Feature/automated release notes PR URL: https://github.com/kaifcoder/create-polyglot/pull/56

.github/pull_request_template.md

@@ -2,13 +2,21 @@
 Explain the change in 1–3 sentences. Reference any related issues (e.g. Closes #123).
 
 ## Type of Change
-- [ ] Feature
-- [ ] Bug fix
-- [ ] Chore / Refactor
-- [ ] Docs
-- [ ] Tests
-- [ ] CI / Build
-- [ ] Other
+<!-- Select the primary type of change. This helps with automated release note generation. -->
+- [ ] 🚀 **Feature** (`feat:`) - New functionality for users
+- [ ] 🐛 **Bug fix** (`fix:`) - Fixes an issue for users
+- [ ] ⚠️ **Breaking Change** (`feat!:` or `fix!:`) - Changes that break backward compatibility
+- [ ] 📚 **Docs** (`docs:`) - Documentation updates only
+- [ ] 🔧 **Chore / Refactor** (`chore:`, `refactor:`) - Internal changes, no user impact
+- [ ] 🧪 **Tests** (`test:`) - Test additions or updates
+- [ ] 🚀 **CI / Build** (`ci:`) - Build system or CI changes
+- [ ] 📦 **Dependencies** (`deps:`) - Dependency updates
+- [ ] 🎉 **Other** - Changes that don't fit the above categories
+
+## Release Notes Impact
+<!-- This helps generate better automated release notes -->
+- [ ] **User-facing change** - Should be included in release notes
+- [ ] **Internal change only** - No need to include in release notes
 
 ## Motivation / Context
 Why is this change needed? What problem does it solve or what capability does it add?
@@ -42,12 +50,21 @@ node bin/index.js demo --services node --no-install --yes
 ```
 Result: ✅ / ❌
 
+## Breaking Changes & Migration
+<!-- If this is a breaking change, provide details for users -->
+**Breaking changes:**
+
+**Migration steps:**
+
+**Configuration changes needed:**
+
 ## Screenshots / Logs (Optional)
 Add any helpful output (chalk-styled CLI messages, error reproduction, etc.).
 
 ## Docs
 - [ ] Updated `README.md` if needed
 - [ ] Updated `.github/copilot-instructions.md` if internal conventions changed
+- [ ] Added/updated relevant documentation for user-facing changes
 - [ ] Not applicable
 
 ## Checklist

.github/release-notes-config.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,165 @@
+# Release Notes Configuration
+
+# This file contains configuration for the automated release notes generation system.
+# It defines how commits are categorized and what patterns to look for.
+
+# Commit categorization patterns (regex patterns, case-insensitive)
+categorization:
+  features:
+    patterns:
+      - "^feat(\\(.*\\))?:"
+      - "^add "
+      - "^implement "
+      - "new feature"
+      - "added support"
+
+  bugfixes:
+    patterns:
+      - "^fix(\\(.*\\))?:"
+      - "^bug "
+      - "^patch "
+      - "resolve.*issue"
+      - "fixed.*problem"
+
+  breaking_changes:
+    patterns:
+      - "^feat(\\(.*\\))?!:"
+      - "^fix(\\(.*\\))?!:"
+      - "breaking"
+      - "^BREAKING CHANGE"
+      - "backwards incompatible"
+
+  documentation:
+    patterns:
+      - "^docs(\\(.*\\))?:"
+      - "documentation"
+      - "readme"
+      - "update.*docs"
+      - "add.*docs"
+
+  internal:
+    patterns:
+      - "^chore(\\(.*\\))?:"
+      - "^ci(\\(.*\\))?:"
+      - "^test(\\(.*\\))?:"
+      - "^refactor(\\(.*\\))?:"
+      - "^build(\\(.*\\))?:"
+      - "^perf(\\(.*\\))?:"
+      - "internal changes"
+      - "code cleanup"
+
+  dependencies:
+    patterns:
+      - "^deps(\\(.*\\))?:"
+      - "dependencies"
+      - "package.*update"
+      - "bump.*version"
+      - "upgrade.*to"
+      - "update.*dependency"
+
+# Section configuration
+sections:
+  features:
+    title: "🚀 Features Added"
+    description: "New functionality and capabilities added in this release"
+
+  bugfixes:
+    title: "🐛 Bug Fixes"
+    description: "Issues and problems resolved in this release"
+
+  breaking_changes:
+    title: "⚠️ Breaking Changes" 
+    description: "Changes that may break backward compatibility"
+    priority: 1  # Show first after main description
+
+  documentation:
+    title: "📚 Documentation"
+    description: "Documentation updates and improvements"
+
+  internal:
+    title: "🔧 Internal/DevOps"
+    description: "Internal improvements, build system, and development tooling changes"
+
+  dependencies:
+    title: "📦 Dependencies"
+    description: "Dependency updates and package management changes"
+
+  other:
+    title: "🎉 Other Changes"
+    description: "Other notable changes that don't fit the above categories"
+
+  refactoring:
+    title: "🔄 Refactoring & Performance"
+    description: "Code quality improvements and performance optimizations"
+
+# Template configuration
+template:
+  # Whether to include sections that have no items
+  include_empty_sections: false
+
+  # Maximum number of commits to show per section (0 = unlimited)
+  max_commits_per_section: 0
+
+  # Whether to include commit hashes in the output
+  include_commit_hashes: true
+
+  # Whether to include author information
+  include_authors: true
+
+  # Date format for the release
+  date_format: "YYYY-MM-DD"
+
+# Contributors configuration  
+contributors:
+  # Whether to include a contributors section
+  include_contributors: true
+
+  # How to format contributor names
+  format: "@{username}"
+
+  # Whether to exclude bot accounts
+  exclude_bots: true
+
+  # List of usernames to exclude from contributors list
+  exclude_users:
+    - "dependabot[bot]"
+    - "github-actions[bot]"
+
+# Validation rules
+validation:
+  # Minimum number of commits required for a release
+  min_commits: 1
+
+  # Whether to fail if no categorized changes are found
+  require_categorized_changes: false
+
+  # Whether to validate that breaking changes have migration notes
+  require_breaking_change_notes: true
+
+# Custom replacements for commit messages (useful for cleaning up automated commits)
+message_replacements:
+  - pattern: "^Merge pull request #\\d+ from .*"
+    replacement: ""  # Remove merge commit messages
+  - pattern: "^Merge branch '.*' into .*"
+    replacement: ""  # Remove branch merge messages
+  - pattern: "\\(#(\\d+)\\)"
+    replacement: "(#$1)"  # Normalize PR references
+
+# Integration settings
+integrations:
+  github:
+    # Whether to link to GitHub commits
+    link_commits: true
+
+    # Whether to link to GitHub issues/PRs
+    link_issues: true
+
+    # Base URL for the repository
+    base_url: "https://github.com/{owner}/{repo}"
+
+  npm:
+    # Whether to include npm installation instructions
+    include_install_instructions: true
+
+    # Package name for installation instructions
+    package_name: "create-polyglot"

.github/release-notes-improvements.md

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<!-- This file tracks improvements to the release notes system -->

.github/release-notes-template.md

@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# Release Notes Template
+
+This template is used to automatically generate release notes for create-polyglot.
+
+## Release Notes for v{version}
+
+### 🚀 Features Added
+{features}
+
+### 🐛 Bug Fixes
+{bugfixes}
+
+### ⚠️ Breaking Changes
+{breaking}
+
+### 📚 Documentation
+{documentation}
+
+### 🔧 Internal/DevOps
+{internal}
+
+### 📦 Dependencies
+{dependencies}
+
+### 🎉 Other Changes
+{other}
+
+### 🔄 Refactoring & Performance
+{refactoring}
+
+---
+
+**Full Changelog**: {compare_url}
+
+## What's Changed Since Last Release
+
+{commits}
+
+## Contributors
+
+Thanks to all the contributors who made this release possible!
+
+{contributors}
+
+---
+
+### Installation
+
+```bash
+npm install -g create-polyglot@{version}
+# or
+npx create-polyglot@{version} init my-project
+```
+
+### Upgrade Notes
+
+{upgrade_notes}
+
+### Known Issues
+
+{known_issues}

.github/workflows/npm-publish.yml

@@ -8,6 +8,33 @@ on:
     types: [created]
 
 jobs:
+  generate-release-notes:
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    permissions:
+      contents: write
+      pull-requests: read
+    steps:
+      - name: Trigger release notes generation
+        uses: actions/github-script@v7
+        with:
+          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
+          script: |
+            // Trigger the release notes workflow
+            await github.rest.actions.createWorkflowDispatch({
+              owner: context.repo.owner,
+              repo: context.repo.repo,
+              workflow_id: 'release-notes.yml',
+              ref: 'main',
+              inputs: {
+                tag_name: '${{ github.event.release.tag_name }}',
+                target_commitish: '${{ github.event.release.target_commitish }}'
+              }
+            });
+            console.log('Release notes generation triggered');
+
+            // Wait a bit for the workflow to complete
+            await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 5000));
+
   build:
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
@@ -22,7 +49,7 @@ jobs:
       - run: npm test
 
   publish-npm:
-    needs: build
+    needs: [generate-release-notes, build]
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v4