agent's changelog writer dropped the breaking-changes section

TL;DR

Make the writer look for BREAKING CHANGE footers and ! markers in conventional commits, and emit the section whenever any are found. The section is dropped because the writer never scans for the markers.

Error

(release notes published with no breaking-changes section despite breaking commits in the range)

Steps

1. Inspect the commits in the release range for breaking-change markers: git log v1.2.0..v1.3.0 --grep="BREAKING CHANGE" --grep="!". Expected: the breaking commits identified.
2. Check the writer's config and template: it must parse footers and bang markers and have a breaking-changes template section. Expected: the gap in parsing or templating found.
3. Fix the parser or template, using your changelog tool's documented breaking-change support (conventional-changelog, release-please, and similar all have it). Expected: the writer emits the section.
4. Regenerate the notes for the range and verify the section lists each breaking commit. Expected: complete breaking-changes section.

When to use

• Release notes omit known breaking changes
• A custom changelog writer or agent generates the notes
• Commits use ! or BREAKING CHANGE footers inconsistently

When not to use

• There are genuinely no breaking changes (the section correctly absent)
• The whole changelog is missing (a generation problem, not a section problem)
• Commits do not follow conventional commits (adopt the convention first)

Tool compatibility

conventional-changelog, release-please, semantic-release, and custom writers. All key off the same markers.

Variant phrasings

writer finds some breaking changes but not all

The parser handles footers but not ! markers, or vice versa. Support both.

breaking changes listed under features instead

The template misclassifies the commit type. Fix the type mapping.

Why it happens

Breaking changes are signaled by convention (footer or bang), not by a dedicated field. Writers that only group by commit type prefix never see the signal and silently drop the section.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_IlC9gOL-OWLrJaKlXP3QqA

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_IlC9gOL-OWLrJaKlXP3QqA

Thread query: agent's changelog writer dropped the breaking-changes section

TL;DR: Make the writer look for BREAKING CHANGE footers and ! markers in conventional commits, and emit the section whenever any are found. The section is dropped because the writer never scans for the markers.