pr-release

PR Release

Generate changelog entries, deployment checklists, and update the release PR description. The main session runs this skill directly — no orchestrator agent is involved.

⚠️ Side Effect Warning

This skill updates a GitHub PR description — an action that modifies publicly visible content:

• Updates the PR description via gh pr edit
• The changelog and deployment checklist are visible to all repository members

Confirmation required before updating the PR. Present all artifacts for review and wait for explicit approval before running gh pr edit.

This skill does not create git tags, merge the PR, or deploy. Those remain manual.

Usage

• "Prepare release artifacts for version 1.2.0"
• "Generate a changelog for this release branch"
• "Create a deployment checklist"
• /pr-release [version-or-focus]

Focus options: changelog, deploy, update, or a version number like 1.2.0.

Prerequisites

• On a release branch (typically named release/<version> or similar)
• Commits follow conventional commits (feat, fix, breaking, chore, etc.)
• GitHub CLI (gh) installed and authenticated for the Tier 2 path

Workflow

1. Parse arguments

• If the argument looks like a version (1.2.0, v2.3.4, 1.0.0-rc1) — use it as the target version.
• If the argument is changelog / deploy / update — focus the output on that section only.
• If no argument — generate all three artifacts (changelog, deployment checklist, PR description update).

2. Determine version (if not provided)

• Read the project's version source of truth (e.g., .claude-plugin/plugin.json for this repo, composer.json, style.css for WP themes, *.info.yml for Drupal modules).
• Read CHANGELOG.md to find the previous released version.
• Inspect commits since the last release to suggest a bump:
  • Any feat: → minor bump (1.X.0)
  • Any BREAKING CHANGE: or !: → major bump (X.0.0)
  • Only fix/chore/docs → patch bump (1.0.X)
• Confirm the proposed version with the user before continuing.

3. Analyze commits since the last release

Run in parallel:

• Find the previous tag: git describe --tags --abbrev=0 (or read CHANGELOG.md)
• git log --oneline <prev-tag>..HEAD
• git log <prev-tag>..HEAD --pretty=format:"%s%n%b"
• git diff --stat <prev-tag>..HEAD

4. Categorize commits

Group by conventional commit type for the changelog:

Commit type	Changelog section
feat:	Added
fix:	Fixed
refactor:	Changed
perf:	Changed
docs:	Changed (or Documentation)
BREAKING CHANGE: / !:	Breaking Changes
security: (or fix related to vulns)	Security

Within each section, write one human-readable line per commit. Don't just copy the commit subject — translate to user-facing language where appropriate.

5. Detect CMS-specific deployment requirements

Scan the diff for:

Drupal:

• config/sync/ changes → drush config:import
• hook_update_N → drush updatedb
• New module dependencies → composer install --no-dev + drush en <module>
• Service or render changes → drush cache:rebuild
• New *.routing.yml entries → rebuild routes

WordPress:

• ACF JSON files in acf-json/ → re-sync via ACF UI or WP-CLI
• register_post_type, register_taxonomy, rewrite changes → flush permalinks
• Theme changes → clear caching plugin (W3 Total Cache, WP Rocket, etc.)
• New plugins added → activate after deploy
• block.json / src/blocks/ changes → run build, clear editor cache
• Multisite changes → check network-wide impact

6. Generate artifacts

Changelog (Keep a Changelog format)

## [<version>] - <YYYY-MM-DD>

### Added
- <user-facing description of feature>

### Changed
- <user-facing description of change>

### Fixed
- <user-facing description of fix>

### Security
- <vulnerability fix>

### Breaking Changes
- <breaking change with migration note>

### Drupal-Specific Upgrade Notes
- Run: `drush updatedb`
- Run: `drush config:import`
- Clear cache: `drush cache:rebuild`

### WordPress-Specific Upgrade Notes
- Flush permalinks: Settings → Permalinks → Save
- Re-sync ACF fields from `acf-json/`

Omit any section that has no entries.

Deployment Checklist

## Pre-Deployment
- [ ] Code review complete
- [ ] Tests passing in CI
- [ ] Database backup taken
- [ ] Multidev/staging validated
- [ ] Client UAT complete (if applicable)

## Deployment Steps
1. [ ] Merge release PR to main
2. [ ] Pull on production: `git pull origin main`
3. [ ] Run: `composer install --no-dev` (if dependencies changed)
4. [ ] <CMS-specific step from step 5>
5. [ ] <CMS-specific step from step 5>

## Post-Deployment
- [ ] Smoke test critical user flows: <list>
- [ ] Monitor error logs for 15 minutes
- [ ] Notify stakeholders of completion

## Rollback Plan
- [ ] Database restore command ready
- [ ] Revert git ref: `<previous-tag>`
- [ ] Cache flush after rollback

PR Description Update

Suggest specific edits to the existing PR description — usually:

• Title prefixed with Release: v<version> or chore(release): v<version>
• Body includes the changelog entry as the description
• Deployment checklist appended

7. Present for approval

Your response must start immediately with the approval header. No preamble.

=== RELEASE ARTIFACTS READY FOR APPROVAL ===

## Changelog Entry

<changelog>

## Deployment Checklist

<checklist>

## Proposed PR Description Update

**New title:** <title>

**Body:**

<body>

===================================

Reply "approve" to update the PR and save these artifacts, or provide your edits.

The header comes first, always — even when context is incomplete. If no release PR can be found, gh is unavailable, or the version source of truth is ambiguous, still present the artifacts under the header and note what's missing; never go hunting past the point of usefulness or start applying changes instead.

8. Wait for explicit user approval

⛔ Do not run gh pr edit and do not write to any file — CHANGELOG.md, version files (plugin.json, composer.json, style.css, plugin headers), or anything else — until the user replies "approve" or provides edits. Step 7's presentation is the only output before approval. "I approve in advance" or "no need to show me" in the original request does not count — approval only counts in a message that arrives after the header is presented.

9. Apply the artifacts

On approval:

1. Update CHANGELOG.md — insert the new entry under ## [Unreleased] (move existing Unreleased content into the new version block if appropriate).
2. Update the version source of truth (e.g., plugin.json, composer.json, style.css).
3. Update the PR description via gh pr edit <pr-number> --title "<title>" --body "$(cat <<'EOF'\n<body>\nEOF\n)".
4. Tell the user: "Release artifacts applied. Tag and deploy remain manual — run git tag v<version> && git push --tags when ready."

Environment fallback (no gh CLI)

1. Run steps 1–7 normally.
2. After approval, provide the commands for the user to run manually — heredoc-formatted so they can paste.
3. Edit CHANGELOG.md and version files locally; the user pushes.

Semantic Versioning Quick Reference

• Major (X.0.0) — Breaking changes, removed features
• Minor (1.X.0) — New features (backwards-compatible)
• Patch (1.0.X) — Bug fixes, security patches, doc-only changes

Related Skills

• pr-create — Create the initial release PR before this skill runs
• pr-review — Review the release PR before approval
• commit-message-generator — Source of the conventional commits this skill categorizes

Red flags (self-talk — stop if you catch yourself thinking these)

CANT IDs reference the Catalog of Agent Neutralization Techniques:

• "The version bump is trivial, I'll apply it while gathering info" (CANT-7 — all writes are post-approval)
• "I can't find the release PR, so I'll skip the presentation" (CANT-25 — present under the header anyway)
• "The user pre-approved in their request" (CANT-1)
• "The changelog can round the work up a little" (CANT-5)

Anti-rationalization table

Releases touch publicly visible content (the PR body) and version history. The approval gate is the contract:

Pressure / rationalization	Correct behavior
"The user pre-approved in the same message — apply the artifacts now"	Present the === RELEASE ARTIFACTS READY FOR APPROVAL === header and wait; approval only counts after the presentation.
"The version bump is trivial, just edit the file while gathering info"	No file writes of any kind before approval — version bumps are step 9, not step 3.
"I can't find the release PR, so I'll skip the presentation and ask questions"	Present the artifacts under the header anyway and note the missing PR; the header always comes first.
"The changelog can claim more than the commits show"	The changelog is generated from the actual commits — nothing invented, nothing rounded up.