release-creator

Release preparation tools for Python projects. The notes command renders a tagged changelog section for a GitHub Release. Other release tasks can use separate commands.

The documentation has a tutorial, how-to guides, a generated command reference, and an explanation of the changelog format.

Render GitHub Release notes

Run the current release from PyPI:

uvx --from 'release-creator' release-creator notes \
  --changelog docs/changelog.md \
  --tag 1.2.3 \
  --repository tox-dev/example \
  --previous 1.2.2 \
  --artifact-url https://pypi.org/project/example/1.2.3/ > release-notes.md

For automation, replace release-creator after --from with a tested release-creator==VERSION. The command reads the tagged section, maps Added to Features and Fixed to Bug fixes, changes linked author handles to GitHub mentions, and leaves bullets unwrapped. It keeps stable category anchors, omits empty categories when they are absent from the source, and adds artifact and comparison links. Use --artifact-label for an ecosystem other than PyPI; omit --artifact-url when there is no external artifact.

The command also accepts a .rst changelog with the same category names. It links :issue: roles to issues and :pr: or :pull: roles to pull requests:

uvx --from 'release-creator' release-creator notes \
  --changelog docs/changelog.rst \
  --tag 1.2.3 \
  --repository tox-dev/example \
  --previous 1.2.2 \
  --artifact-url https://pypi.org/project/example/1.2.3/ > release-notes.md

The changelog is the source of truth. The command does not infer changes from commits or generate an author list. Add verified human credits to changelog entries before release; omit bot credits. The GitHub Release may add a New Contributors section by passing --generated-notes with the body from GitHub's generate-notes API. Human first-time contributors remain listed even when their PR did not need a changelog entry. The generated-notes banner and other generated sections are discarded.

Named Towncrier fragments need no issue or PR number. Before Towncrier builds the changelog, run release-creator fragments --repository owner/repo. The command reads the commits that introduced pending fragments, asks GitHub which squash-merged pull request owns each commit, and adds its PR link and human author credit. The checkout needs complete fragment history, and gh needs read access to the repository. Merge commits and rebase merges cannot identify a fragment's PR through its introducing commit; use squash merges.

The tags command calculates a version from pending fragments, validates numeric tags, and selects the preceding tag for GitHub comparisons:

git tag --list | uvx --from 'release-creator' release-creator tags --next auto
git tag --list | uvx --from 'release-creator' release-creator tags 1.2.3 --require-newer
git tag --list | uvx --from 'release-creator' release-creator tags 1.2.3 --previous

Development and releases

See contributing for the fragment format and release process. The package uses the same notes command for its own GitHub Releases. Run tox -e 3.15,type,pkg_meta,docs and prek run --all-files before a PR.