Release Management

What it does

When your agent uses it

• Creating releases
• Tagging versions
• Publishing changelogs

Example prompts

• “Use the release-management skill to automate GitHub releases with semantic versioning, changelog generation from merged PRs, and gh CLI integration”
• “/release-management”

Requirements

• Python 3
• A Bash shell
• Compatibility (from SKILL.md): Claude Code 2.1.277+. Requires gh CLI.
• Pre-approved tools (allowed-tools): Read, Glob, Grep, Bash, Write, Edit, TaskCreate, TaskUpdate, TaskList

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1Use semantic versioning - Communicate change impact
2. 2Draft releases first - Review notes before publishing
3. 3Generate notes from PRs - Accurate, automatic history
4. 4Close milestone on release - Track completion
5. 5Tag main only - Never tag feature branches
6. 6Announce breaking changes - Prominent in release notes

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit e4ff8d9. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves these tools, so the agent can use them without asking each time:

  • Read
  • Glob
  • Grep
  • Bash
  • Write
  • Edit
  • TaskCreate
  • TaskUpdate
  • TaskList

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  Ships 3 files in scripts/ (Shell and Python), which the agent can run.

  Shell commands in SKILL.md call:

  • gh
  • claude

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md. Its commands use gh, which can reach the network depending on how they are called.

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

• Compatibility

  Claude Code 2.1.277+. Requires gh CLI.

  From compatibility in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

Context cost

Release Management loads about 1.4k tokens when it runs, and up to ~2.9k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 76 tokens; SKILL.md has 244 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~76

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.4k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~2.9k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

• NotePre-approves every shell command (allowed-tools: Bash)SKILL.md

  allowed-tools: Read, Glob, Grep, Bash, Write, Edit, TaskCreate, TaskUpdate, TaskList

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); the scripts in this folder are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from yonatangross/orchestkit at commit e4ff8d9, republished under its MIT licence (© yonatangross). 244 words, ~1,378 tokens.

name

release-management

description

Automates GitHub releases with semantic versioning, changelog generation from merged PRs, and gh CLI integration. Supports draft, prerelease, and standard release workflows with task-tracked multi-phase execution. Use when creating releases, tagging versions, or publishing changelogs.

allowed-tools

Read, Glob, Grep, Bash, Write, Edit, TaskCreate, TaskUpdate, TaskList

compatibility

Claude Code 2.1.277+. Requires gh CLI.

license

MIT

context

inherit

user-invocable

false

disable-model-invocation

true

effort

low

model

haiku

metadata.category

document-asset-creation

metadata.version

1.0.0

metadata.author

OrchestKit

metadata.complexity

low

# 1. Create main task IMMEDIATELY
TaskCreate(
  subject="Release: {version}",
  description="Creating release with semantic versioning and changelog",
  activeForm="Releasing {version}"
)

# 2. Create subtasks for each release phase
TaskCreate(subject="Version & changelog", activeForm="Determining version and generating changelog")
TaskCreate(subject="Create release", activeForm="Creating GitHub release")
TaskCreate(subject="Verify & announce", activeForm="Verifying release and announcing")

# 3. Set dependencies for sequential phases
TaskUpdate(taskId="3", addBlockedBy=["2"])
TaskUpdate(taskId="4", addBlockedBy=["3"])

# 4. Update status as you progress
TaskUpdate(taskId="2", status="in_progress")  # When starting
TaskUpdate(taskId="2", status="completed")    # When done

# Auto-generate notes from PRs
gh release create v1.2.0 --generate-notes

# With custom title
gh release create v1.2.0 --title "Version 1.2.0: Performance Update" --generate-notes

# Draft release (review before publishing)
gh release create v1.2.0 --draft --generate-notes

# Pre-release (beta, rc)
gh release create v1.2.0-beta.1 --prerelease --generate-notes

# With custom notes
gh release create v1.2.0 --notes "## Highlights
- New auth system
- 50% faster search"

# From notes file
gh release create v1.2.0 --notes-file RELEASE_NOTES.md

# List all releases
gh release list

# View specific release
gh release view v1.2.0

# View in browser
gh release view v1.2.0 --web

# JSON output
gh release list --json tagName,publishedAt,isPrerelease

# Verify release attestation (sigstore)
gh release verify v1.2.0

# Verify specific asset
gh release verify-asset v1.2.0 ./dist/app.zip

# Verify with custom trust policy
gh release verify v1.2.0 --owner myorg

# Edit release
gh release edit v1.2.0 --title "New Title" --notes "Updated notes"

# Delete release
gh release delete v1.2.0

# Upload assets
gh release upload v1.2.0 ./dist/app.zip ./dist/app.tar.gz

MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH
  │     │     │
  │     │     └── Bug fixes (backwards compatible)
  │     └──────── New features (backwards compatible)
  └────────────── Breaking changes

Examples:
  1.0.0 → 1.0.1  (patch: bug fix)
  1.0.1 → 1.1.0  (minor: new feature)
  1.1.0 → 2.0.0  (major: breaking change)

Pre-release:
  2.0.0-alpha.1  (early testing)
  2.0.0-beta.1   (feature complete)
  2.0.0-rc.1     (release candidate)

© yonatangross, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 11 other files (scripts, references) in src/skills/release-management of yonatangross/orchestkit.

• SKILL.md
• references/changelog-generation.md
• references/release-automation.md
• references/release-workflows.md
• references/semver.md
• rules/_sections.md
• rules/changelog-completeness.md
• rules/version-bump-validation.md
• scripts/create-release.md
• scripts/release-scripts.sh
• scripts/version-manager.py
• test-cases.json

Open the folder on GitHubat commit e4ff8d9