Happier Release Notes

This skill owns only source-coupled release-note mechanics: the canonical changelog section schema, bounded-channel projection, StoryDeck cards, translations, assets, and generation. It does not choose release scope, group changes, write editorial prose, recommend patch/minor/major, approve content, or dispatch a release.

For those decisions, start with the private maintainer release authority:

hmaint release bootstrap --repo <absolute checkout> --json

Read first

1. Read apps/ui/release-notes/README.md and apps/ui/release-notes/releases/README.md.
2. Inspect apps/ui/sources/changelog/releaseNotes/types.ts and apps/ui/sources/components/ui/storyDeck/storyDeckCardLimits.ts before changing card data or limits.
3. If UI behavior changes, use the canonical UI testkit and TDD.

Canonical changelog and bounded projections

apps/ui/CHANGELOG.md is the single authored authority for one release's public Markdown and exact bounded channel text. Put this JSON comment at the start of the matching ## Release <project-release-id> - <date> section. The project release ID is a unique lowercase identifier such as 2026-08-09.1, independent of every component version. Use the date plus an ordinal, increase the ordinal for another candidate on that date, and keep the same ID from preview through stable. The heading is the only authored source; a workflow input only selects and verifies it:

<!-- happier-release-note-projections:v1
{
  "expo": { "message": "Approved Expo text." },
  "appStore": { "whatsNew": "Approved App Store text." },
  "playStore": { "whatsNew": "Approved Play Store text." },
  "storyDeck": { "summary": "Approved StoryDeck text." }
}
-->

## Public heading

Approved public Markdown follows here.

The comment is removed from the GitHub/rolling Markdown projection. The script publishes every bounded string exactly as authored—there is no truncation, translation, synthesis, or AI rewrite. Expo is the currently consumed required projection. App Store, Play Store, and StoryDeck projections are optional until the selected release surfaces consume them; when present they are validated. Limits are: Expo 1,024; App Store 4,000; Play 500; StoryDeck 280. The section must contain meaningful public Markdown after the comment.

Project an exact candidate with its source identity and independently versioned components:

node scripts/pipeline/release/release-notes/project-release-notes.mjs \
  --release-id <project-release-id> \
  --source-sha <40-lowercase-git-sha> \
  --component-version ui=<ui-semver> \
  --component-version cli=<cli-semver> \
  --component-version stack=<stack-semver> \
  --component-version server=<server-semver> \
  --changelog apps/ui/CHANGELOG.md

The v2 bundle records { id, sourceSha, components }; it does not treat the UI version as a project-wide release identity. Workflow callers must pass the human-authored project ID, the candidate SHA they already verified, and every applicable component version, then validate the v2 bundle before use.

StoryDeck source and assets

1. Add or update apps/ui/release-notes/releases/<releaseId>.json only with already-approved card content.
2. Add each referenced translation key to every locale under apps/ui/sources/text/translations/.
3. Register image-card and video-poster local assets in sources/components/ui/storyDeck/storyDeckBundledAssetRegistry.ts.
4. Put remote video and optional fallback media in apps/ui/release-notes/assets/<releaseId>/.
5. Run from apps/ui:

yarn tsx sources/scripts/parseReleaseNotes.ts

6. Confirm only the generated release-note manifest/index outputs changed.

For remote assets, build and publish only through the canonical scripts:

node scripts/pipeline/release/release-notes/build-release-notes-assets.mjs
node scripts/pipeline/release/release-notes/publish-release-notes-assets.mjs --dry-run

Do not upload or modify a GitHub release unless separately authorized.

Validation

node --test scripts/release/release_notes_projection.contract.test.mjs
cd apps/ui && yarn vitest run --config vitest.config.ts \
  sources/changelog/releaseNotes/schema.test.ts \
  sources/scripts/parseReleaseNotes.test.ts

These checks validate structure, source identity, selected bounded fields, and asset/translation references. They must not judge editorial wording or release selection.

Issue stage:* labels and issue comments are not release-note source. The owning release workflow reconciles availability after verification according to docs/issue-triage.md; keep editorial projection and issue lifecycle as separate consumers of the same proven release.