PM Changelog Curator (Dispatch Skill)

Try it: /pm-skills:utility-pm-changelog-curator "Your context here"

Cross-client dispatch wrapper for the pm-changelog-curator sub-agent. Detects runtime; dispatches to the native sub-agent on Claude Code; reads agents/pm-changelog-curator.md and executes inline on non-Claude clients.

When to Use

You are preparing a release and want a CHANGELOG draft from git log between two tags
You are running on a non-Claude AI client without native pm-changelog-curator sub-agent support
You want a draft that respects pm-skills CHANGELOG hygiene rules (no internal-notes references, no em-dashes, public paths only) without manually applying them

When NOT to Use

You want to commit CHANGELOG entries directly (this skill produces a draft for review, not a commit)
You want to review a PM artifact -> use utility-pm-critic instead
You want a repo-wide governance audit -> use utility-pm-skill-auditor
You want a full guided release flow -> use utility-pm-release-conductor (which chains to this skill at gate G2)

How to Use

Invoke the skill by name (/pm-skills:utility-pm-changelog-curator on Claude Code, $utility-pm-changelog-curator on Codex):

/pm-skills:utility-pm-changelog-curator "Your context here"

Or reference the skill file directly: skills/utility-pm-changelog-curator/SKILL.md

Instructions

Runtime detection step. Determine which AI client is invoking this skill.

If you are running in Claude Code with the pm-skills plugin installed

Invoke @agent-pm-skills:pm-changelog-curator with the user’s arguments. Pass --since-tag, --target-version, --committed-only from $ARGUMENTS if present. Return the sub-agent’s draft to the user.

If you are running in any other AI client

Codex CLI, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot, Gemini CLI, or any other client without native pm-skills plugin sub-agent support:

Read the canonical sub-agent definition at agents/pm-changelog-curator.md
Execute the system prompt body in that file as your operating instructions
Run the 8-step drafting flow documented in the sub-agent definition (establish range -> read hygiene rules -> check working tree -> enumerate commits -> classify -> group -> rewrite -> determine target version -> emit draft)
Apply --since-tag, --target-version, and --committed-only arguments from $ARGUMENTS
Return the layered output per master plan D26 (full CHANGELOG draft + Status Summary + Status YAML)

Cross-Client Notes

The dispatch skill requires the AI client to:

Execute Bash for git log, git describe, and git status invocations
Read CLAUDE.md hygiene rules and existing CHANGELOG.md format reference
Read the canonical sub-agent definition file
Treat the agent body as operating instructions

See Sub-Agent Compatibility Matrix for the canonical cross-client status. Summary for this skill as of v2.16.0: PRODUCTION on Claude Code + Codex CLI (Codex CLI successfully ran git log + read CLAUDE.md hygiene rules + drafted clean CHANGELOG entries + correct dirty-tree refusal); EXPERIMENTAL on Cursor / Windsurf / Copilot CLI / Gemini CLI. If a client is unreliable, fall back to manual git log + manual drafting using CLAUDE.md as the hygiene reference.

Reference Files

Canonical sub-agent definition: agents/pm-changelog-curator.md
Behavioral spec: docs/internal/release-plans/v2.16.0/spec_pm-changelog-curator.md
CHANGELOG hygiene rules source: CLAUDE.md (repo root)
Existing CHANGELOG.md format: CHANGELOG.md (root); v2.15.1 + v2.15.2 entries are canonical exemplars
Runtime components catalog: docs/reference/runtime-components.md
Output template: references/TEMPLATE.md
Worked example: references/EXAMPLE.md

Output Template

utility-pm-changelog-curator produces a three-section layered output per master plan D26.

Section 1: Full CHANGELOG Draft

## [v{X.Y.Z}] - {YYYY-MM-DD}

### Added
- **{Item title}** description in plain English per hygiene rule 1 (what changed, not where it lives). References per hygiene rule 2 (public paths only). <!-- justification: {commit refs and classification reasoning} -->

### Changed
- **{Item title}** description. <!-- justification: ... -->

### Deprecated
- (omit section if empty)

### Removed
- (omit section if empty)

### Fixed
- **{Item title}** description. <!-- justification: ... -->

### Security
- **{Item title}** description with CVE / Dependabot alert reference. <!-- justification: ... -->

### Known Limitations
- (release-state caveats; e.g., GATE B pending status, deferred items)

Section ordering follows Keep-a-Changelog convention. Empty sections are omitted from the draft.

Section 2: Status Summary (Prose, for Human Readers)

## Status Summary

Drafted v{X.Y.Z} entries from {N} commits since v{prev}. {A} Added, {B} Changed, {C} Fixed, {S} Security{, {D} Deprecated, {R} Removed if non-zero}.

Highlights:
- {Top 2-3 user-facing items by impact}

Hidden justification comments are included after each entry for maintainer audit. Strip these comments before final commit per pm-release-conductor G2 sub-check 8 (the conductor does this automatically when chained).

**Recommended next action:** {explicit recommendation - review and edit; strip comments and commit; refuse and address; etc.}

**Refusal triggered:** {yes/no with reason if yes}.

Section 3: Status YAML (Machine-Parseable, for Parent Sub-Agent or Tooling)

## Status

```yaml
status: draft | refused
target_version: v{X.Y.Z}
since_tag: v{prev}
commits_processed: {integer}
entries_added: {integer}
entries_changed: {integer}
entries_fixed: {integer}
entries_removed: {integer}
entries_security: {integer}
entries_deprecated: {integer}
dirty_tree_warning: true | false
refusal_reason: null | "non-existent tag" | "empty range" | "CLAUDE.md unreadable" | "dirty working tree"

dispatch:
  mode: native-subagent | inline-execution
  client: claude-code | codex-cli | cursor | windsurf | copilot | gemini-cli | other
```

Hygiene Rule Checklist (Applied by Sub-Agent / Dispatch Skill)

Every drafted entry MUST comply with CLAUDE.md hygiene rules:

No em-dashes. Use ” - ”, ”:”, ”,”, or sentence break
No Claude attribution trailers. No “Generated with Claude” or “Co-Authored-By: Claude” footers
No internal-notes references. No _NOTES/, no AGENTS/SESSION-LOG/, no docs/internal/efforts/, no docs/internal/release-plans/
Public-path framing. Describe what changed; do not reference internal-only file paths
Keep-a-Changelog section headers. Added / Changed / Deprecated / Removed / Fixed / Security
ISO date format. YYYY-MM-DD in release header
Hidden justification comments for maintainer audit; stripped before final commit

Chained Handoff Notes

When invoked from pm-release-conductor at gate G2 (Version bump + CHANGELOG prep):

All three sections MUST be present
The conductor parses Section 3 YAML for advancement decisions
The maintainer reads Sections 1 + 2 to review the draft
If status: refused, conductor surfaces Section 2 refusal narrative
If dirty_tree_warning: true, conductor surfaces a warning to the maintainer (not necessarily blocking, but the maintainer should know)

Canonical sub-agent: agents/pm-changelog-curator.md
Worked example: EXAMPLE.md
Behavioral spec: docs/internal/release-plans/v2.16.0/spec_pm-changelog-curator.md

Example Output

Example: pm-changelog-curator Dispatch on Windsurf

This example shows utility-pm-changelog-curator execution on a non-Claude client (Windsurf). The dispatch skill reads agents/pm-changelog-curator.md and executes the 8-step drafting flow inline.

Invocation

windsurf> /utility-pm-changelog-curator --since-tag v2.15.2 --target-version v2.16.0

Skill behavior

Runtime detection. Detects Windsurf (not Claude Code with pm-skills plugin); takes non-Claude branch.
Reads canonical sub-agent definition. Loads agents/pm-changelog-curator.md as operating instructions.
Step 1 of agent flow: establish range. Honors --since-tag v2.15.2 and --target-version v2.16.0 from arguments.
Step 2: read hygiene rules. Reads CLAUDE.md “CHANGELOG Best Practices” section.
Step 3: check working tree. Working tree clean (no uncommitted changes); proceeds.
Step 4: enumerate commits. Runs git log v2.15.2..HEAD --pretty=format:'%h %s' --name-only.
Step 5-7: classify, group, rewrite. Applies classification rules per CLAUDE.md hygiene.
Step 8: emit draft. Returns the three-section layered output below.

Output (verbatim from dispatch skill execution)

pm-changelog-curator draft

[v2.16.0] - 2026-MM-DD

Added

Sub-agents (new component class): four Claude Code plugin sub-agents at agents/ plus matching dispatch skills at skills/utility-pm-{role}/ for cross-client access. pm-critic runs adversarial review proactively after PM-artifact-producing skills; pm-skill-auditor runs repo-wide cross-cutting governance audits; pm-changelog-curator drafts CHANGELOG entries from git log applying hygiene rules; pm-release-conductor walks a 6-gate guided release runbook with chain composition. See docs/reference/runtime-components.md.
Adversarial review user guide at docs/guides/adversarial-review.md with severity grammar examples and skill-revise-recheck loop documentation.
Release runbook contributor guide at docs/contributing/release-runbook.md documenting the 6-gate flow (G0, G1, G2, G2.5, G3, G4).
Runtime components catalog at docs/reference/runtime-components.md cataloging sub-agents (4 entries), hooks (empty placeholder), output styles (empty placeholder).
12 sub-agent library samples across 3 narrative threads (brainshelf, storevine, workbench).

Changed

Astro 5.13.x to 6.x doc-stack upgrade. Requires Node 22.12+. Closes 2 Dependabot alerts deferred from v2.14.x.
CI workflows bumped to Node 22.12+ across 5 workflows.

Fixed

Design Sprint family validator metadata-shape checks promoted from advisory to strict. Family contract enforcement now fails CI on metadata-shape issues.

Security

Astro define:vars XSS patched via 6.1.6 upgrade.
Astro server-island replay patched via 6.1.10 upgrade.

Known Limitations

Cross-client dispatch skills (4 in v2.16.0) ship PENDING maintainer verification on non-Claude clients (Codex CLI, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot, Gemini CLI). If GATE B from Phase 2 of subagents-integration-plan fails on a specific client, manual fallback applies.

Status Summary

Drafted v2.16.0 entries from 50 commits since v2.15.2. 5 Added, 2 Changed, 1 Fixed, 2 Security, 1 Known Limitations.

Highlights:

4 sub-agents shipped as the new component class (strategic milestone of v2.16.0)
Astro 6 upgrade closes 2 Dependabot alerts deferred from v2.14.x
DS family validator metadata-shape promoted to strict

Hidden justification comments are included after each entry for maintainer audit. Strip these comments before final commit per pm-release-conductor G2 sub-check 8.

Recommended next action: Maintainer reviews the draft, edits framing as needed (especially “Known Limitations” wording around GATE B status), strips justification comments, then commits.

Refusal triggered: no.

Status

status: draft
target_version: v2.16.0
since_tag: v2.15.2
commits_processed: 50
entries_added: 5
entries_changed: 2
entries_fixed: 1
entries_removed: 0
entries_security: 2
entries_deprecated: 0
dirty_tree_warning: false
refusal_reason: null

dispatch:
  mode: inline-execution
  client: windsurf

Notes on This Example

The dispatch skill on Windsurf produces output structurally identical to the Claude Code native sub-agent on the same commit range. Cross-client consistency is the validation criterion for Phase 2 GATE B.

For the example’s role: this is the canonical worked example for the dispatch skill. Other examples may live in library/skill-output-samples/utility-pm-changelog-curator/ once that directory is populated (deferred to v2.17 per audit finding F-02 from the pm-skill-auditor sample).

Canonical sub-agent: agents/pm-changelog-curator.md
Skill manifest: SKILL.md
Output template: TEMPLATE.md
v2.15.1 + v2.15.2 CHANGELOG entries: CHANGELOG.md (root, canonical exemplars)

PM Changelog Curator (Dispatch Skill)

When to Use

When NOT to Use

How to Use

Instructions

If you are running in Claude Code with the pm-skills plugin installed

If you are running in any other AI client

Cross-Client Notes

Reference Files

Output Template

Output Template

Section 1: Full CHANGELOG Draft

Section 2: Status Summary (Prose, for Human Readers)

Section 3: Status YAML (Machine-Parseable, for Parent Sub-Agent or Tooling)

Hygiene Rule Checklist (Applied by Sub-Agent / Dispatch Skill)

Chained Handoff Notes

Related Files

Example Output

Example: pm-changelog-curator Dispatch on Windsurf

Invocation

Skill behavior

Output (verbatim from dispatch skill execution)

pm-changelog-curator draft

[v2.16.0] - 2026-MM-DD

Added

Changed

Fixed

Security

Known Limitations

Status Summary

Status

Notes on This Example

Related Files