PR Release

Generate changelog entries, deployment checklists, and update PR descriptions for releases using the workflow-specialist agent.

⚠️ Side Effect Warning

This skill updates a GitHub PR description — an action that modifies publicly visible content:

Updates the PR description via gh pr create / gh pr edit
The changelog and deployment checklist are visible to all repository members

Confirmation required before updating the PR. The skill will present all artifacts for review and wait for explicit approval.

Note: This skill does NOT create git tags, merge PRs, or deploy to production. Those actions remain manual.

Usage

"Prepare release artifacts for version 1.2.0"
"Generate a changelog for this release branch"
"Create a deployment checklist"
/pr-release [version-or-focus]

Focus options: changelog, deploy, update, or a version number like 1.2.0

Prerequisites

On a release branch
Commits following conventional commit format (feat, fix, breaking, etc.)
GitHub CLI (gh) installed and authenticated

Environment Detection

Tier 1 — Portable (Claude Desktop, Codex, any environment)

When Task() or gh CLI are unavailable:

Parse arguments — Determine version number or focus area
Gather git context — Ask user to share: branch name, commits since last release, existing CHANGELOG.md
Categorize commits — Sort by type (feat → Added, fix → Fixed, breaking → Breaking Changes, etc.)
Detect CMS changes — Identify Drupal/WordPress-specific deployment requirements
Generate artifacts:
- Changelog in Keep a Changelog format
- Deployment checklist with pre/post checks and rollback plan
- PR description updates
Present for approval — Display all artifacts under === RELEASE ARTIFACTS READY FOR APPROVAL ===
⛔ STOP: Wait for explicit user approval
After approval: Provide artifacts for manual use; give gh pr edit command for user to run

Tier 2 — Claude Code Enhanced

When running in Claude Code with Task() and git/gh CLI available:

Spawn workflow-specialist:

Task(cms-cultivator:workflow-specialist:workflow-specialist,
     prompt="Prepare release artifacts for the current branch. User's focus: {argument or 'all'}. Follow the complete release workflow: (1) Analyze changes since last release, categorize commits by type, detect CMS-specific deployment requirements, (2) Generate changelog in Keep a Changelog format, (3) Create comprehensive deployment checklist, (4) CRITICAL OUTPUT FORMAT: Start IMMEDIATELY with '=== RELEASE ARTIFACTS READY FOR APPROVAL ===' — NO text before this header. Show changelog, deployment checklist, and PR update recommendations. End with approval request. (5) After approval, update PR description via gh CLI.")

Present output directly — Display workflow-specialist output verbatim when === RELEASE ARTIFACTS READY FOR APPROVAL === appears
⛔ STOP: Wait for user approval
After approval — Resume workflow-specialist to update PR

Confirmation Protocol

=== RELEASE ARTIFACTS READY FOR APPROVAL ===

## Changelog Entry (Keep a Changelog format)
[Generated changelog]

## Deployment Checklist
[Complete deployment steps]

## PR Description Updates
[Updated sections]

===================================

Reply "approve" to update the PR and save these artifacts, or provide your edits.

Changelog Format (Keep a Changelog)

## [1.2.0] - 2026-04-15

### Added
- [New features]

### Changed
- [Modified behavior]

### Fixed
- [Bug fixes]

### Security
- [Security patches]

### Drupal-Specific Upgrade Notes
- Run: `drush updatedb`
- Run: `drush config:import`
- Clear cache: `drush cache:rebuild`

### WordPress-Specific Upgrade Notes
- Flush permalinks: Settings > Permalinks > Save
- Re-sync ACF fields from acf-json/

Semantic Versioning Guidance

Major (X.0.0): Breaking changes, removed features, incompatible API changes
Minor (1.X.0): New features (backwards-compatible), new API endpoints
Patch (1.0.X): Bug fixes, security patches, documentation updates

Related Skills

pr-create — Create initial PR before release
pr-review — Review changes before release
commit-message-generator — Generate commit messages

pr-release