Joseph T. Lyons created
Release Notes:
- N/Adocs/src/SUMMARY.md | 1 +
docs/src/development/release-notes.md | 29 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
2 files changed, 30 insertions(+)
@@ -160,4 +160,5 @@
- [Using Debuggers](./development/debuggers.md)
- [Glossary](./development/glossary.md)
- [Release Process](./development/releases.md)
+- [Release Notes](./development/release-notes.md)
- [Debugging Crashes](./development/debugging-crashes.md)
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+# Release Notes
+
+Whenever you open a pull request, the body is automatically populated based on this [pull request template](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/main/.github/pull_request_template.md).
+
+```md
+...
+
+Release Notes:
+
+- N/A _or_ Added/Fixed/Improved ...
+```
+
+On Wednesdays, we run a [`get-preview-channel-changes`](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/blob/main/script/get-preview-channel-changes) script that scrapes `Release Notes` lines from pull requests landing in preview, as documented in our [Release](https://zed.dev/docs/development/releases) docs.
+
+The script outputs everything below the `Release Notes` line, including additional data such as the pull request author (if not a Zed team member) and a link to the pull request.
+If you use `N/A`, the script skips your pull request entirely.
+
+## Guidelines for crafting your `Release Notes` line(s)
+
+- A `Release Notes` line should only be written if the user can see or feel the difference in Zed.
+- A `Release Notes` line should be written such that a Zed user can understand what the change is.
+ Don't assume a user knows technical editor developer lingo; phrase your change in language they understand as a user of a text editor.
+- If you want to include technical details about your pull request for other team members to see, do so above the `Release Notes` line.
+- Changes to docs should be labeled as `N/A`.
+- If your pull request adds/changes a setting or a keybinding, always mention that setting or keybinding.
+ Don't make the user dig into docs or the pull request to find this information (although it should be included in docs as well).
+- For pull requests that are reverts:
+ - If the item being reverted **has already been shipped**, include a `Release Notes` line explaining why we reverted, as this is a breaking change.
+ - If the item being reverted **hasn't been shipped**, edit the original PR's `Release Notes` line to be `N/A`; otherwise, it will be included and the compiler of the release notes may not know to skip it, leading to a potentially-awkward situation where we are stating we shipped something we actually didn't.