nemoclaw-maintainer-release-notes

NemoClaw Maintainer Release Notes

Draft NemoClaw release notes from live release data. The house style is:

• three narrative lead paragraphs,
• a categorized list of shipped changes,
• one "what changed and why it matters / why we did it" bullet for every included shipped change,
• external-only contributor thanks,
• visible #NNNN GitHub links.

Create a local Markdown draft. Do not create or update a GitHub Discussion; the maintainer posts the announcement manually.

Prerequisites

• You must be in the NemoClaw git repository.
• gh must be authenticated for NVIDIA/NemoClaw.
• The release tag should already exist. If the user is still cutting the tag, use nemoclaw-maintainer-cut-release-tag first.
• Use live GitHub and remote tag state, not memory or a stale local branch.
• If <release-dir>/notes-data.json exists from npm run release:notes-data, use it as the starting source of truth and query GitHub only to fill missing fields.
• If notes-data.json has status: "partial" or non-empty pullRequestWarnings, report those warnings and ask the maintainer whether to fetch or fill the missing PR metadata before drafting.

Step 1: Verify the Release Range

Identify the current release tag and previous release tag. If the user gives only the current version, derive the previous semver tag from remote tags.

git ls-remote https://github.com/NVIDIA/NemoClaw.git \
  refs/heads/main \
  refs/tags/<previous-version> 'refs/tags/<previous-version>^{}' \
  refs/tags/<current-version> 'refs/tags/<current-version>^{}' \
  refs/tags/latest 'refs/tags/latest^{}'

Confirm:

• <current-version>^{} peels to the intended release commit.
• latest points to the same peeled commit unless the user explicitly says otherwise.
• The compare range is <previous-version>...<current-version>.

Step 2: Collect the Shipped Surface

If notes-data.json exists, read it first. Otherwise, use the compare API as the first source of truth:

gh api repos/NVIDIA/NemoClaw/compare/<previous-version>...<current-version> \
  --jq '{status,ahead_by,total_commits,commits:[.commits[] | {sha:.sha, headline:(.commit.message|split("\n")[0]), author:.commit.author.name}], files:[.files[] | {filename,status,changes}]}'

For each PR number in commit headlines, collect live PR metadata:

gh pr view <number> --repo NVIDIA/NemoClaw \
  --json number,title,author,headRepositoryOwner,url,mergeCommit,labels,body,mergedAt

Also inspect any shipped commit that does not have a PR number in the headline. Include it only if it is a real shipped change worth announcing.

Step 3: Decide What to Include

Include the shipped product, docs, release-surface, and CI confidence changes that a reader should know about.

For each included item, write:

• what changed,
• why it matters or why we did it,
• a visible PR link like [#4474](https://github.com/NVIDIA/NemoClaw/pull/4474).

Be careful with sensitive internal cleanup:

• Do not count testing reverts or guardrail reversions as release value unless the user explicitly asks for a full raw changelog.
• If a revert-like commit must be mentioned, use neutral language and do not frame it as someone else's mistake.
• Avoid public wording that could embarrass a teammate.

Step 4: Categorize the Changes

Use categories that match the release surface. Prefer 4-6 sections. Common categories:

• OpenClaw, Sandbox, and Network Stability
• Windows, WSL, and Onboarding Recovery
• Messaging and OpenClaw Runtime Activation
• Hermes and Inference
• Skills, Docs, and Release Surface
• CI and Release Confidence

Every included shipped change should appear in exactly one category unless the user asks for a shorter note.

Step 5: Handle Contributor Credit

By default, thank external contributors only. Do not thank NVIDIA/internal contributors by GitHub ID unless the user explicitly asks.

Determine external contributors from live GitHub state:

for login in <github-logins>; do
  code=$(gh api -i orgs/NVIDIA/members/$login 2>/dev/null \
    | sed -n '1s/.* \([0-9][0-9][0-9]\).*/\1/p' || true)
  printf '%s %s\n' "$login" "${code:-unknown}"
done

Interpretation:

• 204 means the account is a visible member of NVIDIA.
• 404 means the account is not a visible member and should be treated as external for release-note thanks.

Replay PRs need special care:

• If a maintainer replayed an external PR, inspect the replay PR body and the original PR.
• Credit the original external GitHub username in the issue-level bullet for the shipped replay.
• Also thank that username in the final thanks section.
• Do not mention affiliations, organizations, domains, or companies unless the user explicitly asks. Use the GitHub username only.

Example:

- [#4474](https://github.com/NVIDIA/NemoClaw/pull/4474) replays and narrows the Hermes Provider host-smoke fix originally contributed by @shannonsands in [#4385](https://github.com/NVIDIA/NemoClaw/pull/4385). ...

## Thank you

Thank you to external contributor @shannonsands for the original Hermes Provider smoke-check contribution in [#4385](https://github.com/NVIDIA/NemoClaw/pull/4385), which was replayed and narrowed into [#4474](https://github.com/NVIDIA/NemoClaw/pull/4474) for this release.

Step 6: Draft the Narrative

Write the top section as exactly three paragraphs unless the user asks otherwise.

If the user requests a theme, let it shape the paragraphs. If the user asks for the voice of Carl Sagan, keep it subtle: cosmic scale, humility, clarity, and wonder, but no parody, no quotes, and no overdone imitation.

Suggested structure:

1. Stability theme and infrastructure/security boundary changes.
2. User-facing workflow stability: messaging, Hermes, inference, onboarding.
3. Maintenance stability: skills, docs, checks, and release confidence.

Keep the prose warm and polished, but concrete. Tie the narrative to actual PRs in the release range.

Step 7: Write a Local Draft First

Create a Markdown draft outside the checkout root so the repo stays clean, for example:

../nemoclaw-<current-version>-release-note-draft.md

The Markdown body is the source the maintainer can paste into GitHub Discussions.

Stop here. The maintainer creates the GitHub Discussion and shares the announcement link.

Output

For a draft-only run, return:

• Markdown draft path,
• a short note about the compare range and any excluded revert/test-cleanup items.

Also return the suggested discussion title: NemoClaw <current-version> is out.

Hard Rules

• Never create or update a GitHub Discussion from this skill.
• Never draft from memory alone; use live gh api compare and PR metadata.
• Never mention contributor affiliation unless the user explicitly asks.
• Never thank internal contributors by default; keep thanks external-only.
• Never include testing reverts as release-value bullets unless explicitly asked for a raw changelog.
• Never create duplicate release Discussions.