changelog-generator

Automatically creates user-facing changelogs from git commits by analyzing commit history, categorizing changes, and transforming technical commits into clear, customer-friendly release notes. Turns hours of manual changelog writing into minutes of automated generation.

Install with Tessl CLI

npx tessl i github:davepoon/buildwithclaude --skill changelog-generator

What are skills?

1.03x

Quality

42%

Does it follow best practices?

Impact

99%

1.03x

Average score across 3 eval scenarios

Optimize this skill with Tessl

npx tessl skill review --optimize ./plugins/all-skills/skills/changelog-generator/SKILL.md

SKILL.md

Review

Evals

Discovery

50%

Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.

The description excels at explaining specific capabilities and occupies a clear niche, but critically lacks explicit trigger guidance ('Use when...') that would help Claude know when to select this skill. The marketing-style closing sentence ('Turns hours of manual changelog writing into minutes') adds fluff without improving skill selection.

Suggestions

Add an explicit 'Use when...' clause with trigger scenarios like 'Use when the user asks for changelogs, release notes, version history, or wants to summarize commits for users'

Include additional natural trigger terms users might say: 'CHANGELOG.md', 'what's new', 'version notes', 'release documentation', 'summarize changes'

Remove the marketing fluff sentence about 'hours to minutes' as it doesn't help with skill selection

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Specificity	Lists multiple specific concrete actions: 'analyzing commit history', 'categorizing changes', 'transforming technical commits into clear, customer-friendly release notes'. These are concrete, actionable capabilities.	3 / 3
Completeness	Clearly describes WHAT the skill does but completely lacks a 'Use when...' clause or any explicit trigger guidance for WHEN Claude should select this skill. Per rubric guidelines, missing explicit trigger guidance caps completeness at 2, and this has no trigger guidance at all.	1 / 3
Trigger Term Quality	Contains relevant keywords like 'changelogs', 'git commits', 'release notes', but missing common variations users might say like 'CHANGELOG.md', 'version notes', 'what's new', or 'release documentation'.	2 / 3
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk	Clear niche focused specifically on changelog generation from git commits. Distinct from general git skills, documentation skills, or commit message skills. Unlikely to conflict with other skills.	3 / 3
	Total	9 / 12 Passed

Implementation

35%

Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.

This skill reads more like a feature description or marketing document than actionable technical guidance. While it clearly explains the concept and provides a good example output, it lacks the concrete implementation details (git commands, parsing logic, filtering criteria) that would make it truly executable. The content assumes Claude will figure out the technical implementation without providing the specific patterns or code needed.

Suggestions

Add executable git commands for extracting commit history (e.g., `git log --oneline --since='7 days ago'` or `git log v2.4.0..HEAD --format='%s|%b'`)

Include concrete filtering rules or regex patterns for categorizing commits (e.g., commits starting with 'feat:', 'fix:', 'chore:' and how to handle non-conventional commits)

Provide a code example or structured algorithm for transforming technical commit messages into user-friendly language

Remove the 'When to Use This Skill' section or condense it significantly - Claude can infer appropriate use cases

Dimension	Reasoning	Score
Conciseness	The skill includes some unnecessary explanation (e.g., 'that your customers and users will actually understand and appreciate') and the 'What This Skill Does' section explains concepts Claude already understands. The 'When to Use This Skill' list is overly extensive for what is a straightforward task.	2 / 3
Actionability	The skill provides no executable code or concrete commands - only natural language prompts like 'Create a changelog from commits since last release'. There are no actual git commands, scripts, or code snippets showing how to extract commits, parse them, or format output.	1 / 3
Workflow Clarity	The 'What This Skill Does' section lists steps conceptually but lacks explicit validation checkpoints or error handling. There's no guidance on what to do if git history is malformed, commits don't follow conventions, or the repository state is unusual.	2 / 3
Progressive Disclosure	The content is reasonably organized with clear sections, but it's somewhat monolithic. References to CHANGELOG_STYLE.md are mentioned but not explained. The 'Related Use Cases' section could link to separate detailed guides rather than just listing items.	2 / 3
	Total	7 / 12 Passed

Validation

90%

Warnings & errors only

Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.

Validation — 10 / 11 Passed

Validation for skill structure

Criteria	Description	Result
frontmatter_unknown_keys	Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata	Warning

	Total	10 / 11 Passed

Reviewed: about 18 hours ago

Table of Contents

Discovery Implementation Validation

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