SDK Changelog Generation

Generate changelogs for SDK pod packages following the monorepo GitFlow.

When to use this skill

Applies to SDK pod packages whose paths are owned by .github/teams/sdk.json.

Use when:

• Preparing a release for any SDK pod package
• User asks to generate changelog
• User asks to create human-readable/presentable changelog
• User asks to generate CHANGELOG_LLM.md
• User invokes /qv-sdk-changelog

Workflow

Every step is mandatory. Do not ask the user whether to do CHANGELOG_LLM.md or NOTICE — they are part of this skill and always run.

Step 1: Identify Target Package

If the user doesn't specify, ask which SDK pod package they want to generate a changelog for.

Package slugs match git tags (sdk, cli, ai-sdk-provider, opencode-plugin, openclaw-plugin, …). Directory resolution (including plugins/*) is in scripts/sdk/package-paths.cjs.

Working branch (when cutting from a release line): use chore/<pkg>-<x.y.z>-changelog (e.g. chore/sdk-0.17.0-changelog). Do not name the head release-* — org pushes to release-* run Release Merge Guard against the pushed ref (not the PR base). The release cut itself must be three-part release-<pkg>-x.y.z. Full rules live in qv-sdk-pr-create → "Release PR branch naming".

Step 2: Fetch Tags and Resolve Base

Tags live on the upstream remote (tetherto/qvac), not the contributor's fork. The script fetches from upstream first, falling back to origin.

Full-history requirement (fail-stop): discovery is git log <base>..HEAD -- <packagePath>. Before generating:

1. git rev-parse --is-shallow-repository must be false (else git fetch --unshallow / re-clone without --depth, then stop).
2. Base must be an ancestor of HEAD (git merge-base --is-ancestor <base> HEAD); otherwise check out the release tip / package tag first.

The generator enforces both checks and exits non-zero on failure.

Run git tag --list "<package>-v*" --sort=-v:refname to check for existing version tags.

• If tags exist: the script auto-detects the release type from package.json version:
  • Minor/major release (version ends in .0, e.g. 0.9.0): uses the latest .0 tag as base (e.g. sdk-v0.8.0), skipping patch tags
  • Patch release (version ends in non-zero patch, e.g. 0.8.4): uses the absolute latest tag as base (e.g. sdk-v0.8.3)
• If no tags: ask the user for --base-commit and --base-version (migration scenario)

Why this matters: patches ship on separate release branches and get backmerged into main. Using the latest patch tag as base for a minor release would miss all PRs that landed on main between the previous minor release and the last backmerge. The correct base for a minor release is the previous minor's .0 tag.

Step 3: Generate Raw Changelog

All SDK pod packages use the same command:

node scripts/sdk/generate-changelog-sdk-pod.cjs --package=<name>

With migration flags:

node scripts/sdk/generate-changelog-sdk-pod.cjs --package=<name> --base-commit=<sha> --base-version=<version>

The script automatically excludes:

• PRs tagged [skiplog].
• Backmerge PRs (subjects starting with Backmerge or Merge release …). Backmerges merge a release branch back into main; their content is already documented in the release branch's own changelog, so listing them here is noise.
• PRs whose title fails the SDK PR-format validator (these are warned, not silently dropped — fix the title and re-run, or surface to the PR author).

For [mod] PRs, the script extracts the Added/Updated/Removed model lists from the PR body and renders them as indented continuation lines beneath the bullet in CHANGELOG.md (each section on its own line — never inline as one giant row). The same filtered lists are written to models.md.

The extractor applies two policies (in this order):

1. Companion entries are dropped. Companions are auxiliary files that ship alongside a primary model but aren't independently usable — vocab files, lexicons, raw data shards, metadata blobs. The filter recognises constant suffixes (*_LEX, *_VOCAB, *_DATA, *_METADATA) and any free-form description containing the word "companion". Only first-class models reach the changelog.
2. Entry-count suffixes are stripped. (N entries) / (N entries — short note) decorations are removed from the displayed text — readers can follow the models.md link for exact counts.

After both filters, each section is trimmed to MAX_INLINE_MODELS (currently 5) entries, with (and N more) for the remainder. Example:

- Regenerate model registry. (see PR [#123](...)) - See [model changes](./models.md)
  Added: NMT_Q0F16, NMT_Q4_0 (and 12 more)
  Removed: MARIAN_OPUS_*

If after filtering a section is empty, it's omitted. If all sections are empty the bullet emits with no continuation lines.

When writing the human-readable CHANGELOG_LLM.md (Step 4), apply the same "no informational value" rule manually: skip backmerges, automated bumps, and any entry whose subject would just repeat what a previous release already said. For the Models section, mirror the script's policy — keep it concise in the body (highlight the most notable adds/removes) and defer the full constant list to the ### Added / ### Removed blocks at the bottom.

Step 4: Generate CHANGELOG_LLM.md (mandatory)

Always run this step. Do not ask the user — it's part of the skill.

After raw changelog files exist, generate the human-readable version at packages/<package>/changelog/<version>/CHANGELOG_LLM.md.

See references/changelog-llm-format.md for the format guide.

After writing the file, re-run the raw generator (or rebuild the root aggregate) so packages/<package>/CHANGELOG.md picks up the new CHANGELOG_LLM.md (the aggregator prefers it over CHANGELOG.md). Easiest way: re-run the script from Step 3 — it's idempotent.

Format the generated markdown (mandatory). CHANGELOG_LLM.md is authored by hand here, so it is the file most likely to carry markdown formatting issues that a committed-file format check would later reject. Every SDK pod package uses prettier (format = prettier --check ., format:fix = prettier --write .). Run the check scoped to the changelog output so any issue surfaces now:

cd packages/<package>
bunx prettier --check "changelog/**/*.md" "CHANGELOG.md"

If it reports problems, fix them — bunx prettier --write on the same paths, or hand-edit — and re-run the check until it passes clean. Do this before moving on so the release commit carries only prettier-clean markdown.

Downstream rendering note: the docs site reads CHANGELOG_LLM.md verbatim and inlines it under a ### @qvac/<pkg> subsection of the minor series page (one permanent v<X.Y>.x.mdx per minor line — see docs/website/docs-workflow.md). Each headline you write becomes a section header on the public docs site (with two levels of demotion to fit the nesting), so phrase them as standalone reader-facing prose, not internal categories. Keep headings emoji-free (e.g. ## Breaking Changes, not ## 💥 Breaking Changes) — emoji prefixes leak verbatim into the public headers; the only allowed emoji is the 📦 **NPM:** line. See the format guide for the full rule.

Step 5: Generate announcement-post.txt (mandatory)

Always run this step after Step 4. It produces a Slack-ready copy-paste post at packages/<package>/changelog/<version>/announcement-post.txt.

The file is gitignored (packages/*/changelog/*/announcement-post.txt) — it's a local working artifact, not a committed deliverable. Never git add it.

node scripts/sdk/generate-changelog-sdk-pod.cjs --package=<name> --generate-announcement-post

The script emits the short Slack template — header + three links + optional breaking-changes block + footer. Per-section bullet lists are intentionally omitted; readers follow the full-changelog link for the detail.

Layout:

• :qvac: SDK <version> :rocket: NPM Public release header.
• NPM, GitHub release, and full-changelog tree links.
• :warning: Breaking Changes section with link to breaking.md — emitted only when breaking.md exists in the version folder (i.e. at least one PR carries the [bc] tag). Detected by file presence, not by parsing CHANGELOG.md.
• Footer: Thanks to everyone on QVAC team :green_heart: :qvac: :green_heart:.

If the post needs hand-tuning (e.g. a custom note for a specific release), edit the file directly. It's gitignored, so changes won't pollute the diff.

Step 6: Update NOTICE file for the target package

After Step 5 completes, run notice-generate for the same --package to ensure its NOTICE file reflects any dependency changes in the release:

source .env
node .agents/skills/qv-notice-generate/scripts/generate-notice.js <package-name>

Do NOT commit the announcement post (gitignored) and let the user review the rest before committing.

See .agents/skills/qv-notice-generate/SKILL.md for full details.

Step 7: Sync lockstep clients (only when --package=sdk)

@qvac/sdk and tetherto-qvac-sdk release in lockstep at the @qvac/inference version anchor. Every sdk release must stamp that anchor into sdk and regenerate the Python client (SDK_VERSION and other _generated/ outputs). Skip this step for any other --package value.

Read and follow .agents/skills/qv-sdk-lockstep-sync/SKILL.md (Steps 1–3). Short form:

node .agents/skills/qv-sdk-lockstep-sync/scripts/sync-sdk-pod.mjs

cd packages/sdk-python
.venv/bin/python3 scripts/generate.py
.venv/bin/python3 scripts/generate.py --check

Include sdk-python generated updates in the release commit. The Python client does not get its own changelog — history lives in packages/sdk/CHANGELOG.md.

Step 8: Generate site docs (only when --package=sdk)

Generate the documentation-site API reference and release notes for the new version in the same working tree, so the changelog PR also carries the docs update. This replaces the old standalone docs-release.yml workflow (which opened a second, separate docs PR). Skip this step entirely for any other --package value — only the SDK release drives the versioned docs site.

Generation is deterministic: it runs the existing docs/website scripts (TypeDoc + Nunjucks render + verbatim CHANGELOG_LLM.md inlining). No LLM is involved in producing the API reference or release notes here — Step 4 already authored CHANGELOG_LLM.md, and this step only renders it into the site.

Prerequisites:

• docs/website dependencies installed (cd docs/website && npm install).
• SDK_PATH set in docs/website/.env pointing at the SDK package root (packages/sdk, the directory containing index.ts and tsconfig.json). Copy docs/website/.env.example to .env if it doesn't exist yet. CHANGELOG_REPO_ROOT defaults to the repo root, so no override is needed when running inside the monorepo.

1. Generate the API reference + release notes (auto-detects minor vs patch):

cd docs/website
bun run scripts/release-version.ts <version> --force-extract

This is the exact command the old workflow ran. The dispatcher reads the version and forwards to the minor (X.Y.0: generate the new series' MDX at reference/{api,release-notes}/v<X.Y>.x.mdx, rewrite both index.mdx shims to <include> the new series file, and rotate the managed alias block in public/_redirects so the new v<X.Y>.x URL 301s to the shim canonical) or patch (X.Y.Z, Z >= 1: insert the ## vX.Y.Z section into the target series' v<X.Y>.x.mdx; for patch-latest, also mirror the refreshed description onto the release-notes shim) orchestrator. It writes only:

• docs/website/content/docs/reference/api/** (API summary MDX)
• docs/website/content/docs/reference/release-notes/** (release notes MDX)
• docs/website/src/lib/versions.ts (version-switcher manifest)
• docs/website/public/_redirects (minor only — the managed # ==== BEGIN latest-series alias (managed) ==== block; patches never touch this file)

2. Verify the site still builds (mandatory):

cd docs/website
npm run build

A clean build confirms nothing on the website broke. Treat a build failure as fail-stop: surface the error and do NOT proceed to commit until it's fixed.

Staging follows the same convention as the other steps. Like every other step, this one only generates files — it never runs git add or git commit. The three surfaces above are part of the release commit (same as Step 7's lockstep-client files: "Include … in the release commit"), and every generation/build byproduct is gitignored — exactly like Step 5's announcement-post.txt — so a normal git status review shows only the committable files. Let the user review before committing. Generated + gitignored byproducts (do not git add them):

• docs/website/scripts/api-docs/api-data.json (written by release-version.ts)
• docs/website/.next/, .source/, out/, dist/ (from npm run build)
• docs/website/next-env.d.ts
• packages/sdk/dist/ (from the prebuild:examples build step)

See docs/website/docs-workflow.md for the full pipeline reference.

CLI Parameters

Flag	Required	Description
--package	Yes	Package name (e.g., sdk)
--base-commit	No	Initial commit SHA for migration (overrides tag lookup)
--base-version	No	Version label for base commit (display only)
--release-type	No	minor or patch (auto-detected from package.json version)
--dry-run	No	Preview output without writing files
--update-root-changelog	No	Rebuild only the root aggregate packages/<pkg>/CHANGELOG.md
--generate-announcement-post	No	Generate announcement-post.txt for the package's current version
--version	No	Override version when used with --generate-announcement-post

Output

Generates changelog files in packages/<package>/changelog/<version>/:

• CHANGELOG.md - Main changelog
• breaking.md - Breaking changes detail (if [bc] PRs)
• api.md - API changes detail (if [api] PRs)
• models.md - Model changes (if [mod] PRs)
• CHANGELOG_LLM.md - Human-readable version (always generated, see Step 4)
• announcement-post.txt - Slack copy-paste post (always generated, see Step 5, gitignored — never commit)

Additionally:

• packages/<package>/CHANGELOG.md – Aggregated changelog containing all versions (newest → oldest), preferring CHANGELOG_LLM.md (human-readable) from each version folder when available, falling back to CHANGELOG.md

When --package=sdk, Step 8 also generates the documentation-site surfaces (commit these alongside the changelog):

• docs/website/content/docs/reference/api/** – API reference MDX
• docs/website/content/docs/reference/release-notes/** – Release notes MDX
• docs/website/src/lib/versions.ts – Version-switcher manifest
• docs/website/public/_redirects – minor releases only — the managed latest-series alias block (delimited by # ==== BEGIN latest-series alias (managed) ==== markers). Patch releases never touch this file.

Tag Format

Tags follow the pattern: <package>-v<x.y.z> and are created on upstream (not the fork).

Examples:

• sdk-v0.8.0 (minor — used as base for next minor release)
• sdk-v0.8.1 (patch — used as base for next patch release)
• rag-v2.0.0

Quality Checklist

Before completing:

• Correct package identified
• Working head (if branched for the release PR) is chore/<pkg>-<x.y.z>-changelog, not release-*
• Clone is not shallow (git rev-parse --is-shallow-repository → false)
• Base reference resolved (tag or --base-commit) and is an ancestor of HEAD
• PRs scoped to package path only
• Changelog files written to correct version directory
• CHANGELOG_LLM.md generated (mandatory) and follows format guide
• Generated markdown is prettier-clean (prettier --check on the changelog output passes)
• announcement-post.txt generated (mandatory, gitignored)
• NOTICE file updated for the target package
• When --package=sdk: qv-sdk-lockstep-sync run (sdk-python), python generate.py --check passing
• When --package=sdk: site docs generated via release-version.ts, npm run build passed, and git status shows only reference/api/**, reference/release-notes/**, src/lib/versions.ts (and public/_redirects on minor releases — the managed latest-series alias block) as committable docs changes (byproducts gitignored)
• Root CHANGELOG.md rebuilt from all version folders (and picks up CHANGELOG_LLM.md)
• Versions sorted in descending semver order
• No duplicated versions
• Root file is deterministic (fully regenerated)

References

• SDK pod ownership: .github/teams/sdk.json
• GitFlow and PR format: docs/gitflow.md
• LLM changelog format: references/changelog-llm-format.md
• NOTICE generation: .agents/skills/qv-notice-generate/SKILL.md
• sdk lockstep clients: .agents/skills/qv-sdk-lockstep-sync/SKILL.md
• Docs site pipeline (Step 8): docs/website/docs-workflow.md
• Release PR branch naming (org release-* push / Merge Guard): .agents/skills/qv-sdk-pr-create/SKILL.md