The agent automates release management by parsing conventional commits into structured changelogs, determining semantic version bumps, and assessing release readiness with checklists, rollback runbooks, and stakeholder communication plans.
Core Capabilities
- Changelog generation — parse conventional commits since the last tag into Keep-a-Changelog Markdown/JSON, grouped by type with breaking-change highlights and issue links.
- Semantic version bumping — determine MAJOR/MINOR/PATCH from commit types, support pre-release tracks (alpha → beta → rc), emit bump commands for npm, Python, Rust, Git, Docker.
- Release readiness — score a release plan across features, quality gates, approvals, and timelines; surface blocking issues.
- Rollback & comms — generate rollback runbooks with triggers and time estimates, plus stakeholder communication plans with timed message templates.
- Workflows — changelog+bump, readiness assessment, and expedited hotfix releases, each with validation checkpoints.
When to Use
- Preparing a release — generate the changelog and determine the next version.
- Validating a release candidate — assess readiness and surface blockers.
- Shipping a hotfix — expedited fix, pre-release versioning, tested rollback.
- Auditing commit hygiene — confirm conventional commits drive clean changelogs.
Clarify First
Before preparing the release, confirm these inputs. If any is unknown or vague, ASK — do not assume:
- Last release tag / commit range — defines the changelog window and the basis for the version-bump decision
- Release type — standard / hotfix / pre-release (alpha→beta→rc) (selects the workflow and versioning track)
- Target ecosystem — npm / Python / Rust / Git / Docker (determines which bump commands are emitted)
Stop rule: ask only the 2-3 that most change the output. If the user says "just draft it," proceed and list your assumptions at the top of the artifact.
Tools
| Tool | Purpose | Command |
|---|---|---|
changelog_generator.py |
Generate Keep-a-Changelog from conventional commits | git log --oneline v1.0.0..HEAD | python changelog_generator.py --version 1.1.0 --format both |
version_bumper.py |
Determine SemVer bump + emit bump commands | git log --oneline v1.0.0..HEAD | python version_bumper.py --current-version 1.0.0 --analysis |
release_planner.py |
Assess release readiness, checklist, rollback, comms | python release_planner.py --input release-plan.json --include-checklist --include-rollback |
References
Load the reference that matches the task — keep this file lean and pull detail on demand:
- references/workflows-and-tool-reference.md — quick start, the 3 core workflows with checkpoints, version-bump rules, rollback triggers, anti-patterns, troubleshooting table, success criteria, and the full CLI flag reference for all three scripts. Read when running a release or looking up a flag.
- references/conventional-commits-guide.md — conventional-commit format, types, and footer conventions. Read when fixing commit hygiene so changelog/version tooling works.
- references/hotfix-procedures.md — severity classification (P0–P3), hotfix procedures, and best practices across workflows. Read when shipping an emergency fix.
- references/release-workflow-comparison.md — Git Flow vs GitHub Flow vs Trunk-based, with structure, branch types, and trade-offs. Read when choosing or aligning a branching model.
Scope & Limitations
This skill covers:
- Parsing conventional commits and generating structured changelogs in Markdown and JSON formats
- Determining semantic version bumps (major/minor/patch) with pre-release support (alpha, beta, rc)
- Assessing release readiness across features, quality gates, approvals, and timelines
- Generating rollback runbooks, communication plans, and release checklists from structured input
This skill does NOT cover:
- Actual CI/CD pipeline execution or deployment automation (see
engineering/ci-cd-pipeline-generator) - Live monitoring, alerting, or incident response during deployments (see
engineering/monitoring-alerting-setup) - Code review processes or pull request management (see
engineering/code-review-automation) - Infrastructure provisioning, container orchestration, or environment management (see
engineering/infrastructure-as-code)
Integration Points
| Skill | Integration | Data Flow |
|---|---|---|
engineering/ci-cd-pipeline-generator |
Embed changelog generation and version bumping as pipeline stages | Git log output flows into changelog_generator.py; version bump output feeds pipeline tagging steps |
engineering/code-review-automation |
Validate that PR commits follow conventional commit format before merge | Commit messages validated upstream ensure clean input for changelog generation |
engineering/monitoring-alerting-setup |
Define rollback triggers based on monitoring thresholds from the rollback runbook | Rollback trigger thresholds (error rate >2x, latency >50%) feed into alert rule configuration |
engineering/api-design-reviewer |
Breaking API changes flagged by the reviewer map to MAJOR version bumps | API review findings populate breaking_changes arrays in the release plan JSON |
engineering/infrastructure-as-code |
Deployment steps in the rollback runbook reference infrastructure rollback commands | Rollback runbook command fields contain infrastructure-specific commands (kubectl, DNS, load balancer) |
project-management/release-planning |
Release plan JSON structure aligns with PM release tracking artifacts | PM feature lists and approval statuses feed directly into release_planner.py input format |