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 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 ┌────────────────────────────────┐ │ 1.1 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 1.1 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