Feature request: /release skill for automated release workflows
Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Feb 10, 2026 by brucedombrowski Closed Mar 11, 2026
Feature Request
Add a built-in /release skill that automates common release workflows.
Motivation
Cutting a release today involves a multi-step manual dance that Claude Code handles well but requires the user to drive each step:
- Determine next version (semver bump based on changes)
- Update version in source files (
__init__.py,package.json, etc.) - Update CHANGELOG (move
[Unreleased]→[X.Y.Z] - date) - Commit with release message
- Create git tag
- Run build/test scripts if present
- Push commit + tag
- Optionally create GitHub Release via
gh
A /release skill could detect the project type, find version files, read the changelog convention, and execute the full flow with a single command — prompting for confirmation at key points (version number, push).
Suggested Behavior
/release # auto-detect version bump from commits/changelog
/release patch # explicit semver bump
/release 1.2.3 # explicit version
The skill would:
- Detect version file locations (package.json, pyproject.toml, __init__.py, Cargo.toml, etc.)
- Detect changelog format (Keep a Changelog, Conventional Commits, etc.)
- Detect build scripts (build_release.sh, Makefile release target, npm run build, etc.)
- Run tests before tagging
- Confirm before push
Context
This came up while using Claude Code to manage releases for a Python project. Claude handled every step correctly but needed explicit prompting for each one. A skill would make this a one-shot operation.
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