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Skill · Release

Changelog From PRs

Draft a release changelog by summarizing merged pull requests since the last tag. Use when preparing a release or writing release notes.

v1.0.0
Updated Jun 3, 2026
Download View as Markdown

Install to ~/.claude/skills/changelog-from-prs/SKILL.md

Turn a range of merged pull requests into a clean, human-readable changelog. This skill collects the PRs merged since the previous release tag, groups them by change type (features, fixes, breaking changes, and more), and drafts release notes that are accurate, scannable, and ready to paste into a GitHub release or CHANGELOG.md.

When to use this skill

  • You are cutting a new release and need release notes that reflect what actually shipped.
  • You want a first draft of a CHANGELOG.md entry that follows Keep a Changelog conventions.
  • You need to summarize a noisy list of merge commits into something a human reader can understand.
  • You are reviewing what changed between two tags before deciding on a version bump.

NOTE

This skill drafts notes from real PR data. It does not push tags or publish releases. Always review the draft before publishing.

Instructions

  1. Find the last release tag. Use the most recent semantic-version tag as the lower bound. If no tag exists, fall back to the first commit.

    git describe --tags --abbrev=0

  2. Collect merged PRs in the range. Prefer the GitHub CLI so you get titles, numbers, authors, and labels. Use the merge date of the last tag as the cutoff.

    LAST_TAG=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)
SINCE=$(git log -1 --format=%cI "$LAST_TAG")
gh pr list --state merged --base main --limit 200 \
  --search "merged:>$SINCE" \
  --json number,title,author,labels,mergedAt

  3. Classify each PR. Map it to a changelog section using labels first, then the title prefix (Conventional Commits style), then a judgment call:

    • feat / enhancement -> Added or Changed
    • fix / bug -> Fixed
    • breaking / ! in the title -> Breaking Changes (call these out at the top)
    • deprecate -> Deprecated
    • security -> Security
    • docs, chore, ci, test, dependency bumps -> omit unless user-facing.

  4. Rewrite titles into reader-facing notes. Drop the type prefix, use the imperative-to-past or noun phrasing the section expects, and explain the user impact rather than the implementation. Keep the PR number for traceability.

  5. Order and group. Lead with breaking changes, then Added, Changed, Deprecated, Removed, Fixed, Security. Within a section, order by importance, not PR number.

  6. Suggest the version bump. Breaking changes -> major; new features -> minor; fixes only -> patch. State the recommendation but let the user confirm.

  7. Emit the draft. Output Markdown ready to paste, with a version header and date. Note any PRs you could not confidently classify so the user can review them.

WARNING

Do not invent changes. If a PR title is ambiguous, list it under an "Uncategorized — needs review" heading instead of guessing its impact.

Examples

Input — three merged PRs since v1.3.0:

#142  feat: add --json output flag to export command   (label: enhancement)
#147  fix: prevent crash when config file is empty      (label: bug)
#151  feat!: rename `--token` to `--api-key`            (label: breaking)

Output — drafted changelog entry:

## v1.4.0 — 2026-06-02
 
### Breaking Changes
- Renamed the `--token` flag to `--api-key` for clarity. Update scripts that pass `--token`. (#151)
 
### Added
- `export` now supports a `--json` flag for machine-readable output. (#142)
 
### Fixed
- Fixed a crash that occurred when the config file was empty. (#147)
 
> Recommended bump: minor → major (contains a breaking change). Suggested version: v2.0.0.

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