# Release Notes

## Overview

Release Notes is an AI-powered feature that compiles all your completed work and generates a concise summary. This is particularly useful for sharing updates with stakeholders via Slack.

## Basics <a href="#h_75fbf410f3" id="h_75fbf410f3"></a>

### Generation

Haystack leverages issue metadata like titles, descriptions, and parent tasks to generate release notes.

### Timeframes <a href="#h_360d2bd2d5" id="h_360d2bd2d5"></a>

Haystack generates release notes for Scrum teams per sprint and for Kanban teams per week.

### Categories <a href="#h_902f7f4438" id="h_902f7f4438"></a>

Release notes categorize your work into three buckets: Features, Bugs, and Other.

### Underlying issues <a href="#h_74887530e9" id="h_74887530e9"></a>

Each Release Notes bullet point contains a link to view underlying issues.

<figure><img src="https://933147321-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbiIqB8vq91hNrILQ1MAF%2Fuploads%2FOwGsGLGb3ge3oCyGU083%2FExport-1716570088949.gif?alt=media&#x26;token=6b1c21cd-009d-40bc-b8c2-d359cecf85d4" alt=""><figcaption><p>See underlying issues of each Release Notes bullet point</p></figcaption></figure>

### Share in Slack <a href="#h_74326cd73b" id="h_74326cd73b"></a>

To automatically share release notes to a Slack channel, click "Send automatic updates" and select the desired channel.

<figure><img src="https://933147321-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbiIqB8vq91hNrILQ1MAF%2Fuploads%2FU1kwKN04aINT5c69M5o6%2FExport-1716560521730.gif?alt=media&#x26;token=3296194d-c834-4597-bf42-7fa55a9423c2" alt=""><figcaption><p>Send Release notes automatically in Slack</p></figcaption></figure>

Release notes will be sent automatically at the end of each sprint (for Scrum teams) and at the beginning of the following week (for Kanban teams). Example Slack alert:

<figure><img src="https://933147321-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbiIqB8vq91hNrILQ1MAF%2Fuploads%2FPXJvtaFI2i8PegIPQ24d%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=eeee3510-c868-49df-bb7b-77c165884c87" alt=""><figcaption><p>Slack Release Notes are designed to credit engineers who completed tasks by tagging them</p></figcaption></figure>

### Copy text <a href="#h_0c4a2f2298" id="h_0c4a2f2298"></a>

To add Release Notes to other tools, copy the content to your clipboard by clicking "Copy text" near the Release Notes title.

<figure><img src="https://933147321-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbiIqB8vq91hNrILQ1MAF%2Fuploads%2FsG31O5Rb0lYDvEmEDM5U%2FExport-1716561959043.gif?alt=media&#x26;token=4d05c4ff-2f1e-4608-b2d8-a6bb623f2eda" alt=""><figcaption><p>Copy and Paste you release notes to other tools</p></figcaption></figure>

### Share via URL <a href="#h_e179cab759" id="h_e179cab759"></a>

You can share the page URL with other Haystack users to access the exact Release Notes. Non-Haystack users can be invited to the platform at no extra charge.

### Custom Release Notes <a href="#h_96276df186" id="h_96276df186"></a>

To create a summary for larger timeframes, select "Custom release notes" from the top right menu.

<figure><img src="https://933147321-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FbiIqB8vq91hNrILQ1MAF%2Fuploads%2FsaUculKHLRcjIqSJr3Ex%2FExport-1716562733977.gif?alt=media&#x26;token=4d5ba811-31dd-4f6a-8ac8-f0ca3af1f7a2" alt=""><figcaption><p>Custom Release Notes</p></figcaption></figure>

#### Select date range

You can select dates up to 6 months in the past. All selected days start at 00:00 and end at 23:59 GMT.

#### Select group by

1. Auto (Features/Bugs/Other)
2. By epic

#### Configure

Once you select your configurations, click "Generate". Generating release notes may take some time depending on your data size. You can leave the page and return later; your release notes will be available in the dashboard once generated.

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## FAQ <a href="#h_efd255d526" id="h_efd255d526"></a>

<details>

<summary>How are release notes generated?</summary>

Haystack uses GPT-4 to summarize all Jira issues moved to “Done” during the selected timeframe.

</details>

<details>

<summary>What data is used to generate release notes?</summary>

Haystack uses your definition of done based on the team’s project board. Every board defines it’s own statuses, each status mapped to a category (To Do, In Progress, Done). Haystack considers issues in the “Done” category to be released.

</details>

<details>

<summary>Do you have release notes for multiple teams?</summary>

No, release notes are currently supported for a single team. if you’d like to create multi-team release notes we suggest sending release notes to a shared #releases slack channel to collect release notes for each team

</details>

<details>

<summary>Can I re-generate release notes?</summary>

No, release notes are cached after they have been generated. If you’d like to re-generate release notes, message us at <support@usehaystack.io>

</details>