microsoft/release-note-generation

Release Note Generation Skill

Generate professional release notes for PowerToys milestones by collecting merged PRs, requesting Copilot code reviews, grouping by label, and producing user-facing summaries.

Output Directory

All generated artifacts are placed under Generated Files/ReleaseNotes/ at the repository root (gitignored).

Generated Files/ReleaseNotes/
├── milestone_prs.json           # Raw PR data from GitHub
├── sorted_prs.csv               # Sorted PR list with Copilot summaries
├── prs_with_milestone.csv       # Milestone assignment tracking
├── grouped_csv/                 # PRs grouped by label (one CSV per label)
├── grouped_md/                  # Generated markdown summaries per label
└── v{VERSION}-release-notes.md  # Final consolidated release notes

When to Use This Skill

• Generate release notes for a milestone
• Summarize PRs merged in a release
• Request Copilot reviews for milestone PRs
• Assign milestones to PRs missing them
• Collect PRs between two commits/tags
• Update README.md for a new version

Prerequisites

• GitHub CLI (gh) installed and authenticated — The collection script uses gh pr view and gh api graphql to fetch PR metadata and co-author information. Run gh auth status to verify; if not logged in, run gh auth login first. See Step 1.0.0 for details.
• MCP Server: github-mcp-server installed
• GitHub Copilot code review enabled for the org/repo

Required Variables

⚠️ Before starting, confirm {{ReleaseVersion}} with the user. If not provided, ASK: "What release version are we generating notes for? (e.g., 0.98)"

| Variable | Description | Example | |----------|-------------|---------| | {{ReleaseVersion}} | Target release version | 0.98 |

Workflow Overview

┌────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1.0 Verify gh auth + MemberList │
└────────────────────────────────┘
              ↓
┌────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1.1 Collect PRs (stable range) │
└────────────────────────────────┘
              ↓
┌────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1.2 Assign Milestones           │
└────────────────────────────────┘
              ↓
┌────────────────────────────────┐
│ 2.1–2.4 Label PRs (auto+human)  │
└────────────────────────────────┘
              ↓
┌────────────────────────────────┐
│ 3.1 Request Reviews (Copilot)  │
└────────────────────────────────┘
              ↓
┌────────────────────────────────┐
│ 3.2 Refresh PR data             │
│ (CopilotSummary)                │
└────────────────────────────────┘
              ↓
┌────────────────────────────────┐
│ 3.3 Group by label              │
│ (grouped_csv)                   │
└────────────────────────────────┘
              ↓
┌────────────────────────────────┐
│ 4.1 Summarize (grouped_md)      │
└────────────────────────────────┘
              ↓
┌────────────────────────────────┐
│ 4.2 Final notes (v{VERSION}.md) │
└────────────────────────────────┘

| Step | Action | Details | |------|--------|---------| | 1.0 | Verify prerequisites | gh auth status must pass; generate MemberList.md | | 1.1 | Collect PRs | From previous release tag on stable branch → sorted_prs.csv | | 1.2 | Assign Milestones | Ensure all PRs have correct milestone | | 2.1–2.4 | Label PRs | Auto-suggest + human label low-confidence | | 3.1–3.3 | Reviews & Grouping | Request Copilot reviews → refresh → group by label | | 4.1–4.2 | Summaries & Final | Generate grouped summaries, then consolidate |

Detailed workflow docs

Do not read all steps at once—only read the step you are executing.

• Step 1: Collection & Milestones
• Step 2: Labeling PRs
• Step 3: Reviews & Grouping
• Step 4: Summarization

Available Scripts

| Script | Purpose | |--------|---------| | dump-prs-since-commit.ps1 | Fetch PRs between commits/tags | | group-prs-by-label.ps1 | Group PRs into CSVs | | collect-or-apply-milestones.ps1 | Assign milestones | | diff_prs.ps1 | Incremental PR diff |

References

• Sample Output - Example summary formatting
• Detailed Instructions - Legacy full documentation

Conventions

• Terminal usage: Disabled by default; only run scripts when user explicitly requests
• Batch generation: Generate ALL grouped_md files in one pass, then human reviews
• PR order: Preserve order from sorted_prs.csv in all outputs
• Label filtering: Keeps Product-*, Area-*, GitHub*, *Plugin, Issue-*

Troubleshooting

| Issue | Solution | |-------|----------| | gh command not found | Install GitHub CLI and add to PATH | | No PRs returned | Verify milestone title matches exactly | | Empty CopilotSummary | Request Copilot reviews first, then re-run dump | | Many unlabeled PRs | Return to labeling step before grouping |