## TL;DR
The release-notes fetch hit the rate limit, so the agent gave up and pasted raw commits as the PR body. Wait for the quota reset (or fetch from cache), generate the real summary, and replace the PR body.

## Error
```text
agent's release-notes fetch hit the GitHub API rate limit and it pasted the raw commit list as the PR body
```

## Steps
1. Confirm the state: check the PR body and the agent logs for the rate-limit error during the notes fetch.
   Expected output: The body is raw commits and the logs show the limit hit.
2. Fetch the release notes properly after the quota resets, or from the registry-native endpoints and cache.
   Expected output: You have the actual release notes for the version range.
3. Write the summary the agent should have written: what changed, breaking changes, and links to the upstream notes.
   Expected output: A concise, accurate PR body.
4. Replace the PR body and note the correction so reviewers know the summary is now real.
   Expected output: Reviewers read a summary, not a commit dump.
5. Change the agent's fallback: on a rate-limited fetch, the step must wait or retry with backoff, never substitute raw commits as the summary.
   Expected output: The next limit hit delays the PR instead of degrading it.

## When to use
- A PR body is a raw commit list instead of release notes
- The notes fetch failed with a rate-limit error
- You are writing fallback rules for agent fetch steps

## When not to use
- A deliberately detailed commit-list changelog; that is a style choice
- Missing notes because upstream has none; say so in the body
- PR bodies mangled for other reasons; fix the actual cause

### Variant phrasings
#### PR body is raw commits after rate limit
#### release notes fetch failed, agent pasted commit list
#### retry release notes fetch with backoff instead of fallback

## Why it happens
The agent's fetch step had a degraded fallback: when the API said no, it substituted the data it already had (the commit list) for the data it was supposed to produce (the summary). The PR looked complete, so nobody noticed the body was junk.

## Edge cases
- Some upstreams genuinely have no release notes; the honest body says that, with links to the compare view.
- Backoff with a long quota reset can stall the pipeline; fetch notes earlier in the run, before the quota is spent.
- A corrected PR body should be re-requested for review; reviewers may have already skimmed the junk version.

## Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_HTfQf6wb84uT-tnN7ZpIcQ