AI Release Notes

Capture what ships into each environment and let AI write shareable, human-readable release notes — powered by a GitHub App, a generic ingest API, and credits.

Overview

• Capture from GitHub or anywhere — a one-click GitHub App, or push commits and CI results from a CLI / VS Code / CI step.
• Environment-aware — map changes to dev, uat, prod (or your own environments) by branch/tag rules, explicit deploy events, or manual promote.
• Gemini-written notes — turn raw commits and merged PRs into clear, grouped release notes. Always metered in credits.
• Shareable public page — publish a release to https://<app>/r/<slug> for anyone to read.
• AI impact analysis on merge — the GitHub App reads the changed code against the rest of the repo and comments an impact analysis on the PR.
• Feature-flag linkage — see which feature flags a merged PR touches (observe-only; we never change your flags).

Quick start

1. Connect GitHub (one click)

In the dashboard go to Release Notes → New project → Connect → "Connect GitHub". You'll be sent to GitHub to install the Simplr app and pick repos; when you come back, a tracked project is created per repo automatically and capture begins. No IDs to copy.

The app is read-only on your code. Contents: Read lets it read the changed files and the rest of the repository to analyze a change in context; Pull requests: Read & write is used only to post the analysis comment.

2. Or push from a CLI / CI (any provider)

Create a project ingest token in Release Notes → project → Connect, then:

export SIMPLR_RELEASE_TOKEN=rnit_xxx
export SIMPLR_API_URL=https://api.simplr-ai.com

# capture the current commit (e.g. from a git hook or CI step)
simplr-release release push

# report a CI test result (gates flag rollout + release publishing)
simplr-release test report --status passed --tag ci-main

Or call the API directly:

curl -X POST https://api.simplr-ai.com/v1/release-ingest/changes \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer rnit_xxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "kind": "commit", "ref": "main", "sha": "a1b2c3d", "title": "Add one-click checkout" }'

3. Map changes to environments

Each project picks how changes flow through environments:

Mode	How it maps	Best for
Branch / tag rules	main → uat, release/* → prod, etc.	Trunk / GitFlow teams
Deploy events	A GitHub deployment (or ingest call) names the target env	CI that already emits deploys
Manual promote	Changes land in a pool; you promote them in the dashboard	Full control

4. Generate & publish

Open a project, pick an environment with assigned changes, and Generate notes. Gemini writes the notes (metered in credits); review, then Publish to get a shareable public link at /r/<slug>. You can require green CI tests before a release may be published.

What happens on a merge

The GitHub App acts only when a PR is merged — the merge is what becomes the release into the target environment. On merge it:

1. captures the merged PR as a change (env-mapped by its base branch),
2. scans the diff for feature-flag references (free), and
3. runs an AI impact analysis — reading the changed files' full content plus the repo file tree, then analyzing the change against the rest of the codebase — and comments it on the PR.

The impact analysis is always metered in credits. If the org is out of credits the AI step is skipped and the comment says so.

Feature flags & CI test gating

• Flag linkage — when a merged PR references a feature-flag key in code, it's linked on the flag's "Code references" panel and summarized in the PR comment. Observe-only: we never create or change flags.
• CI gating — test results you report (via the GitHub App's workflow_run/check_run webhooks or simplr-release test report) feed the same gate that advances feature-flag rollouts. A flag with rollout_mode=auto and a matching rollout_tag advances only while the latest run is green, and halts on red. Releases can require green tests before publishing.

See the Feature Flags guide for the rollout/gating model.

Pricing

AI Release Notes are billed in credits — the same credits your plan includes — so nothing AI runs for free:

Action	Cost
AI release note generation	5 credits + 1 credit per 25 changes
AI impact analysis (per merged PR)	3 credits
Capture, env-mapping, flag linkage, publishing, public page	Free

Credits come from your plan's monthly allowance (or top-up packs from ~$0.002 each). See Pricing → AI Release Notes.

API reference

Endpoint	Auth	Purpose
POST /v1/release-ingest/changes	project ingest token	Capture a commit / PR / deploy
POST /v1/release-ingest/test-result	project ingest token	Report a CI test result for gating
POST /v1/release-ingest/github	GitHub signature	GitHub App webhook (set automatically)
GET /v1/release-pages/:slug	public	Read a published release
GET /v1/release-notes/projects	dashboard auth	Manage projects, env rules, releases

To set up the GitHub App itself, see the GitHub App setup guide in the API repo (simplr-api/docs/github-app-setup.md).