patch-notes

name: patch-notes type: workflow description: "Generates user-facing patch notes from git history and internal changelogs, translating technical changes into clear user communication. Use when preparing patch notes or when the user mentions patch notes or user-facing changelog." argument-hint: "[version] [--style brief|detailed|full]" user-invocable: true allowed-tools: Read, Glob, Grep, Write, Bash effort: 1 when_to_use: "Use when preparing user-facing patch notes for a release version, or when the user mentions patch notes, version notes, or user-facing changelog."

When this skill is invoked:

1. Parse the arguments:

   • version: the release version to generate notes for (e.g., 1.2.0)
   • --style: output style — brief (bullet points), detailed (with context), full (with developer commentary). Default: detailed.

2. Gather change data from multiple sources:

   • Read the internal changelog at production/releases/[version]/changelog.md if it exists
   • Run git log between the previous release tag and current tag/HEAD
   • Read sprint retrospectives in production/sprints/ for context
   • Read any balance change documents in design/balance/
   • Read bug fix records from QA if available

3. Categorize all changes into user-facing categories:

   • New Content: new features, maps, characters, items, modes
   • Business Logic Changes: balance adjustments, mechanic changes, progression changes
   • Quality of Life: UI improvements, convenience features, accessibility
   • Bug Fixes: grouped by system (combat, UI, networking, etc.)
   • Performance: optimization improvements users might notice
   • Known Issues: transparency about unresolved problems

4. Translate developer language to user language:

   • "Refactored damage calculation pipeline" → "Improved hit detection accuracy"
   • "Fixed null reference in inventory manager" → "Fixed a crash when opening inventory"
   • "Reduced GC allocations in combat loop" → "Improved combat performance"
   • Remove purely internal changes that don't affect users
   • Preserve specific numbers for balance changes (damage: 50 → 45)

5. Generate the patch notes using the appropriate style:

Brief Style

# Patch [Version] — [Title]

**New**
- [Feature 1]
- [Feature 2]

**Changes**
- [Balance/mechanic change with before → after values]

**Fixes**
- [Bug fix 1]
- [Bug fix 2]

**Known Issues**
- [Issue 1]

Detailed Style

# Patch [Version] — [Title]
*[Date]*

## Highlights
[1-2 sentence summary of the most exciting changes]

## New Content
### [Feature Name]
[2-3 sentences describing the feature and why users should be excited]

## Business Logic Changes
### Balance
| Change | Before | After | Reason |
| ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
| [Item/ability] | [old value] | [new value] | [brief rationale] |

### Mechanics
- **[Change]**: [explanation of what changed and why]

## Quality of Life
- [Improvement with context]

## Bug Fixes
### Combat
- Fixed [description of what users experienced]

### UI
- Fixed [description]

### Networking
- Fixed [description]

## Performance
- [Improvement users will notice]

## Known Issues
- [Issue and workaround if available]

Full Style

Includes everything from Detailed, plus:

## Developer Commentary
### [Topic]
> [Developer insight into a major change — why it was made, what was considered,
> what the team learned. Written in first-person team voice.]

1. Review the output for:

   • No internal jargon (replace technical terms with user-friendly language)
   • No references to internal systems, tickets, or sprint numbers
   • Balance changes include before/after values
   • Bug fixes describe the user experience, not the technical cause
   • Tone matches the product's voice (adjust formality based on product style)

2. Save the patch notes to production/releases/[version]/patch-notes.md, creating the directory if needed.

3. Output to the user: the complete patch notes, the file path, a count of changes by category, and any internal changes that were excluded (for review).

Protocol

• Question: Reads version and --style argument; defaults to detailed if style is omitted
• Options: Style choice if unspecified — brief / detailed / full
• Decision: Skip — style drives output format
• Draft: Full patch notes shown in conversation before saving
• Approval: "May I write to production/releases/[version]/patch-notes.md?"

Output

Deliver exactly:

• Patch notes file saved to production/releases/[version]/patch-notes.md
• Change count by category (Features: X, Fixes: Y, Balance: Z, etc.)
• Excluded internal items — list of changes omitted from user-facing notes

See Also

• Use /changelog first to generate the technical changelog, then this skill to create user-facing notes