Skip to main content

​
Overview

Product changelog automations help keep your team and customers informed about changes without manual effort. These automations can summarize commits, generate release notes, and distribute updates across multiple channels.

​
Example 1: Daily Product Changelog Summary

Use Case: Keep your team informed about daily code changes without manual work. How it works:
  • Runs once per day at 9 AM
  • Summarizes all commits merged to main branch in the last 24 hours
  • Formats changes into “Customer facing changes” and “Internal changes”
  • Posts to #product-changelog Slack channel
Schedule: Daily at 9:00 AM Prompt Template: 
Summarize all changes merged to the main branch in the last 24 hours.

Group the changes into two sections:
1. Customer facing changes - features, bug fixes, and improvements users will notice
2. Internal changes - refactoring, infrastructure, and developer experience improvements

Use Slack Block Kit to format the message with:
- A header with today's date
- Sections for each category
- Bullet points for each change
- Link to relevant pull requests

Post the summary to the #product-changelog channel.
MCP Servers Needed: GitHub, Slack Tips:
  • Use emoji indicators (✨ for features, 🐛 for bugs, 🔧 for internal changes)
  • Include PR links for transparency
  • Skip posting if there are no changes

​
Example 2: Release Notes Generator

Use Case: Automatically generate release notes when a new tag is created. How it works:
  • Monitors for new git tags in your repository
  • Compares changes since the previous release tag
  • Generates comprehensive release notes using AI
  • Posts to multiple channels (Slack, GitHub releases)
Schedule: Hourly (checks for new tags) Prompt Template: 
Check if a new tag has been created in the repository since the last processed tag.

If a new tag exists:
1. Get all commits between the previous tag and the new tag
2. Analyze the commits and generate release notes with:
   - New features
   - Bug fixes
   - Breaking changes
   - Deprecations
   - Performance improvements

3. Format the release notes in markdown
4. Create a GitHub release with the notes
5. Post a summary to #releases Slack channel
6. Update the automation state with the latest processed tag

If no new tag exists, do nothing.
MCP Servers Needed: GitHub, Slack Advanced Features:
  • Automation state management to track the last processed tag
  • Automatic categorization of changes based on commit messages
  • Integration with Linear to link resolved issues

​
Tips for Product Changelog Automations

​
Be User-Focused

When generating changelogs, focus on the impact to end users rather than technical implementation details. Your customers care about what changed for them, not internal refactoring.

​
Use Consistent Formatting

Stick to a consistent format for changelogs across all releases. This makes it easier for users to scan and understand changes quickly.

​
Include Version Numbers

Always include version numbers or tags in release notes to help users track which version they’re running. For significant new features, include links to relevant documentation or guides to help users understand how to use the new functionality.