Imported from mj-meyer/choo-choo-ralph (.agents/skills/release-skills/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add mj-meyer/choo-choo-ralph --skill release-skills. Copyright stays with the author.

Release Skills

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

Quick Start

Just run /release-skills - auto-detects your project configuration.

Supported Projects

Options

Workflow

Step 1: Detect Project Configuration

1. Check for .releaserc.yml (optional config override)
2. Auto-detect version file by scanning (priority order):
   • package.json (Node.js)
   • pyproject.toml (Python)
   • Cargo.toml (Rust)
   • marketplace.json or .claude-plugin/marketplace.json (Claude Plugin) - also update plugin.json or .claude-plugin/plugin.json if present
   • VERSION or version.txt (Generic)
3. Scan for changelog files using glob patterns:
   • CHANGELOG*.md
   • HISTORY*.md
   • CHANGES*.md
4. Identify language of each changelog by filename suffix
5. Display detected configuration

Language Detection Rules:

Output Example:

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

Step 2: Analyze Changes Since Last Tag

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

Categorize by conventional commit types:

Breaking Change Detection:

• Commit message starts with BREAKING CHANGE
• Commit body/footer contains BREAKING CHANGE:
• Removed public APIs, renamed exports, changed interfaces

If breaking changes detected, warn user: "Breaking changes detected. Consider major version bump (--major flag)."

Step 3: Determine Version Bump

Rules (in priority order):

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

Display version change: 1.2.3 → 1.3.0

Step 4: Generate Multi-language Changelogs

For each detected changelog file:

1. Identify language from filename suffix
2. Detect third-party contributors:
   • Check merge commits: git log ${LAST_TAG}..HEAD --merges --pretty=format:"%H %s"
   • For each merged PR, identify the PR author via gh pr view <number> --json author --jq '.author.login'
   • Compare against repo owner (gh repo view --json owner --jq '.owner.login')
   • If PR author ≠ repo owner → third-party contributor
3. Generate content in that language:
   • Section titles in target language
   • Change descriptions written naturally in target language (not translated)
   • Date format: YYYY-MM-DD (universal)
   • Third-party contributions: Append contributor attribution (by @username) to the changelog entry
4. Insert at file head (preserve existing content)

Section Title Translations (built-in):

Changelog Format:

## {VERSION} - {YYYY-MM-DD}

### Features
- Description of new feature
- Description of third-party contribution (by @username)

### Fixes
- Description of fix

### Documentation
- Description of docs changes

Only include sections that have changes. Omit empty sections.

Third-Party Attribution Rules:

• Only add (by @username) for contributors who are NOT the repo owner
• Use GitHub username with @ prefix
• Place at the end of the changelog entry line
• Apply to all languages consistently (always use (by @username) format, not translated)

Multi-language Example:

English (CHANGELOG.md):

## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22

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

### Fixes
- Fix memory leak in connection pool

Chinese (CHANGELOG.zh.md):

## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22

### 新功能
- 新增用户认证模块 (by @contributor1)
- 支持 OAuth2 登录

### 修复
- 修复连接池内存泄漏问题

Japanese (CHANGELOG.ja.md):

## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22

### 新機能
- ユーザー認証モジュールを追加 (by @contributor1)
- OAuth2 ログインをサポート

### 修正
- コネクションプールのメモリリークを修正

Step 5: Group Changes by Skill/Module

Analyze commits since last tag and group by affected skill/module:

1. Identify changed files per commit
2. Group by skill/module:
   • skills/<skill-name>/* → Group under that skill
   • Root files (CLAUDE.md, etc.) → Group as "project"
   • Multiple skills in one commit → Split into multiple groups
3. For each group, identify related README updates needed

Example Grouping:

baoyu-cover-image:
  - feat: add new style options
  - fix: handle transparent backgrounds
  → README updates: options table

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

project:
  - docs: update CLAUDE.md architecture section

Step 6: Commit Each Skill/Module Separately

For each skill/module group (in order of changes):

1. Check README updates needed:

   • Scan README*.md for mentions of this skill/module
   • Verify options/flags documented correctly
   • Update usage examples if syntax changed
   • Update feature descriptions if behavior changed

2. Stage and commit:

   git add skills/<skill-name>/*
   git add README.md README.zh.md  # If updated for this skill
   git commit -m "<type>(<skill-name>): <meaningful description>"

3. Commit message format:

   • Use conventional commit format: <type>(<scope>): <description>
   • <type>: feat, fix, refactor, docs, perf, etc.
   • <scope>: skill name or "project"
   • <description>: Clear, meaningful description of changes

Example Commits:

git commit -m "feat(baoyu-cover-image): add watercolor and minimalist styles"
git commit -m "fix(baoyu-comic): improve panel layout for long dialogues"
git commit -m "docs(project): update architecture documentation"

Common README Updates Needed:

Step 7: Generate Changelog and Update Version

1. Generate multi-language changelogs (as described in Step 4)
2. Update version file:
   • Read version file (JSON/TOML/text)
   • Update version number
   • Write back (preserve formatting)

Version Paths by File Type:

Step 8: User Confirmation

Before creating the release commit, ask user to confirm:

Use AskUserQuestion with two questions:

1. Version bump (single select):

   • Show recommended version based on Step 3 analysis
   • Options: recommended (with label), other semver options
   • Example: 1.2.3 → 1.3.0 (Recommended), 1.2.3 → 1.2.4, 1.2.3 → 2.0.0

2. Push to remote (single select):

   • Options: "Yes, push after commit", "No, keep local only"

Example Output Before Confirmation:

Commits created:
  1. feat(baoyu-cover-image): add watercolor and minimalist styles
  2. fix(baoyu-comic): improve panel layout for long dialogues
  3. docs(project): update architecture documentation

Changelog preview (en):
  ## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22
  ### Features
  - Add watercolor and minimalist styles to cover-image
  ### Fixes
  - Improve panel layout for long dialogues in comic

Ready to create release commit and tag.

Step 9: Create Release Commit and Tag

After user confirmation:

1. Stage version and changelog files:

   git add <version-file>
   git add CHANGELOG*.md

2. Create release commit:

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

3. Create tag:

   git tag v{VERSION}

4. Push if user confirmed (Step 8):

   git push origin main
   git push origin v{VERSION}

Note: Do NOT add Co-Authored-By line. This is a release commit, not a code contribution.

Post-Release Output:

Release v1.3.0 created.

Commits:
  1. feat(baoyu-cover-image): add watercolor and minimalist styles
  2. fix(baoyu-comic): improve panel layout for long dialogues
  3. docs(project): update architecture documentation
  4. chore: release v1.3.0

Tag: v1.3.0
Status: Pushed to origin  # or "Local only - run git push when ready"

Configuration (.releaserc.yml)

Optional config file in project root to override defaults:

# .releaserc.yml - Optional configuration

# Version file (auto-detected if not specified)
version:
  file: package.json
  path: $.version  # JSONPath for JSON, dotted path for TOML

# Changelog files (auto-detected if not specified)
changelog:
  files:
    - path: CHANGELOG.md
      lang: en
    - path: CHANGELOG.zh.md
      lang: zh
    - path: CHANGELOG.ja.md
      lang: ja

  # Section mapping (conventional commit type → changelog section)
  # Use null to skip a type in changelog
  sections:
    feat: Features
    fix: Fixes
    docs: Documentation
    refactor: Refactor
    perf: Performance
    test: Tests
    chore: null

# Commit message format
commit:
  message: "chore: release v{version}"

# Tag format
tag:
  prefix: v  # Results in v1.0.0
  sign: false

# Additional files to include in release commit
include:
  - README.md
  - package.json

Dry-Run Mode

When --dry-run is specified:

=== DRY RUN MODE ===

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

Last tag: v1.2.3
Proposed version: v1.3.0

Changes grouped by skill/module:
  baoyu-cover-image:
    - feat: add watercolor style
    - feat: add minimalist style
    → Commit: feat(baoyu-cover-image): add watercolor and minimalist styles
    → README updates: options table

  baoyu-comic:
    - fix: panel layout for long dialogues
    → Commit: fix(baoyu-comic): improve panel layout for long dialogues
    → No README updates

Changelog preview (en):
  ## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22
  ### Features
  - Add watercolor and minimalist styles to cover-image
  ### Fixes
  - Improve panel layout for long dialogues in comic

Changelog preview (zh):
  ## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22
  ### 新功能
  - 为 cover-image 添加水彩和极简风格
  ### 修复
  - 改进 comic 长对话的面板布局

Commits to create:
  1. feat(baoyu-cover-image): add watercolor and minimalist styles
  2. fix(baoyu-comic): improve panel layout for long dialogues
  3. chore: release v1.3.0

No changes made. Run without --dry-run to execute.

Example Usage

/release-skills              # Auto-detect version bump
/release-skills --dry-run    # Preview only
/release-skills --minor      # Force minor bump
/release-skills --patch      # Force patch bump
/release-skills --major      # Force major bump (with confirmation)

When to Use

Trigger this skill when user requests:

• "release", "发布", "create release", "new version", "新版本"
• "bump version", "update version", "更新版本"
• "prepare release"
• "push to remote" (with uncommitted changes)

Important: If user says "just push" or "直接 push" with uncommitted changes, STILL follow all steps above first.