Collaborative Release Notes Generator

A full-stack web application designed to streamline the process of creating, managing, and generating software release notes. This service provides a collaborative environment where users can define release metadata, automatically summarize JIRA tickets using AI, and scrape upstream bug fixes to produce comprehensive, well-formatted Markdown documents.

The application supports multiple Percona projects including PSMDB, PBM, PLM, and various Kubernetes operators (K8SPSMDB, K8SPS, K8SPXC, P8SPG), with specialized handling for upstream integration (MongoDB release notes and bug fixes) for PSMDB projects.

Features

• Collaborative Dashboard: View all releases in a central dashboard.
• Persistent Storage: All release metadata is stored in a MongoDB database, allowing for collaborative editing and management.
• AI-Powered Summaries: Integrates with the Gemini API to automatically generate user-friendly summaries from technical JIRA ticket descriptions.
• Upstream Bug Scraping: Automatically visits MongoDB JIRA URLs, scrapes the content, and uses AI to summarize the bug fixes.
• Dynamic Markdown Generation: Produces clean, well-structured Markdown with dedicated sections for release highlights, upstream improvements, and categorized JIRA tickets.
• Markdown Preview: A built-in preview tab renders the generated Markdown as HTML, showing exactly how it will look.
• Configuration Management: A dedicated settings page to securely store API keys and service URLs.
• Containerized Deployment: The entire stack (Flask backend, MongoDB) is containerized with Docker for easy setup and consistent deployment.

Tech Stack

• Backend: Python with Flask (modular architecture with blueprints)
• Database: MongoDB
• Frontend: Vanilla JavaScript (modular SPA), HTML5, Tailwind CSS
• AI Integration: Google Gemini API
• Web Scraping: BeautifulSoup4, lxml
• Containerization: Docker, Docker Compose

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Project Structure

/release-notes-generator/
├── docker-compose.yml      # Orchestrates the web and db containers
├── Dockerfile              # Defines the build steps for the Flask container
├── requirements.txt        # Python dependencies for the backend
├── app.py                  # Flask app factory and entry point
├── /modules/               # Backend modules
│   ├── __init__.py         # Package initializer
│   ├── api.py              # API routes blueprint (/api/*)
│   ├── views.py            # View routes blueprint (/, /release)
│   └── helpers.py          # Business logic and utility functions
│   ├── api.py              # API routes for data handling
│   ├── views.py            # View routes for serving HTML pages
│   ├── helpers.py          # Business logic and utility functions
│   └── gen_markdown.py     # Script to generate certified images table
├── /static/
│   ├── /css/
│   │   └── style.css       # Custom CSS styles
│   ├── /icons/             # Project-specific icons for the timeline
│   │   ├── kubernetes.png
│   │   └── mongodb.png
│   ├── /img/
│   │   └── dashboard.png   # Dashboard image for README.md
│   └── /js/
│       ├── main.js         # Dashboard and settings JavaScript
│       └── release.js      # Release management JavaScript
└── /templates/
    ├── index.html          # Main dashboard and settings page
    └── release.html        # Release creation and details page

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Setup and Running the Application

Prerequisites

• Docker
• Docker Compose

Instructions

1. Clone the Repository: Clone or download all the project files into a single directory named release-notes-generator.

2. Build and Run the Containers: Open a terminal, navigate to the root of the release-notes-generator directory, and run the following command:

   docker-compose up --build

   This command will:

   • Build the Flask application image based on the Dockerfile.
   • Pull the latest MongoDB image.
   • Create and start both the web and db containers.
   • Set up a network for the containers to communicate.

3. Access the Application: Once the containers are running, open your web browser and navigate to: http://127.0.0.1:8080

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How to Use

1. Configure Settings:

   • Navigate to the Settings page using the top navigation bar.
   • Enter your JIRA URL (e.g., your-company.atlassian.net), JIRA email, JIRA API Token, and your Gemini API Token.
   • Click Save Settings. These are stored in the database and are required for the generation features.

2. Create a New Release:

   • Go to the Dashboard.
   • Click the New Release button (opens the dedicated release page).
   • Fill in the release details:
     • Version: The version number of your release (e.g., 2.15.0).
     • Project: Select the project (PSMDB, PBM, PLM, K8SPSMDB, K8SPS, K8SPXC, P8SPG).
     • Introduction Template: Choose a preset introduction or use custom text.
     • Introduction: Auto-generated for PSMDB based on upstream URLs, or editable for other projects.
     • Planned Release Date: The target date for the release.
     • Release Highlights: (Optional) Add custom Markdown for key features or announcements.
     • JIRA Ticket Keys: A comma or space-separated list of your project's JIRA tickets.
     • Upstream Release URLs: (PSMDB only) URLs to the official MongoDB Community Edition release notes.
     • Upstream Bug Fix URLs: (PSMDB only) URLs to specific bug tickets on jira.mongodb.org.
   • Click Save Release.

3. Generate Release Notes:

   • From the dashboard, click on the release you just created to go to the Release Details page.
   • Click the Generate button.
   • The application will contact the JIRA and Gemini APIs, perform any necessary web scraping, and generate the complete Markdown document.
   • The result will be displayed in both raw Markdown and a rendered Preview tab.
   • Use the Copy button to copy the generated Markdown to your clipboard.

4. Edit and Manage:

   • You can edit any release by clicking the Edit button on the dashboard or the details page.
   • The generated Markdown is saved to the database, so it will be available immediately the next time you visit the details page.
   • Navigation between dashboard and release pages is seamless with the modular page structure.