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:

  1. Determine next version (semver bump based on changes)
  2. Update version in source files (__init__.py, package.json, etc.)
  3. Update CHANGELOG (move [Unreleased][X.Y.Z] - date)
  4. Commit with release message
  5. Create git tag
  6. Run build/test scripts if present
  7. Push commit + tag
  8. 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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