release-app-store-changelog

App Store Changelog

Overview

Generate comprehensive, user-facing changelog from git history since the last tag, then translate commits into clear App Store release notes.

Workflow

1) Collect Changes

Get commits since the last tag:

# Find the last tag
git describe --tags --abbrev=0

# List commits since last tag
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --oneline

# Or with more detail
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --pretty=format:"%h %s" --no-merges

If comparing specific refs:

git log v1.2.3..HEAD --oneline --no-merges

If no tags exist:

git log --oneline --no-merges -50  # Last 50 commits

2) Triage for User Impact

Scan commits and identify user-visible changes:

Include:

New features
UI changes
Behavior changes
Bug fixes users would notice
Performance improvements with visible impact

Exclude:

Refactors
Dependency bumps
CI changes
Developer tooling
Internal logging
Analytics changes (unless affecting user privacy/behavior)

Group changes by theme:

New: New features and capabilities
Improved: Enhancements to existing features
Fixed: Bug fixes

3) Draft App Store Notes

Write short, benefit-focused bullets:

Use clear verbs and plain language
Avoid internal jargon, ticket IDs, file paths
Prefer 5-10 bullets unless user specifies different length
Each bullet: one sentence, starts with a verb

Language guidance:

Translate technical terms to user-facing descriptions
Avoid: “API”, “refactor”, “nil”, “crash log”, “dependency”
Use: “Improved”, “Added”, “Fixed”, “Updated”
Keep tense consistent (present or past)

Examples:

“Added account switching from the profile menu.”
“Improved timeline loading speed on slow connections.”
“Fixed media attachments not opening in full screen.”

4) Validate

Every bullet maps to a real change in the range
No duplicate bullets describing the same change
No internal jargon or file paths
Final list fits App Store text limits (if provided)

Output Format

What's New

• Added [feature description]
• Improved [enhancement description]
• Fixed [bug fix description]

Or with sections:

What's New in [Version]

New
• [Feature 1]
• [Feature 2]

Improved
• [Enhancement 1]

Fixed
• [Bug fix 1]
• [Bug fix 2]

Quick Commands

# Full workflow: commits since last tag with files changed
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --stat --no-merges

# Just commit messages
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --pretty=format:"- %s" --no-merges

# List all tags
git tag -l --sort=-v:refname

# Compare two specific tags
git log v1.1.0..v1.2.0 --oneline --no-merges

Tips

If a change is ambiguous, ask for clarification
Drop changes that are clearly internal-only
When in doubt, describe as “small improvement” only if user-visible
Respect storefront character limits if provided