docs agent failed: mislabeled breaking change as minor

TL;DR

Check the actual API diff before the agent assigns a version bump. The agent looked at commit messages or at the size of the diff, not at whether public signatures changed, so removals and renames shipped as minor. Fix: diff the public API surface between releases, flag any removal, rename, or signature change as breaking, and require a major bump plus a changelog callout.

The error

docs agent failed: mislabeled breaking change as minor

Steps

1. Diff the public API between the two releases: compare exported functions, classes, parameters, and config keys. Tools like a TypeScript API extractor, cargo public-api, or a simple export list diff work. Expected: a list of removed, renamed, and signature-changed symbols.

2. Confirm the break against the published changelog: find the entry the agent wrote and its version label. Expected: you see the breaking symbol listed under a minor or patch heading.

3. Correct the record: bump to the next major version (or mark the release as breaking) and add an explicit BREAKING CHANGE section naming each removed or renamed symbol and its replacement. Expected: the changelog states plainly what breaks and how to migrate.

4. Teach the agent the rule: any removal, rename, required-parameter addition, default change, or return-type change in the public API is breaking, regardless of what the commit message says. Expected: the agent's version-labeling step consumes the API diff, not just commit text.

5. Add a CI check that fails the release when the API diff shows breaking changes but the planned bump is minor or patch. Expected: mislabeled releases are blocked before publishing.

Use this when

• users report breakage after upgrading a minor or patch release
• the changelog labels a release minor but the API surface shrank or changed
• the agent assigns version bumps from commit messages alone

Not for this skill when

• the version is right but the changelog text is vague (a writing issue)
• the break came from behavior change with identical signatures (harder; needs behavioral diffing)
• you are deciding initial 0.x versioning policy (a policy question)

Variant phrasings

• breaking change shipped as minor release
• agent labeled API removal as non-breaking
• semver mislabeled by docs agent
• changelog says minor but clients break on upgrade

Why it happens

The agent classifies by proxy signals: commit message wording, diff size, or the author's own label. None of those reliably indicate compatibility. Only the public API diff tells the truth, and the agent never computed it.

Edge cases

• Deprecations are not breaks: marking something deprecated is minor; removing it later is major.
• Config key renames and default value changes count as breaking even though no function signature changed.
• 0.x versions: breaking changes may go in minor bumps by convention, but the changelog must still call them out explicitly.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_4V6npIMuqhDMUOkhWTxFAQ