generator-release-notes

Generates release notes text for providers and notification hooks.

This plugin is distributed as the standalone Go binary semrel-plugin-generator-release-notes. Semrel executes the binary as a subprocess, provides plugin configuration through SEMREL_PLUGIN_* environment variables, provides release context through SEMREL_* environment variables, reads standard output, and treats exit code 0 as success and any non-zero exit code as failure. Install the binary in ~/.semrel/plugins/ or anywhere on your $PATH.

Installation

Binary

go install github.com/SemRels/generator-release-notes/cmd/plugin@latest

Docker

Pre-built, multi-platform images (linux/amd64, linux/arm64) are published to the GitHub Container Registry on every release:

docker pull ghcr.io/semrels/generator-release-notes:latest

Images are signed with cosign and include a full SBOM attestation. Verify the signature:

cosign verify ghcr.io/semrels/generator-release-notes:latest \
  --certificate-identity-regexp 'https://github.com/SemRels/generator-release-notes/.github/workflows/release.yml.*' \
  --certificate-oidc-issuer https://token.actions.githubusercontent.com

Configuration

plugins:
  - name: generator-release-notes
    path: ~/.semrel/plugins/semrel-plugin-generator-release-notes
    env:
      SEMREL_PLUGIN_TEMPLATE: ".semrel/templates/release-notes.tmpl"
      SEMREL_PLUGIN_MAX_COMMITS: "50"
      SEMREL_PLUGIN_INCLUDE_BODY: "false"

SEMREL_PLUGIN_* variables

Name	Required	Description	Default
SEMREL_PLUGIN_TEMPLATE	Optional	Path to a custom template file.	Built-in template
SEMREL_PLUGIN_MAX_COMMITS	Optional	Maximum number of commits to include.	50
SEMREL_PLUGIN_INCLUDE_BODY	Optional	Include full commit bodies in the generated notes.	false
SEMREL_PLUGIN_SIGNATURE	Optional	Append an opt-in footer line linking to semrel.io after the generated release notes output.	false

SEMREL_* release context used

Variable	Description
SEMREL_VERSION	Resolved release version for the current run.
SEMREL_TAG_NAME	Git tag name semrel will create or publish.
SEMREL_NEXT_VERSION	Next version computed by semrel for the release.
SEMREL_CURRENT_VERSION	Current version before the new release is applied.
SEMREL_BRANCH	Git branch associated with the current release run.

Example behavior

The plugin renders release notes text that can be published by provider plugins or reused in notifications.

Set SEMREL_PLUGIN_SIGNATURE=true to append this footer after the generated notes:

---
*Generated by [semrel.io](https://semrel.io)*

License

Apache-2.0