From 6c53b426bbfa12798139ee22ea557047c70f0b72 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Anthony Correa <a@correa.co>
Date: Sun, 26 Apr 2026 09:25:22 -0500
Subject: [PATCH] use summary-of-changes in release notes

---
 .github/workflows/release.yml | 18 ++++++++++++++++--
 README.md                     |  2 ++
 2 files changed, 18 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index 4d0eb17..208c0a7 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -115,6 +115,20 @@ jobs:
           cd "${RUNNER_TEMP}/mkdocs_out/site_offline/"
           zip -r "${GITHUB_REF_NAME}.zip" ./${GITHUB_REF_NAME}
 
+      - name: Prepare release notes
+        run: |
+          set -euo pipefail
+
+          RELEASE_NOTES="${RUNNER_TEMP}/release-notes.md"
+
+          if [[ "${GITHUB_REF_NAME}" == draft* || "${GITHUB_REF_NAME}" == rc* ]]; then
+            printf 'Prerelease.\n\n' > "${RELEASE_NOTES}"
+          else
+            : > "${RELEASE_NOTES}"
+          fi
+
+          cat docs/summary-of-changes.md >> "${RELEASE_NOTES}"
+
       - name: Publish prerelease
         if: startsWith(github.ref_name, 'rc') || startsWith(github.ref_name, 'draft')
         uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
@@ -122,8 +136,7 @@ jobs:
           prerelease: true
           name: ${{ github.ref_name }}
           tag_name: ${{ github.ref_name }}
-          body: |
-            Prerelease.
+          body_path: ${{ runner.temp }}/release-notes.md
           files: |
             ${{ runner.temp }}/mkdocs_out/site_offline/${{ github.ref_name }}.zip
             ${{ runner.temp }}/pandoc/${{ github.ref_name }}-${{ env.SHORT_SHA }}.docx
@@ -134,6 +147,7 @@ jobs:
         with:
           name: ${{ github.ref_name }}
           tag_name: ${{ github.ref_name }}
+          body_path: ${{ runner.temp }}/release-notes.md
           files: |
             ${{ runner.temp }}/mkdocs_out/site_offline/${{ github.ref_name }}.zip
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 53298c9..9f319d1 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -69,6 +69,8 @@ It builds both the normal site and an offline site package, then publishes based
 - `rc*`: creates a GitHub prerelease, attaches the offline zip and generated `.docx`, and deploys the preview site to the `gh-pages` branch under `/rc/`
 - `v*`: creates a GitHub release, attaches the offline zip, and deploys the release site to the root of the `gh-pages` branch
 
+The GitHub release description is generated from `docs/summary-of-changes.md`. Draft and release-candidate prereleases prepend a short prerelease note before that summary.
+
 In all cases, the release workflow uses the same MkDocs configuration in `mkdocs/mkdocs.yml`, with strict mode controlled by the `MKDOCS_STRICT` GitHub Actions variable.
 
 ## Project History