title)\""

# Spot-check any individual PR's membership by ancestry, which is authoritative
# regardless of merge strategy. Find the PR's commit on main by subject, then:
#   git merge-base --is-ancestor <commit> {base_tag} && echo "already in {base_tag}"
# Use this whenever a contributor asks why their PR is or is not listed.

# Contributors -- direct authors of commits on main
# WARNING: this misses co-authors of squash-merged PRs (Step 4 #10 explains).
git log {base_tag}..HEAD --format="%aN" | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn

# Contributors -- per-PR commit authors (catches squash-merge co-authors)
# Squash merges collapse N branch commits into 1 commit on main authored by
# the merger, so `git log` above will not show the actual code authors.
# `gh pr view --json commits` returns the original branch commits with their
# authors intact, which is the only reliable way to credit everyone.
# $PR_NUMBERS comes from the gh pr list call above, NOT from commit subjects.
for pr in $PR_NUMBERS; do
  gh pr view $pr --json number,author,commits \
    --jq '"PR #\(.number) | opener: \(.author.login) | commit_authors: \([.commits[].authors[].name] | unique | join(", "))"' 2>/dev/null
done

# Env var changes
git diff {base_tag}..HEAD -- .env.example

# Helm chart changes (any file change inside charts/ requires
# `helm dependency build/update` for stack-chart consumers, even if
# Chart.yaml dependency lists are unchanged - subchart templates,
# values, and helpers are repackaged into .tgz on dependency rebuild).
git diff {base_tag}..HEAD -- charts/ --stat

# If ANY of these report changes, the upgrade instructions MUST tell
# Helm/EKS users to run `helm dependency build` and `helm dependency update`:
git diff {base_tag}..HEAD --stat -- 'charts/registry/' 'charts/auth-server/' 'charts/mcpgw/' 'charts/mcp-gateway-registry-stack/' 'charts/mongodb-configure/' 'charts/keycloak-configure/'

# Helm chart dependency-list changes (separate signal: added/removed deps)
git diff {base_tag}..HEAD -- charts/registry/Chart.yaml charts/auth-server/Chart.yaml charts/mcp-gateway-registry-stack/Chart.yaml charts/mcpgw/Chart.yaml

# Establish the base window ONCE, and use the EARLIER of two timestamps.
# The tag commit can be timestamped AFTER the GitHub release was published (seen
# on 1.31.0: tag commit 2026-09-24T00:34:45Z, release published
# 2026-09-23T22:34:13Z), in which case the tag-commit floor silently drops PRs
# that belong in the new release. Taking the earlier of the two is inclusive, and
# anything wrongly included is caught by the ancestry check above.
BASE_TAG_DATE=$(git log -1 --format=%cI {base_tag})
RELEASE_DATE=$(gh release view {base_tag} --json publishedAt --jq .publishedAt)
BASE_WINDOW=$(printf '%s\n%s\n' "$BASE_TAG_DATE" "$RELEASE_DATE" | sort | head -1)
echo "base window: $BASE_WINDOW"
gh issue list --state closed --limit 200 --json number,title,closedAt,labels \
  --jq ".[] | select(.closedAt >= \"$BASE_WINDOW\") | \"\(.number) | \(.title) | \(.closedAt)\""

# Closed issues referenced by merged PRs in this release (most reliable mapping)
# For each PR number, the PR body usually has "Closes #N" or "Fixes #N" -- gh
# resolves these via the closingIssuesReferences field.
for pr in $PR_NUMBERS; do
  gh pr view $pr --json number,title,closingIssuesReferences \
    --jq '"\(.number) | \(.title) | closes: \(.closingIssuesReferences | map("#\(.number)") | join(","))"' 2>/dev/null
done

Step 4: Categorize Changes

Analyze all commits and PRs to categorize them:

1. Major Features: New capabilities that warrant their own section with description and PR link. Look for commits with feat: prefix or PRs labeled enhancement/feature-request.

2. Breaking Changes: Changes that require user action during upgrade. Check for:

   • Helm chart dependency additions/removals (Chart.yaml changes)
   • Renamed or removed environment variables (.env.example diff)
   • Auth mechanism changes
   • API endpoint changes (removed or renamed routes)
   • Database schema changes

3. New Environment Variables: Extract from .env.example diff -- any new variables added.

4. Bug Fixes: Commits with fix: prefix or PRs labeled bug.

5. Security Fixes: Commits mentioning security, CVE, injection, bypass, XSS, etc.

6. Infrastructure/Helm Changes: Changes to charts/, terraform/, docker/.

7. Dependency Updates: Dependabot PRs and manual dependency bumps.

8. Documentation: Commits with docs: prefix.

9. Closed Issues: Issues closed in the release window. Build from the closingIssuesReferences of every merged PR in this release (most reliable - GitHub auto-closes issues referenced by Closes #N / Fixes #N in PR bodies), and supplement with manually-closed issues whose closedAt is between the base-tag commit date and HEAD. De-duplicate by issue number.

10. Contributors: Build the union of TWO sources, because neither alone is complete:

    • Direct authors on main: git log {base_tag}..HEAD --format="%aN" -- catches anyone who pushed commits directly or whose PR was rebase/merge- committed.
    • Per-PR commit authors: for every merged PR in this release, run gh pr view <num> --json commits --jq '[.commits[].authors[].name] | unique' and union the results -- catches co-authors of squash-merged PRs, whose branch commits get collapsed into a single commit on main authored by the merger. Without this step, every contributor on a squash-merged branch except the merger is silently dropped.

    Then for each unique contributor name, resolve to a GitHub username by looking up a PR they appeared on:

    • If they opened a PR: gh pr view <num> --json author --jq .author.login.
    • If they were a co-author only (no PR opened): gh pr view <num> --json commits --jq '.commits[].authors[] | select(.name == "<Display Name>") | .login' (the per-commit authors array carries the GitHub login).
    • As a final fallback verify with gh api users/<candidate>; a 404 means the guess is wrong. Never synthesize a username from a display name ("Amit Arora" -> "amitarora" was wrong; the actual login is aarora79).

Step 5: Write Release Notes

Create the file docs/release-notes/{version}.md following this exact structure (note: bare semver, no v prefix, e.g. docs/release-notes/1.24.0.md):

# Release {version} - {Short Title Summarizing Major Features}

**{Month} {Year}**

---

## Upgrading from {base_version}

This section covers everything you need to know to upgrade from {base_version} to {version}.

### Breaking Changes

{List each breaking change with clear explanation and remediation steps.
If no breaking changes, write: "There are no breaking changes in this release."}

### New Environment Variables

| Variable | Default | Description |
|----------|---------|-------------|
| {VAR_NAME} | {default} | {description} |

{If no new env vars, write: "No new environment variables in this release."}

### Upgrade Instructions

#### Docker Compose

```bash
cd mcp-gateway-registry
git pull origin main
git checkout {version}

# Review new env vars in .env.example and update your .env if needed
# Then rebuild and restart:
./build_and_run.sh

Kubernetes / Helm (EKS)

cd mcp-gateway-registry
git pull origin main
git checkout {version}

# {If helm dependency changes: "REQUIRED: Rebuild dependencies"}
cd charts/mcp-gateway-registry-stack
helm dependency build
helm dependency update

# Update values.yaml if needed, then upgrade:
helm upgrade mcp-gateway . -f your-values.yaml

{CRITICAL: Include the helm dependency build and helm dependency update commands whenever ANY file under charts/ changes between base and HEAD, not just Chart.yaml dependency-list changes. The packaged subchart .tgz files inside charts/mcp-gateway-registry-stack/charts/ are gitignored and only get repackaged when consumers run helm dependency build/update. If subchart templates/values/helpers changed, a plain git pull followed by helm upgrade will use the OLD packaged subcharts, missing the changes.

Only omit helm dependency build/update if git diff {base_tag}..HEAD --stat -- charts/ shows ZERO files changed.}

Terraform / ECS

cd mcp-gateway-registry
git pull origin main
git checkout {version}

# Update your .tfvars with any new variables
cd terraform/aws-ecs
terraform plan
terraform apply

Major Features

{Feature Name}

{Description of the feature -- what it does, why it matters, key capabilities as bullet points.}

PR #{number}

{Repeat for each major feature.}

What's New

{Group changes by category using subsections. Use bullet points with PR/commit references.}

{Category Name}

• {Change description} (#{pr_number})
• {Change description} (#{pr_number})

{Common categories: Deployment, Helm Chart Improvements, Security Fixes, Authentication, Infrastructure, Frontend Improvements, Documentation. Only include categories that have changes.}

Bug Fixes

• {Bug fix description} (#{pr_number})
• {Bug fix description} (#{pr_number})

Closed Issues

{List all issues closed in the release window, sorted by issue number descending. "Closed By" is the PR that closed the issue (via closingIssuesReferences) or "manual" for issues closed without a PR reference. If no issues were closed in this window, write: "No issues were closed in this release window."}

Pull Requests Included

{List ALL merged PRs between base and HEAD, sorted by PR number descending.}

Security Dependency Updates

{Only include this section if there are dependency version bumps.}

Contributors

Thank you to all contributors for this release:

• {Full Name} (@{github_username})

{List all contributors from the UNION of (a) direct authors on main and (b) per-PR commit authors via gh pr view --json commits (Step 4 #10). Resolve every GitHub username from a real PR -- via .author.login if they opened a PR, or via .commits[].authors[].login if they were a co-author only. Never synthesize usernames from display names. Sort by commit count descending.}