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lore release

Generate release notes from your documentation corpus.

Synopsis

lore release [flags]

What Does This Do?

lore release reads your corpus and generates release notes automatically. Instead of reconstructing "what changed in v1.2.0" from memory, Lore collects every document created between two tags and groups them by type: features, bugfixes, decisions, refactors.

Analogy: Because every commit was documented as it happened, lore release just aggregates those records — turning your corpus into a structured changelog.

Real World Scenario

Friday afternoon. You're about to tag v1.2.0. Instead of writing release notes by hand (scrolling through git log, trying to remember what mattered), you let Lore generate them:

lore release --version v1.2.0

3 features, 2 bugfixes, 1 decision — all documented at commit time, now aggregated into professional release notes. 5 seconds instead of 30 minutes.

lore release

Flags

Flag Type Default Description
--from string Latest tag Start of commit range (tag or SHA)
--to string HEAD End of commit range
--version string — Version label for the release notes
--quiet bool false Output only the generated file path

How It Works

graph TD
    A[lore release --version v1.2.0] --> B[Find commit range]
    B --> C{--from specified?}
    C -->|Yes| D[Use --from as start]
    C -->|No| E[Find latest tag automatically]
    D --> F[Collect all .lore/docs between start and --to]
    E --> F
    F --> G[Group by type: features, bugfixes, decisions...]
    G --> H[Generate release-v1.2.0-date.md]
    H --> I[Update CHANGELOG.md header]
    I --> J[Update .lore/releases.json]

Output

The generated file in .lore/docs/:

# Release v1.2.0 (2026-03-16)

## Features
- Add rate limiting to API endpoints
- Add user authentication middleware

## Bug Fixes
- Fix token refresh race condition

## Decisions
- Switch to PostgreSQL for data persistence

## Refactors
- Extract auth middleware into dedicated package

Additionally: - CHANGELOG.md — Updated with a new version header at the top - .lore/releases.json — Metadata about all releases (for programmatic access)

Examples

Most Common: Release Since Last Tag

# You're on main, last tag was v1.1.0, HEAD has 15 new commits
lore release --version v1.2.0
# → Collects documents since v1.1.0
# → Generates .lore/docs/release-v1.2.0-2026-03-16.md
# → Updates CHANGELOG.md

Between Two Specific Tags

lore release --version v1.2.0 --from v1.0.0
# → Collects documents between v1.0.0 and HEAD

Quiet Mode (Scripting)

filepath=$(lore release --version v1.2.0 --quiet)
echo "Release notes at: $filepath"
# → .lore/docs/release-v1.2.0-2026-03-16.md

Typical Release Workflow

# 1. Review the corpus for coherence
lore angela review

# 2. Generate release notes
lore release --version v1.2.0

# 3. Review the generated file
lore show "release v1.2.0"

# 4. Commit the release notes
git add .lore/docs/release-*.md CHANGELOG.md
git commit -m "docs: release notes for v1.2.0"

# 5. Tag and push
git tag v1.2.0
git push origin main v1.2.0
# → GoReleaser picks up CHANGELOG.md automatically

Common Questions

"What if there are no documents in the range?"

lore release --version v1.2.0
# → Error: no documents found between v1.1.0 and HEAD
# No commits in this range were documented. Fix with: lore pending resolve

"What if I haven't tagged before?"

If no tags exist, use --from with a commit hash:

lore release --version v1.0.0 --from $(git rev-list --max-parents=0 HEAD)
# → Uses the very first commit as the start

"Does this work with GoReleaser?"

Yes. GoReleaser reads CHANGELOG.md by default. lore release updates that file. The workflow is:

  1. lore release --version v1.2.0 → updates CHANGELOG.md
  2. git tag v1.2.0 && git push --tags
  3. GoReleaser runs → reads CHANGELOG.md → creates GitHub Release with your notes

"The release doc itself — is it searchable?"

Yes. It's a normal Lore document with type: release. Find it with:

lore show --type release
lore list --type release

Tips & Tricks

  • Run before git tag — so the release notes are included in the tagged commit.
  • Run lore angela review first — catch contradictions before publishing.
  • The release document is part of the corpus — searchable with lore show --type release.
  • Pair with GoReleaser — CHANGELOG.md feeds directly into goreleaser release.
  • Automate in CI — lore release --version $TAG --quiet in your release pipeline.

Exit Codes

Code Meaning
0 Release notes generated
1 Error (no documents in range, no tags found)

See Also