Release Skills

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

Quick Start

Just run /beaver-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)
   • 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 (zh)
    - CHANGELOG.en.md (en)
    - CHANGELOG.ja.md (ja)

Step 2: Analyze Changes Since Last Tag

LAST_TAG=$(git tag --sort=-v:refname | head -1)
if [ -z "$LAST_TAG" ]; then
  echo "No tags found. Treating all commits as unreleased."
  git log --oneline
else
  git log ${LAST_TAG}..HEAD --oneline
  git diff ${LAST_TAG}..HEAD --stat
fi

If no tags exist, treat all commits on the current branch as unreleased changes. The initial release version defaults to the version already present in the version file (e.g. package.json).

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 (requires gh CLI; skip if unavailable):
   • 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
   • Fallback: If gh is not installed or not authenticated, skip contributor detection and omit (by @username) attributions. This does not block the release.
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, changelog format, attribution rules, and multi-language examples: See references/changelog-i18n.md.

Step 5: Group Changes by Skill/Module

Applicability check: Only run this step if the project has a skills/ directory. For standard single-package projects (Python, Rust, generic), skip Steps 5–6 and proceed directly to Step 7, using a single release commit for all changes.

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:

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

beaver-xhs-images:
  - 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(beaver-image-gen): add new style options"
git commit -m "fix(beaver-xhs-images): handle transparent backgrounds"
git commit -m "docs(project): update architecture documentation"

Common README Updates Needed:

Step 7: Write Changelog and Update Version

Step 4 defines the changelog format and language rules. This step executes the actual file writes:

1. Write changelog entries into each detected changelog file (insert at head, preserve existing content)
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(beaver-image-gen): add new style options
  2. fix(beaver-xhs-images): handle transparent backgrounds
  3. docs(project): update architecture documentation

Changelog preview (zh):
  ## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22
  ### 新功能
  - beaver-image-gen 新增风格选项
  ### 修复
  - beaver-xhs-images 修复背景透明处理问题

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 HEAD
   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(beaver-image-gen): add new style options
  2. fix(beaver-xhs-images): handle transparent backgrounds
  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"

5. Check CI status (if pushed and gh is available):

   gh run list --limit 1
   

   If a CI workflow was triggered by the tag push (e.g. documentation builds or testing via GitHub Actions), display its status and URL so the user can monitor it. If gh is unavailable, remind the user to check the Actions tab manually.

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: zh
    - path: CHANGELOG.en.md
      lang: en
    - 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 (zh), CHANGELOG.en.md (en)

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

Changes grouped by skill/module:
  beaver-image-gen:
    - feat: add new style options
    - fix: handle transparent backgrounds
    → Commit: feat(beaver-image-gen): add new style options
    → README updates: options table

  beaver-xhs-images:
    - fix: handle transparent backgrounds
    → Commit: fix(beaver-xhs-images): handle transparent backgrounds
    → No README updates

Changelog preview (zh):
  ## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22
  ### 新功能
  - beaver-image-gen 新增风格选项
  ### 修复
  - beaver-xhs-images 修复背景透明处理问题

Changelog preview (en):
  ## 1.3.0 - 2026-01-22
  ### Features
  - beaver-image-gen: add new style options
  ### Fixes
  - beaver-xhs-images: handle transparent backgrounds

Commits to create:
  1. feat(beaver-image-gen): add new style options
  2. fix(beaver-xhs-images): handle transparent backgrounds
  3. chore: release v1.3.0

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

Example Usage

/beaver-release-skills              # Auto-detect version bump
/beaver-release-skills --dry-run    # Preview only
/beaver-release-skills --minor      # Force minor bump
/beaver-release-skills --patch      # Force patch bump
/beaver-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.