launch-release
launch-release is the release-level counterpart to
launch-feature. Given a release (a single tag, a tag range, or
one or more RM IDs), it generates the announcement kit for
existing users: the channels that make sense for a versioned
release rather than a single feature.
What ships in a release kit
| Artefact | Channel |
|---|---|
| Landing-page HTML | Public-facing release announcement |
| Plain release notes | Email-ready, no formatting |
| Theme snapshot | The visual theme picked for this release |
email.md | Newsletter to existing customers |
slack.md / discord.md | Community / customer channels |
banner.html | In-app announcement banner (HTML snippet) |
status-page.md | Status-page maintenance / feature entry |
x.md | X / Twitter thread |
whatsapp.md | WhatsApp broadcast copy |
deck.md | 5–7 slide deck outline for internal demo |
The team picks which channels go live; the skill produces them all.
Themes
Release announcements benefit from a thread that ties the kit together — a visual + copy theme that makes the release feel like an event rather than a list of CHANGELOG entries.
The skill ships with a small set of preset themes (e.g., “speed”, “quality”, “developer-experience”) and can synthesise a custom theme on demand via the frontend-design skill. The theme picks:
- A name and tagline for the release
- A visual style (colour palette, illustration direction) the banner and landing page use
- A voice register for the copy across channels
The same theme runs through every artefact so the release lands as one coherent message rather than nine disjoint posts.
Source of truth
The kit is generated from:
- The commit messages and CHANGELOG entries in the release range
- The linked RMs and specs for the features included
- The team’s previous release announcements (for voice continuity)
The agent doesn’t make up features — if a CHANGELOG entry is vague, the kit’s wording will reflect that. Tight CHANGELOG entries produce sharp announcements.
When NOT to use it
- Hotfix releases. The kit is overkill — a single status-page entry is enough.
- Pre-1.0 releases. The audience is usually the team itself; a Slack post and a deck outline are sufficient.
- Releases with nothing user-visible. Internal-only releases
(refactors, infrastructure) don’t need an announcement —
invoking
launch-releaseon one of those will produce a thin kit that flags the lack of user-facing changes.
Approval-gated
Like launch-feature, the skill drafts; it doesn’t publish. The
team reviews and ships through whatever publishing tools they
already use. The marketer role has tools: forbidding publishing
APIs — the discipline is built into the role.