fix: Add commit-based release notes to GitHub releases (#355)

Add commit-based release notes generation to GitHub releases.

This PR updates the release workflow to generate release notes from git commits instead of extracting from CHANGELOG.md. The new system:
- Automatically detects the previous tag for comparison
- Categorizes commits using conventional commit types
- Includes commit hashes and contributor statistics
- Handles first release scenario gracefully

Related: #362 (test architecture refactoring)

Conceived by Romuald Członkowski - www.aiadvisors.pl/en

.github/workflows/release.yml

@@ -112,33 +112,47 @@ jobs:
 
           echo "✅ Version $CURRENT_VERSION is valid (higher than npm version $NPM_VERSION)"
 
-  extract-changelog:
+  generate-release-notes:
-    name: Extract Changelog
+    name: Generate Release Notes
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
     needs: detect-version-change
     if: needs.detect-version-change.outputs.version-changed == 'true'
     outputs:
-      release-notes: ${{ steps.extract.outputs.notes }}
+      release-notes: ${{ steps.generate.outputs.notes }}
-      has-notes: ${{ steps.extract.outputs.has-notes }}
+      has-notes: ${{ steps.generate.outputs.has-notes }}
     steps:
       - name: Checkout repository
         uses: actions/checkout@v4
+        with:
+          fetch-depth: 0  # Need full history for git log
 
-      - name: Extract changelog for version
+      - name: Generate release notes from commits
-        id: extract
+        id: generate
         run: |
-          VERSION="${{ needs.detect-version-change.outputs.new-version }}"
+          CURRENT_VERSION="${{ needs.detect-version-change.outputs.new-version }}"
-          CHANGELOG_FILE="docs/CHANGELOG.md"
+          CURRENT_TAG="v$CURRENT_VERSION"
 
-          if [ ! -f "$CHANGELOG_FILE" ]; then
+          # Get the previous tag (excluding the current tag which doesn't exist yet)
-            echo "Changelog file not found at $CHANGELOG_FILE"
+          PREVIOUS_TAG=$(git tag --sort=-version:refname | grep -v "^$CURRENT_TAG$" | head -1)
-            echo "has-notes=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
-            echo "notes=No changelog entries found for version $VERSION" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+          echo "Current version: $CURRENT_VERSION"
-            exit 0
+          echo "Current tag: $CURRENT_TAG"
-          fi
+          echo "Previous tag: $PREVIOUS_TAG"
+
+          if [ -z "$PREVIOUS_TAG" ]; then
+            echo "ℹ️ No previous tag found, this might be the first release"
+
+            # Get all commits up to current commit
+            NOTES="### 🎉 Initial Release
+
+This is the initial release of n8n-mcp v$CURRENT_VERSION.
+
+---
+
+**Release Statistics:**
+- Commit count: $(git rev-list --count HEAD)
+- First release setup"
 
-          # Use the extracted changelog script
-          if NOTES=$(node scripts/extract-changelog.js "$VERSION" "$CHANGELOG_FILE" 2>/dev/null); then
             echo "has-notes=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
 
             # Use heredoc to properly handle multiline content
@@ -148,17 +162,32 @@ jobs:
               echo "EOF"
             } >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
 
-            echo "✅ Successfully extracted changelog for version $VERSION"
+          else
+            echo "✅ Previous tag found: $PREVIOUS_TAG"
+
+            # Generate release notes between tags
+            if NOTES=$(node scripts/generate-release-notes.js "$PREVIOUS_TAG" "HEAD" 2>/dev/null); then
+              echo "has-notes=true" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+              # Use heredoc to properly handle multiline content
+              {
+                echo "notes<<EOF"
+                echo "$NOTES"
+                echo "EOF"
+              } >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+
+              echo "✅ Successfully generated release notes from $PREVIOUS_TAG to $CURRENT_TAG"
             else
               echo "has-notes=false" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-            echo "notes=No changelog entries found for version $VERSION" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
+              echo "notes=Failed to generate release notes for version $CURRENT_VERSION" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT
-            echo "⚠️ Could not extract changelog for version $VERSION"
+              echo "⚠️ Could not generate release notes for version $CURRENT_VERSION"
+            fi
           fi
 
   create-release:
     name: Create GitHub Release
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: [detect-version-change, extract-changelog]
+    needs: [detect-version-change, generate-release-notes]
     if: needs.detect-version-change.outputs.version-changed == 'true'
     outputs:
       release-id: ${{ steps.create.outputs.id }}
@@ -189,7 +218,7 @@ jobs:
           cat > release_body.md << 'EOF'
           # Release v${{ needs.detect-version-change.outputs.new-version }}
           
-          ${{ needs.extract-changelog.outputs.release-notes }}
+          ${{ needs.generate-release-notes.outputs.release-notes }}
           
           ---
           

scripts/generate-release-notes.js

@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env node
+
+/**
+ * Generate release notes from commit messages between two tags
+ * Used by GitHub Actions to create automated release notes
+ */
+
+const { execSync } = require('child_process');
+const fs = require('fs');
+const path = require('path');
+
+function generateReleaseNotes(previousTag, currentTag) {
+  try {
+    console.log(`Generating release notes from ${previousTag} to ${currentTag}`);
+
+    // Get commits between tags
+    const gitLogCommand = `git log --pretty=format:"%H|%s|%an|%ae|%ad" --date=short --no-merges ${previousTag}..${currentTag}`;
+    const commitsOutput = execSync(gitLogCommand, { encoding: 'utf8' });
+
+    if (!commitsOutput.trim()) {
+      console.log('No commits found between tags');
+      return 'No changes in this release.';
+    }
+
+    const commits = commitsOutput.trim().split('\n').map(line => {
+      const [hash, subject, author, email, date] = line.split('|');
+      return { hash, subject, author, email, date };
+    });
+
+    // Categorize commits
+    const categories = {
+      'feat': { title: '✨ Features', commits: [] },
+      'fix': { title: '🐛 Bug Fixes', commits: [] },
+      'docs': { title: '📚 Documentation', commits: [] },
+      'refactor': { title: '♻️ Refactoring', commits: [] },
+      'test': { title: '🧪 Testing', commits: [] },
+      'perf': { title: '⚡ Performance', commits: [] },
+      'style': { title: '💅 Styling', commits: [] },
+      'ci': { title: '🔧 CI/CD', commits: [] },
+      'build': { title: '📦 Build', commits: [] },
+      'chore': { title: '🔧 Maintenance', commits: [] },
+      'other': { title: '📝 Other Changes', commits: [] }
+    };
+
+    commits.forEach(commit => {
+      const subject = commit.subject.toLowerCase();
+      let categorized = false;
+
+      // Check for conventional commit prefixes
+      for (const [prefix, category] of Object.entries(categories)) {
+        if (prefix !== 'other' && subject.startsWith(`${prefix}:`)) {
+          category.commits.push(commit);
+          categorized = true;
+          break;
+        }
+      }
+
+      // If not categorized, put in other
+      if (!categorized) {
+        categories.other.commits.push(commit);
+      }
+    });
+
+    // Generate release notes
+    const releaseNotes = [];
+
+    for (const [key, category] of Object.entries(categories)) {
+      if (category.commits.length > 0) {
+        releaseNotes.push(`### ${category.title}`);
+        releaseNotes.push('');
+
+        category.commits.forEach(commit => {
+          // Clean up the subject by removing the prefix if it exists
+          let cleanSubject = commit.subject;
+          const colonIndex = cleanSubject.indexOf(':');
+          if (colonIndex !== -1 && cleanSubject.substring(0, colonIndex).match(/^(feat|fix|docs|refactor|test|perf|style|ci|build|chore)$/)) {
+            cleanSubject = cleanSubject.substring(colonIndex + 1).trim();
+            // Capitalize first letter
+            cleanSubject = cleanSubject.charAt(0).toUpperCase() + cleanSubject.slice(1);
+          }
+
+          releaseNotes.push(`- ${cleanSubject} (${commit.hash.substring(0, 7)})`);
+        });
+
+        releaseNotes.push('');
+      }
+    }
+
+    // Add commit statistics
+    const totalCommits = commits.length;
+    const contributors = [...new Set(commits.map(c => c.author))];
+
+    releaseNotes.push('---');
+    releaseNotes.push('');
+    releaseNotes.push(`**Release Statistics:**`);
+    releaseNotes.push(`- ${totalCommits} commit${totalCommits !== 1 ? 's' : ''}`);
+    releaseNotes.push(`- ${contributors.length} contributor${contributors.length !== 1 ? 's' : ''}`);
+
+    if (contributors.length <= 5) {
+      releaseNotes.push(`- Contributors: ${contributors.join(', ')}`);
+    }
+
+    return releaseNotes.join('\n');
+
+  } catch (error) {
+    console.error(`Error generating release notes: ${error.message}`);
+    return `Failed to generate release notes: ${error.message}`;
+  }
+}
+
+// Parse command line arguments
+const previousTag = process.argv[2];
+const currentTag = process.argv[3];
+
+if (!previousTag || !currentTag) {
+  console.error('Usage: generate-release-notes.js <previous-tag> <current-tag>');
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+
+const releaseNotes = generateReleaseNotes(previousTag, currentTag);
+console.log(releaseNotes);