Release Changelog

Release Changelog Skill

Generate the user-facing changelog for the stable Paperclip release.

Versioning Model

Paperclip uses calendar versioning (calver):

• Stable releases: YYYY.MDD.P (e.g. 2026.318.0)
• Canary releases: YYYY.MDD.P-canary.N (e.g. 2026.318.1-canary.0)
• Git tags: vYYYY.MDD.P for stable, canary/vYYYY.MDD.P-canary.N for canary

There are no major/minor/patch bumps. The stable version is derived from the intended release date (UTC) plus the next same-day stable patch slot.

Output:

• releases/vYYYY.MDD.P.md
• a release Case, upserted by (caseType, key) when Cases are enabled, with a body document revision containing the changelog body

Important rules:

• even if there are canary releases such as 2026.318.1-canary.0, the changelog file stays releases/v2026.318.1.md
• do not derive versions from semver bump types
• do not create canary changelog files

Channel Process — Source Commit and File Location

Stables promote a soaked beta, so the changelog describes the beta's source commit, not the tip of master:

• The release source is the commit the newest beta/v<beta-version> tag points at ({beta-src} below). Resolve it with:

  git fetch origin --tags
  npm view paperclipai dist-tags   # the beta dist-tag names the version
  git rev-parse 'beta/v{beta-version}^{commit}'

• Commits on master after {beta-src} ship in the next release. Never include them; they are input for a "what's next" section, not the changelog.

• During the soak, the file lives at releases/beta/v{beta-version}.md on the branch release-notes/v{beta-version} (PR to master). The release workflow pushes that branch with a generated skeleton when the beta publishes; work on it and rewrite the skeleton in place. If the branch does not exist (a beta cut before the automation), create it from origin/master and seed the skeleton:

  ./scripts/draft-stable-notes.sh {beta-version}

• The PR must merge to master before the stable is dispatched: the stable preflight reads the file from master and fails without it.

• Never create releases/vYYYY.MDD.P.md yourself on this path — after the stable ships, the workflow opens a canonicalization PR that renames the beta-keyed file to it.

• Fix path exception (patch releases from a candidate/release-* branch): there the notes do go directly on the candidate branch as releases/vYYYY.MDD.P.md, committed alongside the cherry-picked fixes.

Step 0 — Idempotency Check

Before generating anything, check whether the changelog already exists:

ls releases/beta/v{beta-version}.md 2>/dev/null   # soak-window home
ls releases/vYYYY.MDD.P.md 2>/dev/null            # canonicalized / fix path
git ls-remote origin 'refs/heads/release-notes/v{beta-version}'

A release-notes/v{beta-version} branch holding only the generated skeleton is the normal starting state, not a conflict — rewrite it in place.

If it exists:

1. read it first
2. present it to the reviewer
3. ask whether to keep it, regenerate it, or update specific sections
4. never overwrite it silently

Step 1 — Determine the Stable Range

Find the last stable tag and the beta source commit:

git tag --list 'v*' --sort=-version:refname | head -1
beta_src="$(git rev-parse 'beta/v{beta-version}^{commit}')"
git log v{last}..${beta_src} --oneline --no-merges

The changelog range is always v{last}..{beta-src} — never ..HEAD and never ..origin/master.

The stable version comes from one of:

• an explicit maintainer request
• ./scripts/release.sh stable --date YYYY-MM-DD --print-version
• the release plan already agreed in doc/RELEASING.md

Do not derive the changelog version from a canary tag or prerelease suffix. Do not derive major/minor/patch bumps from API intent — calver uses the date and same-day stable slot.

Step 2 — Gather the Raw Inputs

Collect release data from:

1. git commits since the last stable tag
2. .changeset/*.md files
3. merged PRs via gh when available

Useful commands:

git log v{last}..{beta-src} --oneline --no-merges
git log v{last}..{beta-src} --format="%H %s" --no-merges
ls .changeset/*.md | grep -v README.md
gh pr list --state merged --search "merged:>={last-tag-date}" --json number,title,body,labels

Step 3 — Detect Breaking Changes

Look for:

• destructive migrations
• removed or changed API fields/endpoints
• renamed or removed config keys
• BREAKING: or BREAKING CHANGE: commit signals

Key commands:

git diff --name-only v{last}..{beta-src} -- packages/db/src/migrations/
git diff v{last}..{beta-src} -- packages/db/src/schema/
git diff v{last}..{beta-src} -- server/src/routes/ server/src/api/
git log v{last}..{beta-src} --format="%s" | rg -n 'BREAKING CHANGE|BREAKING:|^[a-z]+!:' || true

If breaking changes are detected, flag them prominently — they must appear in the Breaking Changes section with an upgrade path.

Step 4 — Categorize for Users

Use these stable changelog sections:

• Breaking Changes
• Highlights
• Improvements
• Fixes
• Upgrade Guide when needed

Exclude purely internal refactors, CI changes, and docs-only work unless they materially affect users.

Guidelines:

• group related commits into one user-facing entry
• write from the user perspective
• keep highlights short and concrete
• spell out upgrade actions for breaking changes
• write at full stable depth from the first pass: the beta-keyed draft ships verbatim as the stable's notes, so the previous stable's file is the density bar the moment the draft is first written — never leave it at generated-skeleton density for the soak. The skeleton's nested PR summaries are raw material to rewrite, not a format to keep.
• describe deltas, not repeats: read the previous stable's notes (releases/v<last-stable>.md) before writing. When they already introduced a feature, this release's entry covers only what changed — a default flip, a hardening, a completion — phrased against the prior release ("last release introduced X; this release makes it the default"), never re-describing the feature as if it debuted. A theme that headlined the previous release does not headline again for follow-through work; demote it to Improvements.