@williamthorsen/release-kit 11.0.0 → 12.0.0

package/.meta/changelog.json

@@ -1,4 +1,64 @@
 [
+  {
+    "version": "12.0.0",
+    "date": "2026-09-23",
+    "sections": [
+      {
+        "title": "🎉 Features",
+        "audience": "all",
+        "items": [
+          {
+            "description": "Assign changelog sections from the work-type taxonomy (#877)",
+            "body": "- Adds `excludedFromChangelog` to a `workTypes` entry, which keeps commits of that type out of every changelog while they still count toward the version bump.\n- Fixes the silent omission of a ticketed commit written as `type(scope):` or with a capitalized type such as `FEAT:`, which counted toward the version bump but reached no changelog.\n- Documents that a scaffolded `.config/git-cliff.toml` may vary its enumeration keys alone: a `commit_parsers` entry that skips or narrows drops the commit before classification, with no error.",
+            "hash": "52d4ea928d35b99101947e0509da6699f06f821a"
+          },
+          {
+            "description": "Build changelog items from a merge commit's change-record block (#882)",
+            "body": "Builds `release-kit` changelog items from a commit's `change-record` block, the fenced YAML block at the end of a squash-merge commit that lists the change's outcomes, so that a merge with several outcomes of different types yields one item per outcome, each under its own type's section. Makes `release-kit prepare` warn about a block that cannot be read, an entry whose type is undeclared, and an entry that violates its type's breaking policy. Keeps reading a commit with no usable block from its title, as before.",
+            "hash": "094aac7048a54b6f07d1c97cd37fff570630b936"
+          },
+          {
+            "description": "Derive the version bump from the changelog items (#885)",
+            "body": "Derives the version bump in every `release-kit prepare` path (single-package, project, and monorepo) from the changelog items of the unreleased commits, so that the bump and the changelog describe the same release. A commit that yields no changelog item no longer bumps, and a `BREAKING CHANGE:` footer no longer raises a major bump. Single-package mode now follows the monorepo rules for `--bump` and `--force`, and the `prepare` report shows the diagnostics of a skipped target.\n\nMigration: Mark a breaking change with a `!` on the commit subject or with `breaking: true` on its change-record entry, because a `BREAKING CHANGE:` footer alone now gets the bump of the commit's type. Give each commit that should bump a ticket-ID prefix and a type that the changelog does not exclude. In single-package mode, add `--force` to a release that used `--bump=X` alone, or that relied on the patch floor, when no commit yields a changelog item; without it, `prepare` skips the release.",
+            "breaking": true,
+            "migration": "Mark a breaking change with a `!` on the commit subject or with `breaking: true` on its change-record entry, because a `BREAKING CHANGE:` footer alone now gets the bump of the commit's type. Give each commit that should bump a ticket-ID prefix and a type that the changelog does not exclude. In single-package mode, add `--force` to a release that used `--bump=X` alone, or that relied on the patch floor, when no commit yields a changelog item; without it, `prepare` skips the release.",
+            "hash": "f3d0d8f01d6cd5b5638012a4798e64ab3a3def6d"
+          },
+          {
+            "description": "Key an editorial override to one of several items on a commit (#886)",
+            "body": "Adds the `<hash>:<n>` key to `.meta/changelog-overrides.json`. It targets one of the several changelog items that a commit's change-record block yields, while a bare `<hash>` key still targets all of them. Also makes `release-kit prepare` and `release-kit overrides validate` fail when override keys conflict on an item, and publishes a JSON Schema for the override file.\n\nMigration: Replace a bare key that sets `description` or `body` on a commit with several items with one `<hash>:<n>` key per item, as listed by the error message. Where two keys match the same item, such as `abc1234` beside `abc1234:2`, remove one of them. This includes a root-file key that overlaps a workspace-file key, which now fails even though the two files are separate. In each scope passed to `validateAllChangelogOverrides`, rename `hashes` to `items` and pass `OverrideTargetItem` objects (`{ hash, entry? }`) instead of hash strings.",
+            "breaking": true,
+            "migration": "Replace a bare key that sets `description` or `body` on a commit with several items with one `<hash>:<n>` key per item, as listed by the error message. Where two keys match the same item, such as `abc1234` beside `abc1234:2`, remove one of them. This includes a root-file key that overlaps a workspace-file key, which now fails even though the two files are separate. In each scope passed to `validateAllChangelogOverrides`, rename `hashes` to `items` and pass `OverrideTargetItem` objects (`{ hash, entry? }`) instead of hash strings.",
+            "hash": "f90db5596196e501fef1734bcd978d23f9a0540a"
+          }
+        ]
+      },
+      {
+        "title": "🪦 Removed",
+        "audience": "all",
+        "items": [
+          {
+            "description": "Build changelogs from release-kit's own enumeration and remove git-cliff (#880)",
+            "body": "Removes git-cliff from `@williamthorsen/release-kit`: `prepare` now builds every changelog from the same commit history that decides each version bump, and no longer fetches a git-cliff binary through `npx`. A config that still sets `cliffConfigPath` now fails validation. Two ways in which the changelog and the bump read different commits are gone, affecting single-package repositories with a tag prefix other than `v` and `paths` entries that name a bare directory.\n\nMigration: Remove `cliffConfigPath` from `.config/release-kit.config.ts`, and delete `.config/git-cliff.toml` or `cliff.toml` if the repository has one. Any customization in that file, such as `tag_pattern` or its tag-skipping keys, no longer has an effect: `release-kit` now splits the changelog on the configured tag prefixes alone.",
+            "breaking": true,
+            "migration": "Remove `cliffConfigPath` from `.config/release-kit.config.ts`, and delete `.config/git-cliff.toml` or `cliff.toml` if the repository has one. Any customization in that file, such as `tag_pattern` or its tag-skipping keys, no longer has an effect: `release-kit` now splits the changelog on the configured tag prefixes alone.",
+            "hash": "3dc091ff6067f1c2cbe1576a55114c481294ce22"
+          }
+        ]
+      },
+      {
+        "title": "🏗️ Internal features",
+        "audience": "dev",
+        "items": [
+          {
+            "description": "Enumerate release windows and read them on the bump path (#879)",
+            "body": "Adds `enumerateReleaseWindows`, which splits the history reachable from HEAD into release windows from tag prefixes and a path list, and rebuilds `getCommitsSinceTarget` on the newest of those windows in place of its `git describe` baseline lookup. Leaves the changelog on git-cliff's enumeration.",
+            "hash": "30586d1e045ed69dbf81a1c35773c97b89e0c8dc"
+          }
+        ]
+      }
+    ]
+  },
   {
     "version": "11.0.0",
     "date": "2026-09-22",
@@ -408,7 +468,7 @@
           },
           {
             "description": "Adopt `isError` and consolidate errno narrowing on a shared helper (#697)",
-            "body": "Replaces every hand-rolled `instanceof Error` narrowing with `hasErrnoCode`, a new predicate exported from `@williamthorsen/nmr-core`, or with `isError` from `@williamthorsen/toolbelt.errors`. Previously the errno question was answered by inline copies alongside two private helpers of differing shape; both helpers are removed.\r\n\r\nSeparately, `eslint.config.ts` now bans `instanceof Error` in every position rather than in a ternary alone.",
+            "body": "Replaces every hand-rolled `instanceof Error` narrowing with `hasErrnoCode`, a new predicate exported from `@williamthorsen/nmr-core`, or with `isError` from `@williamthorsen/toolbelt.errors`. Previously the errno question was answered by inline copies alongside two private helpers of differing shape; both helpers are removed.\n\nSeparately, `eslint.config.ts` now bans `instanceof Error` in every position rather than in a ternary alone.",
             "hash": "c5e8e8a5e006b451e8c5aeea75d35772926d503c"
           }
         ]
@@ -529,7 +589,7 @@
           },
           {
             "description": "Make prepare all-or-nothing and report the tags file by path (#601)",
-            "body": "Fixes an issue where a failed `prepare` could leave the release flow in a broken intermediate state. A release now lands completely or not at all, and a formatting failure no longer discards one that already landed. When a write fails partway, the error names every file that reached disk, every file that did not, and the commands that undo them.\r\n\r\n`commit` and `tag` now report the full path of the tags file they looked for, and distinguish a missing file from one that could not be read, so that running from the wrong directory or worktree is no longer reported as a release that never happened.\r\n\r\nRuns with `--with-release-notes` now list the preview files they write, and `--dry-run` names the ones a real run would write.",
+            "body": "Fixes an issue where a failed `prepare` could leave the release flow in a broken intermediate state. A release now lands completely or not at all, and a formatting failure no longer discards one that already landed. When a write fails partway, the error names every file that reached disk, every file that did not, and the commands that undo them.\n\n`commit` and `tag` now report the full path of the tags file they looked for, and distinguish a missing file from one that could not be read, so that running from the wrong directory or worktree is no longer reported as a release that never happened.\n\nRuns with `--with-release-notes` now list the preview files they write, and `--dry-run` names the ones a real run would write.",
             "hash": "83ac6e45cf9d4b5371650cda42d7830ed4988660"
           }
         ]

package/.readyup/kits/default.js

@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ function translateGlob(pattern) {
 
 // .readyup/kits/default.ts
 function getMinVersion() {
-  const picked = { "version": "11.0.0" };
+  const picked = { "version": "12.0.0" };
   if (typeof picked["version"] !== "string") {
     throw new TypeError("release-kit/package.json: 'version' must be a string");
   }
@@ -114,7 +114,6 @@ var CONFIG_EXPORT_PATTERNS = [
   /export\s*\{[^}]*\b(?:config|default)\b[^}]*\}/,
   /export\s*\*/
 ];
-var CLIFF_TEMPLATE_HASH = "93b72e0b1393cd6b1fe8e2a0e303cd326fd323435951b0493396b305af32d2ec";
 var COMMON_PRESET_HASH = "8c52654d4eee216c22377dd1e65b89f6bbb0a3478d74379bd28b04a877f0b02a";
 var SYNC_LABELS_WORKFLOW_HASH = "d6e2403fb551d2d415f679125989c92760444eec887644565b2e05c9bf8f4c1e";
 var RELEASE_WORKFLOW_HASH_MONOREPO = "0a9724b7b3c5e24087fd3a8f36fed8e990d699267fcf36028ce048ab40dc2946";
@@ -296,13 +295,6 @@ var default_default = defineRdyKit({
           check: () => fileDoesNotContain(".config/release-kit.config.ts", /shouldCreateGithubRelease/),
           fix: "Remove 'shouldCreateGithubRelease' from .config/release-kit.config.ts. Adoption of GitHub Releases is now signaled by installing the create-github-release workflow, which `release-kit init` scaffolds."
         },
-        {
-          name: "git-cliff not in devDependencies",
-          severity: "recommend",
-          quiet: true,
-          check: () => !hasDevDependency("git-cliff"),
-          fix: "pnpm remove git-cliff \u2014 release-kit handles changelog generation directly"
-        },
         {
           name: "@changesets/cli not in devDependencies",
           severity: "recommend",
@@ -310,13 +302,6 @@ var default_default = defineRdyKit({
           check: () => !hasDevDependency("@changesets/cli"),
           fix: "pnpm remove @changesets/cli, then delete .changeset/ and any changeset:* scripts; release-kit supersedes changesets"
         },
-        {
-          name: ".config/git-cliff.toml matches current template",
-          severity: "warn",
-          skip: () => !fileExists(".config/git-cliff.toml") ? "no local cliff config (using fallback)" : false,
-          check: () => fileMatchesHash(".config/git-cliff.toml", CLIFF_TEMPLATE_HASH),
-          fix: "Update .config/git-cliff.toml to match the current cliff.toml.template from release-kit, or delete it to use the bundled fallback"
-        },
         {
           name: "sync-labels.yaml workflow exists",
           severity: "warn",
@@ -425,7 +410,6 @@ function resolveChangelogJsonOutputPath() {
   return match?.[1] ?? DEFAULT_CHANGELOG_JSON_PATH;
 }
 export {
-  CLIFF_TEMPLATE_HASH,
   COMMON_PRESET_HASH,
   CREATE_GITHUB_RELEASE_WORKFLOW_HASH_MONOREPO,
   CREATE_GITHUB_RELEASE_WORKFLOW_HASH_SINGLE,

package/.readyup/manifest.json

@@ -8,12 +8,12 @@
       "esbuildVersion": "0.28.2",
       "inputs": [
         {
-          "hash": "a20ce64b",
+          "hash": "07f5fe58",
           "kind": "module",
           "path": "kits/default.ts"
         },
         {
-          "hash": "e9aadbb2",
+          "hash": "54c6b74c",
           "kind": "inline",
           "path": "../package.json",
           "paths": [
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@
       "path": "kits/default.js",
       "readyupVersion": "0.38.0",
       "source": "kits/default.ts",
-      "sourceHash": "a20ce64b",
-      "targetHash": "b3fd135a"
+      "sourceHash": "07f5fe58",
+      "targetHash": "cece8501"
     },
     {
       "checklists": [

package/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -2,6 +2,46 @@
 
 All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 
+## 12.0.0 — 2026-09-23
+
+### 🎉 Features
+
+- Assign changelog sections from the work-type taxonomy (#877)
+
+  - Adds `excludedFromChangelog` to a `workTypes` entry, which keeps commits of that type out of every changelog while they still count toward the version bump.
+  - Fixes the silent omission of a ticketed commit written as `type(scope):` or with a capitalized type such as `FEAT:`, which counted toward the version bump but reached no changelog.
+  - Documents that a scaffolded `.config/git-cliff.toml` may vary its enumeration keys alone: a `commit_parsers` entry that skips or narrows drops the commit before classification, with no error.
+
+- Build changelog items from a merge commit's change-record block (#882)
+
+  Builds `release-kit` changelog items from a commit's `change-record` block, the fenced YAML block at the end of a squash-merge commit that lists the change's outcomes, so that a merge with several outcomes of different types yields one item per outcome, each under its own type's section. Makes `release-kit prepare` warn about a block that cannot be read, an entry whose type is undeclared, and an entry that violates its type's breaking policy. Keeps reading a commit with no usable block from its title, as before.
+
+- 🚨 **Breaking:** Derive the version bump from the changelog items (#885)
+
+  Derives the version bump in every `release-kit prepare` path (single-package, project, and monorepo) from the changelog items of the unreleased commits, so that the bump and the changelog describe the same release. A commit that yields no changelog item no longer bumps, and a `BREAKING CHANGE:` footer no longer raises a major bump. Single-package mode now follows the monorepo rules for `--bump` and `--force`, and the `prepare` report shows the diagnostics of a skipped target.
+
+  Migration: Mark a breaking change with a `!` on the commit subject or with `breaking: true` on its change-record entry, because a `BREAKING CHANGE:` footer alone now gets the bump of the commit's type. Give each commit that should bump a ticket-ID prefix and a type that the changelog does not exclude. In single-package mode, add `--force` to a release that used `--bump=X` alone, or that relied on the patch floor, when no commit yields a changelog item; without it, `prepare` skips the release.
+
+- 🚨 **Breaking:** Key an editorial override to one of several items on a commit (#886)
+
+  Adds the `<hash>:<n>` key to `.meta/changelog-overrides.json`. It targets one of the several changelog items that a commit's change-record block yields, while a bare `<hash>` key still targets all of them. Also makes `release-kit prepare` and `release-kit overrides validate` fail when override keys conflict on an item, and publishes a JSON Schema for the override file.
+
+  Migration: Replace a bare key that sets `description` or `body` on a commit with several items with one `<hash>:<n>` key per item, as listed by the error message. Where two keys match the same item, such as `abc1234` beside `abc1234:2`, remove one of them. This includes a root-file key that overlaps a workspace-file key, which now fails even though the two files are separate. In each scope passed to `validateAllChangelogOverrides`, rename `hashes` to `items` and pass `OverrideTargetItem` objects (`{ hash, entry? }`) instead of hash strings.
+
+### 🪦 Removed
+
+- 🚨 **Breaking:** Build changelogs from release-kit's own enumeration and remove git-cliff (#880)
+
+  Removes git-cliff from `@williamthorsen/release-kit`: `prepare` now builds every changelog from the same commit history that decides each version bump, and no longer fetches a git-cliff binary through `npx`. A config that still sets `cliffConfigPath` now fails validation. Two ways in which the changelog and the bump read different commits are gone, affecting single-package repositories with a tag prefix other than `v` and `paths` entries that name a bare directory.
+
+  Migration: Remove `cliffConfigPath` from `.config/release-kit.config.ts`, and delete `.config/git-cliff.toml` or `cliff.toml` if the repository has one. Any customization in that file, such as `tag_pattern` or its tag-skipping keys, no longer has an effect: `release-kit` now splits the changelog on the configured tag prefixes alone.
+
+### 🏗️ Internal features
+
+- Enumerate release windows and read them on the bump path (#879)
+
+  Adds `enumerateReleaseWindows`, which splits the history reachable from HEAD into release windows from tag prefixes and a path list, and rebuilds `getCommitsSinceTarget` on the newest of those windows in place of its `git describe` baseline lookup. Leaves the changelog on git-cliff's enumeration.
+
 ## 11.0.0 — 2026-09-22
 
 ### 🎉 Features

package/README.md

@@ -4,56 +4,42 @@
 
 Version-bumping and changelog-generation toolkit for release workflows.
 
-Provides a self-contained CLI that auto-discovers workspaces from `pnpm-workspace.yaml`, parses conventional commits, determines version bumps, updates `package.json` files, and generates changelogs from `git-cliff --context` output rendered in-process (with optional [editorial overrides](docs/editorial-overrides.md)).
+Provides a self-contained CLI that auto-discovers workspaces from `pnpm-workspace.yaml`, parses conventional commits, determines version bumps, updates `package.json` files, and generates changelogs from the same commit history that decides each bump (with optional [editorial overrides](docs/editorial-overrides.md)).
 
 <!-- section:release-notes -->
-## Release notes — v11.0.0 (2026-09-22)
+## Release notes — v12.0.0 (2026-09-23)
 
 ### 🎉 Features
 
-- 🚨 **Breaking:** Return the provenance check's remediation as the outcome's fix (#855)
+- Assign changelog sections from the work-type taxonomy (#877)
 
-  - Moves the remediation of the `npm-auto-publish` kit's `Provenance setting matches repo visibility` check from the failing outcome's `detail` into its `fix`, so that readyup marks it as a remedy, lists it in the `Fixes` recap, and reports it under `rdy run --json --detail summary` instead of printing it as a plain reason line.
-  - Declares `minReadyupVersion: '0.37.0'` on the kit, the readyup release that introduced `CheckOutcome.fix`, which retires the kit's `version-skew` advisory and makes an older runner fail to load the kit.
+  - Adds `excludedFromChangelog` to a `workTypes` entry, which keeps commits of that type out of every changelog while they still count toward the version bump.
+  - Fixes the silent omission of a ticketed commit written as `type(scope):` or with a capitalized type such as `FEAT:`, which counted toward the version bump but reached no changelog.
+  - Documents that a scaffolded `.config/git-cliff.toml` may vary its enumeration keys alone: a `commit_parsers` entry that skips or narrows drops the commit before classification, with no error.
 
-  Migration: Upgrade readyup to 0.37.0 or later before consuming this release of the `npm-auto-publish` kit.
+- Build changelog items from a merge commit's change-record block (#882)
 
-- Accept a --config argument on every config-reading subcommand (#857)
+  Builds `release-kit` changelog items from a commit's `change-record` block, the fenced YAML block at the end of a squash-merge commit that lists the change's outcomes, so that a merge with several outcomes of different types yields one item per outcome, each under its own type's section. Makes `release-kit prepare` warn about a block that cannot be read, an entry whose type is undeclared, and an entry that violates its type's breaking policy. Keeps reading a commit with no usable block from its title, as before.
 
-  - Adds `--config <path>` to `prepare`, `publish`, `create-github-release`, `show-tag-prefixes`, `overrides validate`, `sync-labels init`, and `sync-labels generate`, each of which then reads the named file in place of `.config/release-kit.config.ts`.
-  - Requires a named `--config` file to exist, failing if it does not; an absent default path continues to mean that the repo declares no config.
-  - Confines scaffolding to the default path: `release-kit init` and `sync-labels init` still write `.config/release-kit.config.ts`, and `sync-labels init --config` reads the named file and fails when it is absent.
+- 🚨 **Breaking:** Derive the version bump from the changelog items (#885)
 
-- 🚨 **Breaking:** Adopt the shared workspace resolver in release-kit, honoring exclusions (#865)
+  Derives the version bump in every `release-kit prepare` path (single-package, project, and monorepo) from the changelog items of the unreleased commits, so that the bump and the changelog describe the same release. A commit that yields no changelog item no longer bumps, and a `BREAKING CHANGE:` footer no longer raises a major bump. Single-package mode now follows the monorepo rules for `--bump` and `--force`, and the `prepare` report shows the diagnostics of a skipped target.
 
-  - 🚨 **Breaking:** Narrows `no-pattern` in `@williamthorsen/nmr-core`'s `EmptyWorkspaceCause`, moving an absent or empty `packages` list onto `no-packages-list` and a value that is not a list of strings onto `unreadable-packages`.
-  - Stops `release-kit` from tagging, publishing, and label-syncing a package that a `!` entry in `pnpm-workspace.yaml` excludes, which its previous `glob`-based resolution could not remove from the match.
-  - Replaces the release of the root package alone with a failure naming the condition that emptied the workspace, when `pnpm-workspace.yaml` does not hold valid YAML or declares a workspace that does not resolve to a package.
-  - Replaces the `no-pattern` remedy that `nmr` printed for a `pnpm-workspace.yaml` declaring no `packages` list, and for one declaring a `packages` value that is not a list of strings.
-  - Raises `engines.node` to `>=24.16.0` in `@williamthorsen/nmr-core` and `@williamthorsen/release-kit`, because Node 24.0 through 24.15 ignores the `followSymlinks` option that the workspace matcher passes to `globSync` and drops a symlinked package directory from the resolution without reporting it.
+  Migration: Mark a breaking change with a `!` on the commit subject or with `breaking: true` on its change-record entry, because a `BREAKING CHANGE:` footer alone now gets the bump of the commit's type. Give each commit that should bump a ticket-ID prefix and a type that the changelog does not exclude. In single-package mode, add `--force` to a release that used `--bump=X` alone, or that relied on the patch floor, when no commit yields a changelog item; without it, `prepare` skips the release.
 
-  Migration: Add a `no-packages-list` arm and an `unreadable-packages` arm to any `switch` that covers `EmptyWorkspaceCause` exhaustively. `no-pattern` now names only a list that the resolver read in full and whose entries all failed to become a positive pattern, so move the handling of an absent `packages` key, an empty list, and a value that is not a list of strings out of the `no-pattern` arm into the two new ones. Route `no-packages-list` to single-package behavior rather than to a failure path: pnpm resolves such a manifest to the root package alone.
+- 🚨 **Breaking:** Key an editorial override to one of several items on a commit (#886)
 
-### 🐛 Bug fixes
+  Adds the `<hash>:<n>` key to `.meta/changelog-overrides.json`. It targets one of the several changelog items that a commit's change-record block yields, while a bare `<hash>` key still targets all of them. Also makes `release-kit prepare` and `release-kit overrides validate` fail when override keys conflict on an item, and publishes a JSON Schema for the override file.
 
-- Truncate release-kit commit subjects by display column (#840)
+  Migration: Replace a bare key that sets `description` or `body` on a commit with several items with one `<hash>:<n>` key per item, as listed by the error message. Where two keys match the same item, such as `abc1234` beside `abc1234:2`, remove one of them. This includes a root-file key that overlaps a workspace-file key, which now fails even though the two files are separate. In each scope passed to `validateAllChangelogOverrides`, rename `hashes` to `items` and pass `OverrideTargetItem` objects (`{ hash, entry? }`) instead of hash strings.
 
-  - Fixes the issue that the `release-kit` prepare report cut a commit subject at 69 UTF-16 code units instead of at display columns, so a subject of CJK characters printed about twice the intended 72-column width and a cut inside an emoji left a broken character that a terminal drew as a replacement glyph.
-  - Replaces the `...` marker on a truncated subject with `…`, the default of the width-aware truncation that now does the cutting.
-  - Exports `truncateToWidth` and `measureWidth` from `@williamthorsen/nmr-core`, which measure and cut text by display width without splitting a grapheme cluster.
+### 🪦 Removed
 
-- Abort show-tag-prefixes on an unusable config (#861)
+- 🚨 **Breaking:** Build changelogs from release-kit's own enumeration and remove git-cliff (#880)
 
-  - Fixes the issue that `release-kit show-tag-prefixes` silently ignored a config file that failed schema validation, which left the preview reading no `legacyIdentities` and no `retiredPackages` and reporting already-declared and retired tag prefixes as undeclared candidates; the command now prints those validation errors and exits 1 with no preview.
+  Removes git-cliff from `@williamthorsen/release-kit`: `prepare` now builds every changelog from the same commit history that decides each version bump, and no longer fetches a git-cliff binary through `npx`. A config that still sets `cliffConfigPath` now fails validation. Two ways in which the changelog and the bump read different commits are gone, affecting single-package repositories with a tag prefix other than `v` and `paths` entries that name a bare directory.
 
-- Abort every config-reading command on an unusable default config (#869)
-
-  - Fixes `publish` proceeding on derived defaults when the default config file exists and fails to load, which silently dropped a configured `releaseNotes.shouldInjectIntoReadme`, `changelogJson.outputPath`, or `workTypes`; it now reports the failure and exits 1, as every other config-reading subcommand does.
-  - Fixes `publish` and `create-github-release` ignoring a broken or invalid default config when every requested tag names a private package, a case in which both commands return before any loader runs.
-
-- Strip trailing Change trailers from changelog item bodies (#870)
-
-  - Fixes a changelog item body that kept a commit's trailing `Change:` trailers, which then appeared verbatim in the rendered release notes, including the notes injected into a README.
+  Migration: Remove `cliffConfigPath` from `.config/release-kit.config.ts`, and delete `.config/git-cliff.toml` or `cliff.toml` if the repository has one. Any customization in that file, such as `tag_pattern` or its tag-skipping keys, no longer has an effect: `release-kit` now splits the changelog on the configured tag prefixes alone.
 <!-- /section:release-notes -->
 
 ## Installation
@@ -86,7 +72,7 @@ Example output from `prepare --dry-run` in a monorepo whose `arrays` workspace h
   📦 1.2.0 → 1.3.0 (minor)
     [dry-run] Would bump packages/arrays/package.json
   Generating changelogs...
-    [dry-run] Would run: npx --prefer-offline --yes git-cliff@<version> ... --output packages/arrays/CHANGELOG.md
+    [dry-run] Would generate changelog: packages/arrays/CHANGELOG.md
   🔖 arrays-v1.3.0
 
 ✅ Release preparation complete.
@@ -102,17 +88,17 @@ gh workflow run release.yaml                  # every workspace with release-wor
 gh workflow run release.yaml -f only=arrays   # the named workspaces alone
 ```
 
-The CLI applies defaults to every discovered workspace and uses the bundled `cliff.toml.template` unless the repository provides a git-cliff config of its own. [Releasing](docs/releasing.md) covers `prepare`'s flags, release-notes previews, and the workflow's inputs.
+The CLI applies defaults to every discovered workspace. [Releasing](docs/releasing.md) covers `prepare`'s flags, release-notes previews, and the workflow's inputs.
 
 ## How it works
 
 1. **Workspace discovery**: reads `pnpm-workspace.yaml` and resolves its `packages` patterns to find workspace directories, applying pnpm's semantics — a `!`-prefixed entry excludes what it matches, wherever it appears in the list. Each directory containing a `package.json` becomes a workspace. The repo is treated as a single-package project when it holds no workspace file, and when the workspace file declares no `packages` list — a file kept for `catalog:` or `overrides:` alone, which pnpm likewise resolves to the root package. A workspace file that declares patterns resolving to no package is an error naming the condition that emptied it.
 2. **Config loading**: loads `.config/release-kit.config.ts` (if present), or the file named by `--config`, and merges it with discovered defaults.
-3. **Commit analysis**: for each workspace, finds commits since the last version tag, parses them for type and scope, and determines the appropriate version bump.
-4. **Version bump + changelog**: bumps `package.json` versions, builds structured `ChangelogEntry[]` from `git-cliff --context`, applies any [editorial overrides](docs/editorial-overrides.md) from per-scope `.meta/changelog-overrides.json` files, and renders both `CHANGELOG.md` and `.meta/changelog.json` from that single source. `git-cliff` is invoked only for its `--context` JSON; markdown rendering happens in-process so `.meta/changelog.json` and `CHANGELOG.md` always agree.
+3. **Commit analysis**: for each workspace, reads the history once, builds the changelog items of the commits since the last version tag, and takes the bump as the highest level that those items call for.
+4. **Version bump + changelog**: bumps `package.json` versions, builds structured `ChangelogEntry[]` from the commits between each pair of release tags, applies any [editorial overrides](docs/editorial-overrides.md) from per-scope `.meta/changelog-overrides.json` files, and renders both `CHANGELOG.md` and `.meta/changelog.json` from that single source, so the two always agree.
 5. **Release tags file**: writes computed tags to `tmp/.release-tags` for the release workflow to read when tagging and pushing.
 
-[Changelogs](docs/changelogs.md) covers what reaches a published tarball, the `changelog.json` item schema, and the git-cliff config.
+[Changelogs](docs/changelogs.md) covers what reaches a published tarball, the `changelog.json` item schema, and which commits reach a changelog.
 
 ## Commit format
 
@@ -163,10 +149,7 @@ Node loads the file directly, so a relative import inside it needs an explicit f
 
 ## External dependencies
 
-This package shells out to two external tools:
-
-- **`git`** — must be available on `PATH`. Used to find tags and retrieve commit history.
-- **`git-cliff`** — pinned to an exact version and fetched via `npx` on first invocation, then served from npx's cache. No need to install it as a dev dependency. The pin moves only when a new release-kit version names a newer git-cliff, so two releases cut months apart run the same changelog generator.
+release-kit shells out to `git`, which must be available on `PATH`, to find tags and read commit history.
 
 ## Readiness checks
 
@@ -198,15 +181,13 @@ rdy run --packages
 5. Remove `changeset:*` scripts from `package.json` (no replacement needed — the CLI handles everything).
 6. Create an initial version tag for each package (e.g., `git tag v1.0.0` or `git tag arrays-v1.0.0`).
 
-No cliff config copy is needed — the bundled template is used automatically. To customize, run `release-kit init --with-config`.
-
 ## Documentation
 
 - [Configuration](docs/configuration.md): `ReleaseKitConfig` fields, workspace overrides and legacy identities, retired packages, tag prefixes, and version patterns
 - [Project releases](docs/project-releases.md): the `project` block, and how a project release interacts with `prepare`'s flags
 - [Releasing](docs/releasing.md): `init`, `prepare`'s flags and release-notes previews, and the release workflow
 - [Publishing](docs/publishing.md): `publish`, the publishability filter, and `create-github-release`
-- [Changelogs](docs/changelogs.md): the `changelog.json` item schema, the git-cliff config, and release-notes injection
+- [Changelogs](docs/changelogs.md): the `changelog.json` item schema, which commits reach a changelog, and release-notes injection
 - [Editorial overrides](docs/editorial-overrides.md): correcting generated changelog entries, and `overrides validate`
 - [Work types and tiers](docs/work-types.md): tiers, the `!` policy, markers, custom work types, and maintenance of the bundled taxonomy
 - [Labels](docs/labels.md): `sync-labels`, label configuration, the workflow's triggers, and the `label-map.json` schema

package/dist/esm/attachChangelogDiagnostics.d.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+import type { ChangelogDiagnostics } from './buildChangelogEntries.js';
+import type { ReleasedWorkspaceResult } from './types.js';
+/** Attaches a history's diagnostics to a released or skipped result, omitting each empty list. */
+export declare function attachChangelogDiagnostics(result: Pick<ReleasedWorkspaceResult, 'malformedBlocks' | 'policyViolations' | 'undeclaredEntryTypes'>, diagnostics: ChangelogDiagnostics): void;

package/dist/esm/attachChangelogDiagnostics.js

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+export function attachChangelogDiagnostics(result, diagnostics) {
+    if (diagnostics.malformedBlocks.length > 0) {
+        result.malformedBlocks = diagnostics.malformedBlocks;
+    }
+    if (diagnostics.undeclaredEntryTypes.length > 0) {
+        result.undeclaredEntryTypes = diagnostics.undeclaredEntryTypes;
+    }
+    if (diagnostics.policyViolations.length > 0) {
+        result.policyViolations = diagnostics.policyViolations;
+    }
+}

package/dist/esm/bin/release-kit.js

@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ Initialize release-kit in the current repository.
 By default, scaffolds only the GitHub Actions workflow files.
 
 Options:
-  --with-config   Also scaffold .config/release-kit.config.ts and .config/git-cliff.toml
+  --with-config   Also scaffold .config/release-kit.config.ts
   --force         Overwrite existing files instead of skipping them
   --dry-run       Preview changes without writing files
   --help, -h      Show this help message
@@ -195,12 +195,13 @@ function showOverridesValidateHelp() {
 Usage: release-kit overrides validate
 
 Validate every \`.meta/changelog-overrides.json\` file across the project and per-workspace
-scopes. Reports schema/parse errors, ambiguous-prefix errors, and stale-key warnings.
+scopes. Reports schema/parse errors, ambiguous-prefix errors, conflicting-key errors, and
+stale-key warnings.
 
 Exit codes:
   0    Clean — no errors, no stale keys
   1    Stale-key warnings only (no errors)
-  2    Schema/parse or ambiguous-prefix errors (errors dominate)
+  2    Schema/parse, ambiguous-prefix, or conflicting-key errors (errors dominate)
 
 Options:
   --config <path>  Path to config file (default: .config/release-kit.config.ts)

package/dist/esm/buildChangelogEntries.d.ts

@@ -1,26 +1,68 @@
+import { type RawCommit } from './enumerateReleaseWindows.js';
 import type { GenerateChangelogOptions } from './generateChangelogs.js';
-import type { ChangelogEntry, ReleaseConfig } from './types.js';
+import type { ChangelogEntry, ChangelogSection, MalformedChangeRecordBlock, PolicyViolation, ReleaseConfig, ReleaseType, UndeclaredEntryType } from './types.js';
 /**
- * Strip cliff-template decorations from a group string, returning the bare section name.
+ * Strips a section title down to its bare name.
  *
- * The bundled `cliff.toml.template` encodes canonical row order as a hidden HTML comment
- * (e.g. `"<!-- 04 -->🐛 Bug fixes"`) so tera's `group_by` filter sorts groups predictably.
- * The body template's `striptags` filter erases the comment from the rendered heading,
- * but downstream consumers that read the raw `group` value (changelog.json titles, the
- * dev-vs-public classifier, the drift test) see the prefix and must strip it. The trailing
- * `stripEmojiPrefix` keeps the helper backward-compatible with consumer overrides written
- * as bare names.
+ * A default title carries a leading emoji (e.g. `"🐛 Bug fixes"`), while a consumer's
+ * `devOnlySections` or `workTypes` override may be written as a bare name. Comparing both sides
+ * through this helper lets the two forms match.
  */
 export declare function stripGroupDecorations(group: string): string;
 /**
- * Build structured changelog entries from git history using git-cliff `--context`.
+ * Builds structured changelog entries from the release windows of git history, naming the unreleased window `tag`.
  *
- * Pure data: invokes git-cliff, parses its `--context` output, and returns the transformed
- * `ChangelogEntry[]`. Performs no `changelog.json` I/O — callers persist the entries via
- * `renderChangelogJson`.
+ * Composes `readReleaseHistory` and `toChangelogEntries` for a caller that knows the tag before it reads. Performs no
+ * `changelog.json` I/O; callers persist the entries via `renderChangelogJson`.
+ */
+export declare function buildChangelogEntries(config: ReleaseHistoryConfig, tag: string, options: GenerateChangelogOptions): {
+    entries: ChangelogEntry[];
+    diagnostics: ChangelogDiagnostics;
+};
+/** What reading the unreleased window reports beyond its items. */
+export interface ChangelogDiagnostics {
+    malformedBlocks: MalformedChangeRecordBlock[];
+    /** Breaking-policy violations of the window's titles and change-record entries. */
+    policyViolations: PolicyViolation[];
+    undeclaredEntryTypes: UndeclaredEntryType[];
+}
+/**
+ * Reads a scope's release windows once and returns the changelog items of every window, with what the unreleased
+ * window decides: its commits, its bump, and its diagnostics.
  *
- * Always invokes git-cliff: dry-run is the caller's concern (it governs whether the file write happens,
- * not whether git-cliff runs). This means dry-run exercises the full git-cliff toolchain and surfaces missing-binary,
- * malformed-config, and template-resolution failures earlier than before.
+ * A commit whose last `change-record` block records entries yields one item per entry; any other commit is
+ * classified by its title through `classifyChangelogCommit`. A `release:` or merge subject yields nothing either
+ * way. Only the unreleased window records diagnostics, since the released windows were reported when they were
+ * prepared.
  */
-export declare function buildChangelogEntries(config: Pick<ReleaseConfig, 'breakingPolicies' | 'changelogJson' | 'cliffConfigPath' | 'workTypes'>, tag: string, options?: GenerateChangelogOptions): ChangelogEntry[];
+export declare function readReleaseHistory(config: ReleaseHistoryConfig, options: GenerateChangelogOptions): ReleaseHistory;
+/** The configuration that `readReleaseHistory` reads. */
+export type ReleaseHistoryConfig = Pick<ReleaseConfig, 'breakingPolicies' | 'changelogJson' | 'versionPatterns' | 'workTypes'>;
+/** One read of a scope's release windows. */
+export interface ReleaseHistory {
+    /** The newest matching tag that HEAD reaches; undefined when none does. */
+    previousTag: string | undefined;
+    /** Entries of the released windows, newest first; a window that yields no item contributes none. */
+    releasedEntries: ChangelogEntry[];
+    unreleased: UnreleasedWindowReading;
+}
+/** The unreleased window: its changelog sections and commits, and the bump and diagnostics that they determine. */
+export interface UnreleasedWindowReading {
+    /** The highest bump that the window's items call for; undefined when the window yields no item. */
+    bump: ReleaseType | undefined;
+    /** The window's commits, newest first, without release commits. */
+    commits: RawCommit[];
+    /** The date of the window's entry, from the time of the read. */
+    date: string;
+    diagnostics: ChangelogDiagnostics;
+    /** The number of commits that yield at least one item. */
+    parsedCommitCount: number;
+    sections: ChangelogSection[];
+    /**
+     * Commits that yield no item and that neither an exclusion nor a diagnostic accounts for, newest first; undefined
+     * when none.
+     */
+    unparseableCommits: RawCommit[] | undefined;
+}
+/** Labels the unreleased window of `history` with `tag` and returns the entries of every window, newest first. */
+export declare function toChangelogEntries(history: ReleaseHistory, tag: string): ChangelogEntry[];