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From work-ticket creation to release notes, DocOps Lab has you covered with two new apps that assist the bulk posting of issues and later generate precisely formatted release histories from them.

Issuer and ReleaseHx are fully Dockerized and available now on GitHub.

Step 1: Manager bulk creates Jira work items or GitHub issues.

Issuer lets you author in YAML and create dozens or even hundreds of work tickets/issues in popular cloud platforms. Use generative AI in a code editor to author in YAML and Markdown, then post and even assign tickets with one command.

Step 2: Develop features, fix bugs, and write docs.

Use your favorite tools to code the product and the docs.

Step 3: Generate release notes and/or changelog from those issue tickets.

With ReleaseHx: Draft release notes and changelog entries from custom fields or demarcated text in cloud-based issues, saving them as Markdown, AsciiDoc, or YAML files for further editing. Then convert once more or publish as-is in your static-site generator of choice or upload to GitHub as release-announcement content.

Issuer

Issuer is a no-nonsense utility for bulk creating issue tickets. It uses a generalized, YAML-based format and straightforward commands.

Example issue-creation YAML (v1.0.0-issues.yml)
$meta:
  proj: myorg/myproject
  defaults:
    vrsn: 1.0.0
    user: project-manager
    tags: [enhancement]
    type: Task

issues:
  - summ: Add user authentication
    body: |
      Implement secure login and registration functionality.
      
      Requirements:
      - Password hashing
      - Session management
      - Two-factor authentication support
    type: Feature
    tags: [security, authentication]
    user: backend-dev

  - summ: Fix responsive design issues
    body: |
      The current layout breaks on mobile devices.
      Need to ensure proper responsive behavior.
    type: Bug
    tags: [bug, ui, mobile]
    user: frontend-dev

  - summ: Create API documentation
    body: |
      Generate comprehensive API documentation for developers.
      Include examples and authentication details.
    vrsn: 1.1.0
    tags: [documentation, api]
Example Issuer command to bulk-create issues
issuer v1.0.0-issues.yml

With a properly stored API token, that’s all it takes to generate scores of issue items all at once.

There is of course much more to the tool. If you wish to get started with it and get stuck or have any questions or suggestions, post an issue the old-fashioned way and I’ll be happy to chat with you.

ReleaseHx

When you are ready to produce release notes or a changelog, switch to ReleaseHx. This utility is far more powerful than Issuer at this time, as it enables advanced templating and an extraordinary amount of configurable flexibility in its operations.

Once configured, ReleaseHx generates reports in a wide range of shapes (release notes, changelog, or a hybrid of your design) and formats (Markdown, AsciiDoc, HTML, or PDF). Most notably, it can generate an interim YAML file for further editing and even ongoing updates as additional release notes are drafted in Jira or GitHub by your team.

This time the work is done in the reverse order; start with a command and generate the YAML (or other) output.

Example ReleaseHx command to generate release notes
rhx 1.2.1 --yaml
Example RHYML output file
releases: # Optional key to contain multiple releases
  - # Array (sequence) of releases
    code: 1.2.1 # Required key for an individual release
    date: 2025-07-21 # Optional key for release date
    memo: |
      A note of any length, formatted as Markdown (default) or AsciiDoc (configured).
    changes:    # Required key for Array of changes
      -         # Array (seqence) of changes
        chid: 1234 # change ID
        tick: ACME-API-5678 # issue ticket ID
        hash: abcdef0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef01
        type: feature
        part: auth
        summ: Added new user-authentication flow
        note: |
          The login process now supports multi-factor authentication and single sign-on options.
          Users will need to re-authenticate on their next login to set up these new security features.
        tags: # issue labels
          - breaking
          - highlight

This utility also checks your cloud platform for updated issues, and it can even append issues to the YAML file when your colleagues add them.

Ping the cloud for updated issues
rhx 1.2.1 --check
Release Note Check Report

• Release Code:       1.2.1
• Issues Fetched:     23
• Viable Issues:      21
• Notables:           9 (labeled 'needs:note')
• Notes Present:      9

No missing release notes!
Bring in the new notes
rhx 1.2.1 --append
Appended 2 new issues to _drafts/1.2.1.yml

You can even use multiple issue projects in a single release by altering the configuration and re-running with --append.

Add issues from another repo/project
rhx 1.2.1 --append --config frontend/releasehx-settings.yml
Appended 3 new issues to _drafts/1.2.1.yml

Get ReleaseHx and/or Issuer

These utilities are separate for good reasons, but they can both be installed and used by way of a common Docker image.

docker pull docopslab/issuer-rhx:latest

Executing commands with either app is thus:

docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/work docopslab/issuer-rhx:latest issuer v1.1.0-issues.yml
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/work docopslab/issuer-rhx:latest rhx 1.2.1 --yaml

Establish permanent aliases the base docker run commands to issuer and rhx in your shell, and you can use them just like any other command-line utility.

Show instructions on setting shell aliases.

In Bash, use your ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_aliases file.

In Zsh, use your ~/.zshrc file.

alias issuer='docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/work docopslab/issuer-rhx:latest issuer'
alias rhx='docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/work docopslab/issuer-rhx:latest rhx'
Now just run
issuer v1.1.0-issues.yml
rhx 1.2.1 --yaml

Both are Ruby apps with their own Ruby APIs, all documented in their respective READMEs. But for non-Ruby users, the Docker image is the easiest way to get started.

System-wide Ruby install
gem install issuer && gem install releasehx
Project-specific Ruby install via Gemfile
gem 'issuer'
gem 'releasehx'
Then run…​
bundle install

Demo Repository

DocOps Lab maintains a demonstration repository full of examples and sample files for ReleaseHx.

Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/DocOps/releasehx-demo.git
Change into the directory
cd releasehx-demo
Pull the combined image (if you haven’t already)
docker pull docopslab/issuer-rhx:latest

What’s Next for these Utilities?

Both utilities are in active development, and each does far more than I’ve described above. Nevertheless, I have a number of features planned for them, as you can glean from their respective GitHub Issues boards.

Issuer After 1.0

The biggest idea I have would be a massive extension of Issuer and the IMYML file format it introduces.

What if you could not only create issues in YAML but actually maintain them in Git-tracked YAML, with the help of Copilot or your favorite IDE with generative AI support? I have not field tested this in any way, but I am strongly tempted to give it a try. I have published a draft Specification/proposal for the format and tooling, but it’s going to be way on the back burner until there is active interest.

ReleaseHx 1.0

Unlike Issuer, ReleaseHx is already overpowered for a newly launched tool, so I know there will be plenty of work maintaining its current features.

Bug reports are quite welcome.

Some additional powers it will gain include:

  • Support for other platforms

  • Inferring Git merge hashes from issue IDs in commit messages