Changelog as Marketing

Position in workflow: v0.8 Release Planning → v0.8 Changelog as Marketing → v0.9 Launch Channels (ORB)

Execution Mode

Default is standard. See .claude/rules/08-skill-execution-modes.md for selection logic.

Mode	What this skill produces
quick	One release format (markdown for site); one channel mapping; minimum-viable changelog page
standard	Release categorization + 2–3 channel mappings; per-channel format templates; publish cadence; attribution plan
deep	Full categorization taxonomy; format templates for all relevant channels (email, blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, RSS, Slack); cadence + voice guide; KPI- attribution per channel

What This Does

Treats the changelog as a distribution surface, not an engineering record. Each shipped release becomes a content artifact that lands across Owned and Rented channels with minimal extra effort. This is the bridge between v0.8 (what shipped) and v0.9 (where it gets told).

Done well, this is one of the highest-leverage Owned-channel investments — Stripe, Linear, Vercel, and Sentry have shown that an opinionated changelog drives ongoing inbound that compounds over years. Done badly, it's a dumping ground for "fixed bug X" that nobody reads.

How It Works

1. Define the changelog audience(s) — Engineering changelogs (for users running self-hosted or integrating an API), customer-facing changelogs (for end-users), and internal changelogs (for the team) have different shapes. Anchor to the Positioning best-fit segment.
2. Categorize release content — Each shipped item gets a category:
   • New feature (publish loudly)
   • Improvement (publish, briefly)
   • Breaking change (publish, prominently, with migration path)
   • Deprecation (publish, with timeline)
   • Fix (publish only if user-visible)
   • Internal (don't publish externally)
3. Map categories to channels — Each category gets a channel destination from the ORB mix:
   • New feature → Blog post + email + Twitter + LinkedIn
   • Breaking change → Email (high-priority) + RSS + blog
   • Improvement → Blog (digest) + Twitter (digest)
   • Fix → Changelog page only
4. Build per-channel format templates — Each channel has a length/tone constraint:
   • Email: subject line + 2-paragraph body + CTA
   • Blog: full writeup, screenshots, code samples
   • Twitter/X: 280 chars, one image
   • LinkedIn: 1,000-1,500 chars, professional voice
   • Slack/Discord: short with link to blog
   • RSS: full content for engineering audiences
5. Set publish cadence — Per-release (every shipped release publishes immediately) vs. digest (weekly/monthly roll-up). Most teams need both: per-release for big things, digest for the rest.
6. Plan attribution — Every channel-published release gets a UTM. Track changelog → signup conversion to identify which categories convert.

Example

A developer-tools product ships:

Item	Category	Channels
New /api/v2/webhooks endpoint	New feature	Blog (full), email, Twitter, LinkedIn, RSS
/api/v1/webhooks deprecation (sunset in 6mo)	Deprecation	Email (high-priority), blog, RSS
30% faster response time on heavy queries	Improvement	Twitter, weekly digest
Fixed: webhook signing edge case	Fix	Changelog page only
Internal: refactored auth middleware	Internal	(none)

Tuesday publish:

• Blog post: "Webhooks v2 is live — here's what changed and how to migrate"
• Email to API customers (segment-targeted, not full list): "Action needed: webhook v1 sunset"
• Twitter: "Webhooks v2 ships today. v1 is sunset in 6 months. Migration guide: [link]"
• Changelog page: all five items (including the fix and internal note marked appropriately)

What You Get Back

• MON-CHG-* changelog entries (one per shipped release) — Master record with category, audience, channel mapping, links to per-channel publications
• GTM-CHG-* per-channel formats (one per channel) — Templates and example content
• Publish cadence schedule — Per-release vs. digest decisions
• KPI attribution plan — UTMs and conversion tracking

When to Use It

Trigger	Mode
First release post-launch (no changelog system yet)	quick
Standard launch cadence stabilizing	standard
Pre-investor / pre-Series A — changelog as proof of velocity	deep
API or developer-tool product	deep (changelog is a primary surface)
One-time announcements (acquisition, big feature)	standard

Consumes

• DEP-* release entries (from v0.8 Release Planning) — What's being released, when
• FEA-* features (from v0.3) — What new features exist; categorization input
• GTM-* channel mix (from v0.9 Launch Channels ORB, when available) — Where to publish
• GTM-* positioning (from v0.9 Positioning, when available) — Voice and tone constraints
• PER-* best-fit characteristics — Audience tone calibration
• KPI-* baselines — Attribution targets

When this skill runs before v0.9 has executed, channel mapping uses placeholder channels and is reconciled when v0.9 channels are finalized.

Produces

• MON-CHG-* entries in SoT/SoT.DEPLOYMENT.md (or a dedicated SoT/SoT.CHANGELOG.md if release volume warrants)
• GTM-CHG-* entries with Type=Channel-Changelog (per-channel format templates)
• CFD-* gaps surfaced — If a release category lacks an obvious channel mapping, log as research gap

Output Template

MON-CHG-XXX: Release — [Release name / version]
Type: Changelog
Date: YYYY-MM-DD
Owner: [Person / role]
Status: [Drafted | Reviewed | Published]

Released items:
  - [Item 1] — Category: [New feature | Improvement | Breaking change | Deprecation | Fix | Internal]
  - [Item 2] — Category: ...

Audience: [API customers | All users | Internal team | Mixed]

Channel publications:
  - Blog: [URL or "scheduled YYYY-MM-DD"]
  - Email: [Segment + scheduled date]
  - Twitter: [Scheduled date]
  - LinkedIn: [Scheduled date]
  - Changelog page: [Updated YYYY-MM-DD]

Attribution: utm_campaign=changelog-<version>

Linked IDs: DEP-AAA (release), FEA-BBB (features shipped), GTM-CHG-CCC (channel formats), KPI-DDD (attribution)

GTM-CHG-XXX: Channel Format — [Channel name]
Type: Channel-Changelog
Channel: [Blog | Email | Twitter | LinkedIn | RSS | Slack]
Owner: [Person / role]

Format constraints:
  Length: [chars / words / sections]
  Tone: [Conversational | Technical | Formal — anchored in Positioning voice]
  Visuals: [Required / optional]
  CTA: [Specific action expected]

Template:
  [Reusable template for this channel, with variable placeholders]

Example (most recent use):
  [Concrete example from MON-CHG-XXX]

Publish trigger: [Per-release | Weekly digest | Monthly digest]

Linked IDs: MON-CHG-AAA (latest use), GTM-YYY (positioning voice)

Anti-Patterns

Pattern	Signal	Fix
Dumping internal commits	Changelog reads like git log	Categorize; publish only what users care about
Same content everywhere	Same blog post copy-pasted to Twitter and LinkedIn	Each channel has its own format constraints; honor them
Vague feature claims	"Various improvements"	Name the specific change; "30% faster heavy queries" beats "performance improvements"
Engineering-only voice	Customer changelog uses internal jargon	Tone-shift per audience; engineer changelog ≠ end-user changelog
No attribution	Changelog publishes but no idea what converts	UTM every link; track per-channel conversion
Sporadic cadence	Publish heavily for 2 months, then quiet for 6	Pick per-release or digest cadence; commit to it
Breaking change buried	Hidden in a sea of small items	Breaking changes get a dedicated, prominent slot

Quality Gates

Before publishing the first release:

• Audience(s) defined (engineering, customer-facing, internal — separately if needed)
• Categorization scheme exists (at minimum: new / improvement / breaking / fix)
• Channel mapping table exists (categories → channels)
• Per-channel format templates exist
• Publish cadence committed
• Attribution plan (UTM convention) defined
• Voice/tone honors GTM- positioning (if v0.9 is done)

Downstream Connections

Consumer	What it uses	Example
Launch Channels (ORB)	Changelog is an Owned channel; rolls into mix matrix	Blog-changelog = Owned-content
Launch Metrics	Per-channel changelog conversion targets	KPI-changelog-blog-signups
Feedback Loop Setup	Changelog reader comments become CFD-	Blog comment threads → CFD- pattern
AEO Audit	High-traffic changelog posts become AI citation sources	Changelog entries cited by AI search
v1.0 Case Study Builder	Shipped features in changelog feed case study material	"How we use [feature] at [customer]"

Detailed References

• Stripe changelog: stripe.com/changelog — the canonical example
• Linear changelog: linear.app/changelog — opinionated voice
• Vercel changelog: vercel.com/changelog — visual-heavy
• jonathimer's changelog-updates skill (devmarketing-skills)
• (No bundled references/ — read the source examples for current best practice)