release-kit — Claude Code Skills for Shipping

Skills that turn code changes into changelogs, release notes, and announcements. Built for developers and teams who ship software and want polished release communications without the busywork.

Works even with bad commit messages. Each skill analyzes diffs, PRs, issues, test descriptions, and code structure to figure out what actually changed and why it matters.

Contributions welcome! Have an idea for a new skill or improvement? Open a PR.

Before & After

Your commit messages:

fix stuff
wip
update deps
john's changes
PR #89

What release-kit produces:

# What's New in v3.0.0

**Headline:** Real-time collaboration is here — edit documents with your team simultaneously.

## New Features
- **Real-time collaboration** — See teammates' cursors and edits live as you work together
- **Slack integration** — Get notified in Slack when deployments fail or need approval

## Bug Fixes
- Fixed duplicate entries appearing in search results
- Fixed password reset emails not sending for accounts using SSO

What are Skills?

Skills are markdown files that give Claude Code specialized knowledge for specific tasks. When you install these skills, Claude Code recognizes when you're working on a release task and applies the right frameworks automatically.

Skills

Skill	Description	Triggers
changelog	Generates CHANGELOG.md entries in Keep a Changelog format	"update changelog," "document changes," "what changed"
release-notes	Generates user-friendly release notes for GitHub releases or app stores	"write release notes," "draft a release," "summarize this version"
announce	Drafts social media posts (Twitter/X and LinkedIn) announcing releases	"announce the release," "write a tweet," "LinkedIn post"

Installation

Option 1: CLI Install (Recommended)

claude install-skill tilomitra/release-kit/changelog
claude install-skill tilomitra/release-kit/release-notes
claude install-skill tilomitra/release-kit/announce

Option 2: Install All at Once

Install all skills via skills.sh:

npx skills add tilomitra/release-kit

Option 3: Clone and Copy

git clone https://github.com/tilomitra/release-kit.git
cp -r release-kit/changelog release-kit/release-notes release-kit/announce .claude/skills/

Option 4: Git Submodule

Add as a submodule for easy updates:

git submodule add https://github.com/tilomitra/release-kit.git .claude/release-kit

Then reference skills from .claude/release-kit/.

Usage

Once installed, just ask Claude Code naturally:

"Update the changelog for v2.4.0"
→ Uses changelog skill

"Write release notes for everything since the last tag"
→ Uses release-notes skill

"Draft a tweet and LinkedIn post announcing v3.0"
→ Uses announce skill

You can also invoke skills directly:

/changelog
/release-notes
/announce

How It Works

Each skill gathers context from multiple sources, not just commit messages:

1. PR titles and descriptions
2. Linked/closed issues
3. Test descriptions (it('should allow bulk export'))
4. File and folder paths
5. Function and component names
6. Code comments and JSDoc
7. Config and dependency changes
8. Commit messages (checked last, often the least useful signal)

Output focuses on user benefit, not implementation details.

Contributing

Found a way to improve a skill? Have a new one to suggest? PRs and issues welcome!

Ideas for contributions:

• Improve existing skill instructions or context-gathering steps
• Add new output formats or publishing targets
• Fix typos or clarify confusing sections
• Suggest new skills (open an issue first to discuss)

How to contribute:

1. Fork the repo
2. Edit the skill file(s) in their directories
3. Submit a PR with a clear description of what you improved

Skill File Structure

Each skill is a directory containing a SKILL.md file:

changelog/
  SKILL.md
release-notes/
  SKILL.md
announce/
  SKILL.md

License

MIT — Use these however you want.