Change Log, Running Product Change Record

Purpose

Maintains a chronological, append-only record of all meaningful changes to a product. Unlike CLAUDE.local.md (which is AI context), the change log is a stakeholder-facing document suitable for sharing with leadership, auditors, and team members.

Process

Step 1: Determine Mode

• /change-log init, Create new change log, backfill from CLAUDE.local.md
• /change-log update, Find changes since last entry, propose new entries
• /change-log release {version}, Create release summary from accumulated entries
• /change-log (no args), Same as update

Step 2: Read Context

Always read:

• CLAUDE.local.md, Recent Changes section (primary source of truth for what changed)
• Existing change log file (if update or release mode)

For init mode, also read:

• Meeting-Notes/ directory listing, to identify decision-bearing meetings
• PRD/, version history sections
• .sync-watch.json, project name

For update mode:

• Find the date of the last change log entry
• Read any Meeting-Notes/ files dated after that
• Read CLAUDE.local.md Recent Changes entries dated after that

Step 3: Extract Changes

For each source, extract structured change data:

- Date: YYYY-MM-DD
- Summary: one-line description
- Type: Feature | Enhancement | Bug Fix | Configuration | Process | Security | Documentation
- Impact: High | Medium | Low
- Components: which modules/layers/documents were affected
- Author: who made or requested the change
- Approved By: who approved (if known from meeting notes)
- Details: bullet list of specific changes
- Rationale: why the change was made
- Downstream: what else was updated as a result

Impact classification:

• High, Changes product behavior, affects users, or modifies architecture
• Medium, Updates documentation, adds stakeholders, changes processes
• Low, Minor fixes, formatting, internal-only changes