Changelog Skill

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[BLOCKING] Execute skill steps in declared order. NEVER skip, reorder, or merge steps without explicit user approval. [BLOCKING] Before each step or sub-skill call, update task tracking: set in_progress when step starts, set completed when step ends. [BLOCKING] Every completed/​skipped step MUST include brief evidence or explicit skip reason. [BLOCKING] If Task tools are unavailable, create and maintain an equivalent step-by-step plan tracker with the same status transitions.

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Quick Summary

Goal: Produce a Keep-a-Changelog entry under [Unreleased] by systematically reviewing file changes — telling users, in business terms citing affected logical IDs and flagging breaking changes, what changed and why it matters, NEVER what files/​classes were touched.

Workflow:

1. Gather Changes — Get changed files via git diff (PR, commit, or range mode)
2. Create Temp Notes — Build categorized review notes (Added/​Changed/​Fixed/​etc.)
3. Review Each File — Read diffs, identify business impact, categorize changes
4. Generate Entry — Write Keep-a-Changelog formatted entry under [Unreleased]
5. Cleanup — Delete temp notes file

Key Rules:

• Use business-focused language, not technical jargon (e.g., "Added pipeline management" not "Added PipelineController.cs")
• Group related changes by module/​feature, not by file
• Always insert under the [Unreleased] section; create it if missing
• Cite logical IDs + flag breaking changes (M3/​M1): See .claude/​skills/​shared/​sdd-artifact-contract.md → "AI-SDD Mandates (M1-M6)" for BLOCKING criteria. Each entry cites the logical IDs it affects (FR-/TC-, plus BR- where relevant) and a business-level change description; keep implementation jargon and class/​file names out of entry prose per docs/​project-reference/​spec-principles.md §3. Explicitly flag any breaking change with a **BREAKING:** prefix and a one-line migration/​impact note.

Be skeptical. Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence percentages (Idea should be more than 80%).

Changelog Skill

Generate business-focused changelog entries by systematically reviewing file changes.

Pre-Execution Checklist

1. Find existing CHANGELOG.md location

   • Check root: ./​CHANGELOG.md (preferred)
   • Fallback: ./​docs/​CHANGELOG.md
   • Not found: create at root

2. Read current changelog — understand format + last entries

Workflow

Step 1: Gather Changes

Determine change scope by mode:

# PR/​Branch-based (default)
git diff origin/​develop...HEAD --name-only

# Commit-based
git show {commit} --name-only

# Range-based
git diff {from}..{to} --name-only

Step 2: Create Temp Notes File

Create .ai/​workspace/​changelog-notes-{YYMMDD-HHMM}.md:

# Changelog Review Notes - {date}

## Files Changed

- [ ] file1.ts -
- [ ] file2.cs -

## Categories

### Added (new features)

-

### Changed (modifications to existing)

-

### Fixed (bug fixes)

-

### Deprecated

-

### Removed

-

### Security

-

## Business Summary

<!-- What does this mean for users? -->

Step 3: Systematic File Review

For each changed file:

1. Read file or diff
2. Identify business impact (not just technical change)
3. Check box, note in temp file
4. Categorize into appropriate section

Business Focus Guidelines:

Step 4: Holistic Review

Read temp notes file completely. Ask:

• Main feature/​fix?
• Who benefits, how?
• What can users now do they couldn't before?

Step 5: Generate Changelog Entry

Format (Keep a Changelog):

## [Unreleased]

### {Module}: {Feature Title}

**Feature/​Fix**: {One-line business description}
**Refs**: {FR-/​BR-/​TC- logical IDs affected}

#### Added

- {Business-focused item}

#### Changed

- {What behavior changed}

#### Fixed

- {What issue was resolved}

#### Breaking

- **BREAKING:** {what changed} — {migration/​impact note}

If no breaking change: omit the #### Breaking block. Cite logical IDs in **Refs**; keep class/​file names out of all entry prose.

Step 6: Update Changelog

1. Read existing CHANGELOG.md
2. Insert new entry under [Unreleased] section
3. No [Unreleased] section → create it after header
4. Preserve existing entries

Step 7: Cleanup

Delete temp notes file: .ai/​workspace/​changelog-notes-*.md

Grouping Strategy

Group related changes by module/​feature:

### Your Service: Order Pipeline Management

**Feature**: Customizable order pipeline/​stage management.

#### Added

**Backend**:

- Entities: Pipeline, Stage, PipelineStage
- Controllers: PipelineController, StageController
- Commands: SavePipelineCommand, DeletePipelineCommand

**Frontend**:

- Pages: order-pipeline-page
- Components: pipeline-filter, pipeline-stage-display

Anti-Patterns

1. ❌ Creating new changelog in docs/ when root exists
2. ❌ Skipping file review (leads to missed changes)
3. ❌ Technical jargon without business context
4. ❌ Forgetting to delete temp notes file
5. ❌ Not using [Unreleased] section
6. ❌ Listing every file instead of grouping by feature

Examples

Good Entry

### Your Service: Order Pipeline Management

**Feature**: Customizable order pipeline/​stage management for fulfillment workflows.

#### Added

- Drag-and-drop pipeline stage builder with default templates
- Stage categories (Created, Confirmed, Packed, Shipped, Delivered, Cancelled)
- Pipeline duplication for quick setup
- Multi-language stage names (EN/​VI)

#### Changed

- Order cards now show current pipeline stage
- Order creation wizard includes pipeline selection

Bad Entry (Too Technical)

### Pipeline Changes

#### Added

- Pipeline.cs entity
- StageCategory enum
- PipelineController
- SavePipelineCommand
- 20251216000000_MigrateDefaultStages migration

Reference

See references/​keep-a-changelog-format.md for format specification.

Related

• documentation
• release-notes
• commit

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Workflow Recommendation

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION — NO EXCEPTIONS: If you are NOT already in a workflow, you MUST ATTENTION use AskUserQuestion to ask the user. Do NOT judge task complexity or decide this is "simple enough to skip" — the user decides whether to use a workflow, not you:

1. Activate workflow-feature workflow (Recommended) — scout → investigate → plan → cook → review → changelog
2. Execute /​changelog directly — run this skill standalone

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Next Steps

MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION — NO EXCEPTIONS after completing this skill, you MUST ATTENTION use AskUserQuestion to present these options. Do NOT skip because the task seems "simple" or "obvious" — the user decides:

• "/​test (Recommended)" — Run tests after changelog update
• "/​docs-update" — Update docs if needed
• "Skip, continue manually" — user decides

[IMPORTANT] Use TaskCreate to break ALL work into small tasks BEFORE starting — including tasks for each file read. This prevents context loss from long files. For simple tasks, AI MUST ATTENTION ask user whether to skip.

External Memory: For complex or lengthy work (research, analysis, scan, review), write intermediate findings and final results to a report file in plans/​reports/ — prevents context loss and serves as deliverable.

Evidence Gate: MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION — every claim, finding, and recommendation requires file:line proof or traced evidence with confidence percentage (>80% to act, <80% must verify first).

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AI Mistake Prevention — Failure modes to avoid on every task:

Check downstream references before deleting. Deleting components causes documentation and code staleness cascades. Map all referencing files before removal. Verify AI-generated content against actual code. AI hallucinates APIs, class names, and method signatures. Always grep to confirm existence before documenting or referencing. Trace full dependency chain after edits. Changing a definition misses downstream variables and consumers derived from it. Always trace the full chain. Trace ALL code paths when verifying correctness. Confirming code exists is not confirming it executes. Always trace early exits, error branches, and conditional skips — not just happy path. When debugging, ask "whose responsibility?" before fixing. Trace whether bug is in caller (wrong data) or callee (wrong handling). Fix at responsible layer — never patch symptom site. Assume existing values are intentional — ask WHY before changing. Before changing any constant, limit, flag, or pattern: read comments, check git blame, examine surrounding code. Verify ALL affected outputs, not just the first. Changes touching multiple stacks require verifying EVERY output. One green check is not all green checks. Holistic-first debugging — resist nearest-attention trap. When investigating any failure, list EVERY precondition first (config, env vars, DB names, endpoints, DI registrations, data preconditions), then verify each against evidence before forming any code-layer hypothesis. Surgical changes — apply the diff test. Bug fix: every changed line must trace directly to the bug. Don't restyle or improve adjacent code. Enhancement task: implement improvements AND announce them explicitly. Surface ambiguity before coding — don't pick silently. If request has multiple interpretations, present each with effort estimate and ask. Never assume all-records, file-based, or more complex path. Keep domain concepts out of generic/​shared/​infrastructure layers. A reusable layer (shared library, framework, infra module) must reference NO consumer-specific domain concept — tenant/​customer/​product IDs, business entities, feature rules. The leak compiles and runs, so it passes review silently while coupling the "reusable" layer to one consumer. Push domain fields/​logic down into the consumer via subclass or composition.

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Critical Thinking Mindset — Apply critical thinking, sequential thinking. Every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act. Anti-hallucination: Never present guess as fact — cite sources for every claim, admit uncertainty freely, self-check output for errors, cross-reference independently, stay skeptical of own confidence — certainty without evidence root of all hallucination.

<!-- /​SYNC:critical-thinking-mindset --> <!-- SYNC:project-reference-docs-guide -->

Project Reference Docs Gate — Run after task-tracking bootstrap and before target/​source file reads, grep, edits, or analysis. Project docs override generic framework assumptions.

1. Identify scope: file types, domain area, and operation.
2. Required docs by trigger: always docs/​project-reference/​lessons.md; doc lookup docs-index-reference.md; review code-review-rules.md; backend/​CQRS/​API backend-patterns-reference.md; domain/​entity domain-entities-reference.md; frontend/​UI frontend-patterns-reference.md; styles/​design scss-styling-guide.md + design-system/​design-system-canonical.md; integration tests integration-test-reference.md; E2E e2e-test-reference.md; feature docs/​specs feature-spec-reference.md + spec-system-reference.md + spec-principles.md; behavior/​public-contract/​spec-test-code sync workflow-spec-test-code-cycle-reference.md; derived spec index/​ERD/​reimplementation guides spec-system-reference.md + source Feature Specs under docs/​specs/; architecture/​new area project-structure-reference.md.
3. Read every required doc. If docs/​project-config.json, the docs index, lessons.md, CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, or any task-required reference doc is missing or stale, auto-run /​project-init or the narrow lower-level route (/​project-config, /​docs-init, /​scan-all, /​scan --target=<key>, /​claude-md-init) before ordinary project-specific work. If Codex mirrors or AGENTS.md are missing/​stale, ask the user to run /​sync-codex; do not auto-run it.
4. Before target work, state: Reference docs read: ... | Not applicable: ....

Ready when: scope evaluated, required docs checked/​read or setup route completed, lessons.md confirmed, citation emitted.

<!-- /​SYNC:project-reference-docs-guide --> <!-- SYNC:critical-thinking-mindset:reminder -->

MUST ATTENTION apply critical thinking — every claim needs traced proof, confidence >80% to act. Anti-hallucination: never present guess as fact.

<!-- /​SYNC:critical-thinking-mindset:reminder --> <!-- SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention:reminder -->

MUST ATTENTION apply AI mistake prevention — holistic-first debugging, fix at responsible layer, surface ambiguity before coding, re-read files after compaction.

<!-- /​SYNC:ai-mistake-prevention:reminder --> <!-- SYNC:project-reference-docs-guide:reminder -->

• MANDATORY After task-tracking bootstrap and before target/​source work, read required project-reference docs and cite Reference docs read: ....
• MANDATORY Always include lessons.md; project conventions override generic defaults.
• MANDATORY If project config, root instruction files, or any required reference doc is missing, stop and run or ask the user to run /​project-init.

<!-- /​SYNC:project-reference-docs-guide:reminder --> <!-- PROMPT-ENHANCE:STEP-TASK-CLOSING:START -->

Prompt-Enhance Closing Anchors

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION follow declared step order for this skill; NEVER skip, reorder, or merge steps without explicit user approval IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION for every step/​sub-skill call: set in_progress before execution, set completed after execution IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION every skipped step MUST include explicit reason; every completed step MUST include concise evidence IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION if Task tools unavailable, maintain an equivalent step-by-step plan tracker with synchronized statuses

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Closing Reminders

IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION Goal: Produce a Keep-a-Changelog entry under [Unreleased] that tells users — in business terms, citing affected logical IDs and flagging breaking changes — what changed and why it matters, NEVER what files/​classes were touched. MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION use business-focused language, group by module/​feature, cite FR-/BR-/TC- logical IDs, flag breaking changes with **BREAKING:** — why: changelog readers track impact, not implementation. MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION always insert under [Unreleased]; create it if missing; delete the temp notes file when done. MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION break work into small todo tasks using TaskCreate BEFORE starting. MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION validate decisions with user via AskUserQuestion — never auto-decide. MANDATORY IMPORTANT MUST ATTENTION add a final review todo task to verify work quality.

[TASK-PLANNING] Before acting, analyze task scope and systematically break it into small todo tasks and sub-tasks using TaskCreate.

[IMPORTANT] Analyze how big the task is and break it into many small todo tasks systematically before starting — this is very important.