---

name: release description: Create a GitHub release with auto-generated release notes. Analyzes commits since the last release, categorizes changes, drafts release notes, and creates the release after user confirmation.

Release

Overview

Automate the creation of GitHub releases with well-structured release notes. This skill:

• Detects the latest release tag
• Determines the next version (user-specified or auto-suggested)
• Analyzes commits since the last release
• Categorizes changes (features, fixes, improvements, etc.)
• Generates a release notes draft
• Creates the release after user confirmation

Workflow

1. Check prerequisites

   • Verify gh CLI is installed and authenticated.
   • Ensure the working directory is a git repository.
   • Check that origin remote exists.

2. Get existing releases

   • List existing tags:

     Copygit tag -l --sort=-v:refname | head -10
     

   • Get latest release:

     Copygh release list --limit 1
     

   • If no releases exist, use the first commit as the base.

3. Determine the next version

   • If the user specifies a version (e.g., v0.2.0), use it.
   • Otherwise, suggest the next version based on semantic versioning:
     • Analyze commit messages for breaking changes, features, or fixes.
     • BREAKING CHANGE or !: → major bump
     • feat: → minor bump
     • fix:, chore:, docs:, etc. → patch bump
   • Ask the user to confirm or specify a different version.

4. Fetch commits since last release

   • Get commit log:

     Copygit log <last_tag>..HEAD --oneline --no-merges
     

   • Get detailed commit information:

     Copygit log <last_tag>..HEAD --pretty=format:"%h %s" --no-merges
     

   • Get file change statistics:

     Copygit diff <last_tag>..HEAD --stat
     

5. Categorize changes

   • Parse commit messages and group by type:
     • New Features: feat: prefix or new functionality
     • Bug Fixes: fix: prefix
     • Improvements: refactor:, perf: prefixes
     • Documentation: docs: prefix
     • Other Changes: chore:, test:, ci:, build:, etc.
   • For non-conventional commits, infer category from content.

6. Generate release notes draft

   • Use this template:

     Copy## <Project Name> <version>
     
     ### New Features
     
     **<Feature title>**
     
     - <Bullet point description>
     - <Additional details if needed>
     
     ### Bug Fixes
     
     - <Fix description>
     
     ### Improvements
     
     - <Improvement description>
     
     ### Other Changes
     
     - <Other change description>
     
     **Full Changelog**: https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/compare/<last_tag>...<new_tag>
     

   • Omit empty sections.
   • For significant changes, expand with context from:
     • Reading modified files
     • Examining PR descriptions (if available)
     • Analyzing the diff

7. Present draft to user

   • Display the generated release notes.
   • Ask for confirmation or edits:
     • Confirm and create
     • Edit the notes (user provides corrections)
     • Cancel

8. Create the release

   • Use gh release create:

     Copygh release create <version> --title "<version>" --notes "$(cat <<'EOF'
     <release notes content>
     EOF
     )"
     

   • Report the release URL on success.

Version Format

• Default format: v<major>.<minor>.<patch> (e.g., v1.2.3)
• Support alternative formats if the project uses them:
  • Without v prefix: 1.2.3
  • With pre-release: v1.2.3-beta.1
• Match the existing tag format in the repository.

Release Notes Guidelines

• Be concise: 1-2 sentences per item.
• Focus on user impact: What changed for users, not implementation details.
• Group related changes: Multiple commits for one feature become one entry.
• Use active voice: "Add dark mode" not "Dark mode was added".
• Include context: Brief explanation of why the change matters.

Edge Cases

• No commits since last release: Report that there are no changes to release.
• First release: Use all commits from the beginning, or ask for a base commit.
• Merge commits: Skip merge commits (use --no-merges).
• Squash-merged PRs: Treat as single feature commits.
• Pre-release versions: Support -alpha, -beta, -rc suffixes.

Options

Specify version

Copy/release v1.0.0

Draft only (don't create)

Copy/release --draft

Include pre-release tag

Copy/release v1.0.0-beta.1 --prerelease

Examples

Basic usage (auto-detect version)

Copy/release

Specify version explicitly

Copy/release v2.0.0

Create a pre-release

Copy/release v1.0.0-rc.1 --prerelease

Error Handling

• If gh CLI is not installed, show installation instructions.
• If not authenticated, prompt gh auth login.
• If no commits since last release, report and exit.
• If release creation fails, show the error and suggest manual creation.