releasenote

name: releasenote description: > Create or update release notes for changes in the current branch using Reno, following dd-trace-py's conventions and the guidelines in docs/releasenotes.rst. allowed-tools:

• Bash
• Read
• Grep
• Glob
• TodoWrite

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill whenever:

• The user asks to create a new release note.
• The user asks to update or modify an existing release note.
• The user wants a summary of changes that is intended to be inserted into a release note file.

Key Principles

• Follow strictly the conventions described in docs/releasenotes.rst and any Reno-related docs in the repo.
• ALWAYS use riot (not reno directly) to generate the new release note skeleton.
• If the user does not specify the release-note category (feature, bugfix, deprecation, breaking-change, misc, etc.), ask first.
• Release notes must:
  • Be one Reno fragment per change / PR, unless the change explicitly belongs inside an existing release note.
  • Use a slug that is short, clear, and uses hyphens.
  • Appear under releasenotes/notes/ with a .yaml suffix.
• If updating an existing fragment, search for a fragment that matches the topic or ticket before creating a new one.
• Ensure the wording is:
  • Clear, concise, and user-facing.
  • Describes what changed and why users should care.
  • Avoids internal-only terminology unless necessary.

Interaction Rules

• Before creating anything:

  1. Confirm the category.
  2. Confirm the title-slug if the user hasn't provided one.
  3. Confirm whether the release note is for a new fragment or an update.

• If the user wants to modify a note:

  • Search for the matching fragment using ls releasenotes/notes/ or grep keywords.
  • Open the file and update only the content the user mentions.

Quick Start

Create a new release note

riot run reno new <title-slug>

After creation, modify the generated YAML fragment to include the content under the correct section:

features:
  - |
    <description of the new feature>

# or

fixes:
  - |
    <description of the bug fix>

List existing release notes

ls releasenotes/notes/

Find a release note containing a keyword

grep -R "<keyword>" releasenotes/notes/

Best Practices for Note Content

• Start with an action verb: Add…, Fix…, Improve…, Deprecate…
• Reference PR or issue numbers only if relevant (e.g., "(#12345)").
• If the change requires user action, highlight it clearly.
• Avoid long paragraphs; prefer concise bullet-style explanations.

Optional Enhancements

If you want, you can add:

Validation checks

• Ensure the repo is clean (git status).
• Confirm that the working directory is at the repo root.
• Warn if a release note already exists for the same issue/PR.

Automation scaffolding

• Automatically propose a slug from the branch name.
• Suggest the best category based on commit diff keywords.

If you'd like, I can also:

✔ generate a stricter version (more guardrails) ✔ generate a shorter version (minimal skill spec) ✔ help you convert this to Anthropic’s new "Tool Use Skills" format ✔ help you create automated tests or examples for this skill

Just tell me!

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• You are asked to create a new release note
• You are asked to update an existing release note

Key Principles

• Strictly follow what is described in docs/releasenotes.rst
• ALWAYS use riot to generate the new release note
• If the user does not specify it, ask whether it is a fix, a feature, etc.

Quick Start

Create the release note:

riot run reno new <title-slug>