release-notes_skill

Overview

This skill generates comprehensive release notes and changelogs in Confluence from Jira issues, git commits, and pull requests. It creates audience-specific sections, highlights breaking changes and deprecations, and formats output for Confluence pages so releases are clear and actionable.

How this skill works

I gather items from Jira fixVersions, parse git commits between tags using conventional commit patterns, and read pull request descriptions. I categorize changes into features, improvements, bug fixes, security updates, breaking changes and deprecations, then assemble a structured release note using a standard template and convert it to Confluence-friendly format.

When to use it

• Preparing release documentation or announcements
• Generating a changelog for a version or tag
• Documenting API changes, migrations, or breaking changes
• Creating Confluence pages for a release index
• When a user mentions release notes, changelog, version, or release

Best practices

• Use JQL (fixVersion) to capture all relevant Jira issues before generating notes
• Follow conventional commit messages to make commit parsing reliable
• Highlight breaking changes and include clear migration steps
• Write audience-specific sections: end users, developers, and admins
• Link to PRs, Jira tickets, and migration docs to avoid duplication

Example use cases

• Generate Release Notes for v2.0.0 by collecting Jira issues tagged with fixVersion '2.0.0' and git commits between v1.9.0..v2.0.0
• Create a Confluence changelog page after a minor release with features, improvements, and bug fixes summarized
• Prepare an upgrade guide that includes breaking changes, database migrations, and a step-by-step upgrade checklist
• Produce a security-focused patch release note highlighting CVEs and dependency updates
• Combine Jira, commits, and PRs to credit contributors and include commit/PR references in Confluence