Remove notes-file from create-release

.github/actions/create-release/action.yml

@@ -11,12 +11,6 @@ inputs:
     description: Release title. Defaults to the tag.
     required: false
     default: ""
-  notes-file:
-    description: >-
-      Markdown file prepended to GitHub's generated notes. Use it for the one
-      or two sentences a human wrote about this release.
-    required: false
-    default: ""
   target:
     description: >-
       Commit to tag. Defaults to HEAD. Tag the commit that already has the
@@ -49,15 +43,13 @@ runs:
         GH_TOKEN: ${{ inputs.token }}
         TAG: ${{ inputs.tag }}
         TITLE: ${{ inputs.title }}
-        NOTES_FILE: ${{ inputs.notes-file }}
         TARGET: ${{ inputs.target }}
         ARTIFACTS: ${{ inputs.artifacts }}
         GENERATE_NOTES: ${{ inputs.generate-notes }}
         DRY_RUN: ${{ inputs.dry-run }}
       run: |
         ARGS=(--tag "$TAG")
         [ -n "$TITLE" ] && ARGS+=(--title "$TITLE")
-        [ -n "$NOTES_FILE" ] && ARGS+=(--notes-file "$NOTES_FILE")
         [ -n "$TARGET" ] && ARGS+=(--target "$TARGET")
         [ "$GENERATE_NOTES" = "false" ] && ARGS+=(--no-generate-notes)
         [ "$DRY_RUN" = "true" ] && ARGS+=(--dry-run)

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -12,6 +12,22 @@ what moved. See
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Removed
+
+- `create-release`'s `notes-file` input, and `--notes-file` from
+  `bin/create-release.sh`. Notes are written when the draft is published: the
+  release editor is a real text area with a preview, in front of the draft
+  being reviewed, and whoever passes notes in is the same person about to open
+  it. Passing them in also means collecting them in a `workflow_dispatch`
+  input, which is a single-line box showing barely a phrase.
+
+  **Released as a minor by exception.** Removing an input is a major change by
+  [ADR-0006](docs/decisions/0006-version-with-moving-major-tags.md). This
+  input shipped in 1.3.0 earlier the same day, and the only consumer of the
+  action is changing in lockstep to stop passing it, so no caller breaks. The
+  exception holds while these actions are in heavy development and have no
+  outside users; once they do, the rule applies as written.
+
 ## [1.3.0] - 2026-09-10
 
 ### Added

README.md

@@ -312,7 +312,6 @@ your own deploy job, or use a `docs-*.yml` reusable workflow.
 | --- | --- | --- |
 | `tag` | — | Tag to create, e.g. `v1.2.3` (required) |
 | `title` | the tag | Release title |
-| `notes-file` | — | Markdown prepended to the generated notes |
 | `target` | `HEAD` | Commit to tag |
 | `artifacts` | — | Files to attach, one path per line |
 | `generate-notes` | `true` | Include GitHub's commit-derived notes |
@@ -324,6 +323,10 @@ checks the artifacts, and presses the button. Nothing here publishes, and
 nothing here decides a version — the caller has already bumped whatever holds
 it and committed that.
 
+**Notes are written when the draft is published.** The draft opens with
+GitHub's generated commit list; whoever publishes it adds prose above that in
+the release editor.
+
 `target` matters when the release follows a metadata regeneration. Tag the
 commit that has the regenerated files, not the one that only bumped the
 version, or the archive ships metadata describing the previous release.

bin/create-release.sh

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 # decides a version -- the caller has already bumped whatever holds it and
 # committed that, so this tags what is in front of it.
 #
-#   create-release.sh --tag v1.2.3 --notes-file notes.md --artifact dist/app.zip
+#   create-release.sh --tag v1.2.3 --artifact dist/app.zip
 #
 # Authentication is not handled here. The caller is expected to have gh
 # authenticated already -- in CI that is GH_TOKEN, locally it is your own
@@ -17,7 +17,6 @@ set -euo pipefail
 
 TAG=""
 TITLE=""
-NOTES_FILE=""
 TARGET=""
 DRY_RUN="false"
 GENERATE_NOTES="true"
@@ -30,7 +29,6 @@ create-release.sh -- tag a commit and open a draft GitHub release
 Options:
   --tag NAME            tag to create, e.g. v1.2.3                (required)
   --title TEXT          release title                    (default: the tag)
-  --notes-file FILE     Markdown prepended to the generated notes
   --target SHA          commit to tag                     (default: HEAD)
   --artifact PATH       file to attach, repeatable
   --no-generate-notes   omit GitHub's commit-derived notes
@@ -43,7 +41,6 @@ while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
   case "$1" in
     --tag)                TAG="$2"; shift 2 ;;
     --title)              TITLE="$2"; shift 2 ;;
-    --notes-file)         NOTES_FILE="$2"; shift 2 ;;
     --target)             TARGET="$2"; shift 2 ;;
     --artifact)           ARTIFACTS+=("$2"); shift 2 ;;
     --no-generate-notes)  GENERATE_NOTES="false"; shift ;;
@@ -59,11 +56,6 @@ command -v gh >/dev/null || { echo "create-release: gh is not installed" >&2; ex
 [ -n "$TITLE" ] || TITLE="$TAG"
 [ -n "$TARGET" ] || TARGET="$(git rev-parse HEAD)"
 
-if [ -n "$NOTES_FILE" ] && [ ! -f "$NOTES_FILE" ]; then
-  echo "create-release: no such file: $NOTES_FILE" >&2
-  exit 1
-fi
-
 # An empty or missing artifact means the build silently produced nothing, which
 # is the failure worth catching -- a release with no files looks fine until
 # someone tries to download one.
@@ -83,7 +75,6 @@ fi
 
 declare -a ARGS=("$TAG" --draft --title "$TITLE" --target "$TARGET")
 [ "$GENERATE_NOTES" = "true" ] && ARGS+=(--generate-notes)
-[ -n "$NOTES_FILE" ] && ARGS+=(--notes-file "$NOTES_FILE")
 for f in ${ARTIFACTS[@]+"${ARTIFACTS[@]}"}; do ARGS+=("$f"); done
 
 echo "tag:       $TAG"