Breaking Change Doc

Trigger modes

• Interactive: Ask Copilot (e.g. "Document the breaking change in PR #114929"). The skill presents a draft for review before publishing.
• Automated: The GitHub Agentic Workflow at .github/workflows/breaking-change-doc.md triggers when a PR labeled needs-breaking-change-doc-created is merged (or the label is added to an already-merged PR). It can also be run manually via workflow_dispatch with an optional suppress_output flag for dry-run inspection. The compiled workflow (.lock.yml) must be regenerated with gh aw compile after changes.

Files

Step 0: Accept Input

The user provides one of:

• A PR number (e.g. #114929 or 114929)
• A PR URL (e.g. https://github.com/dotnet/runtime/pull/114929)
• A request like "document the breaking change in PR 114929"

Extract the PR number. The source repository is always dotnet/runtime.

Step 1: Gather PR Context

Use GitHub tools to read comprehensive PR data. Collect all of the following:

1. PR metadata: title, author, base branch, merge commit SHA, merged-at date, labels, state.
2. PR body: the full description.
3. Changed files: list of file paths modified.
4. PR comments and reviews: read all comments and review comments for context about the change's impact.
5. Closing issues: if the PR closes any issues, read those issues fully (body + comments) — they often contain the motivation and user-reported impact.
6. Feature area labels: extract area-* labels. If none exist, report an error asking the user to set one.

Identifying the feature area

Map the area-* label to the dotnet/docs feature area dropdown value:

If the mapping is unclear, use "Other (please put exact area in description textbox)" and include the actual area label in the description.

Step 2: Detect Version Information

Run the helper script to determine the .NET version context:

pwsh .github/skills/breaking-change-doc/Get-VersionInfo.ps1 -PrNumber <number>

The script outputs JSON with:

• LastTagBeforeMerge — the closest release tag before the merge commit
• FirstTagWithChange — the first tag that contains this commit (or "Not yet released")
• EstimatedVersion — human-readable version string like ".NET 11 Preview 3"
• MergeCommit — the merge commit SHA
• MergedAt — when the PR was merged

Use EstimatedVersion as the version for the breaking change issue.

If the script returns an error, fall back to reading the PR's base branch and recent tags manually to estimate the version.

Step 3: Check for Existing Documentation

Search for existing breaking change issues in dotnet/docs:

• Search dotnet/docs issues for Breaking change <PR_NUMBER> with label breaking-change.
• If a matching issue already exists, report it to the user and stop — do not create a duplicate.

Step 4: Fetch Reference Material

Issue template

Read the breaking change issue template from dotnet/docs at: .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/02-breaking-change.yml

gh api repos/dotnet/docs/contents/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/02-breaking-change.yml -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.raw"

This template defines the required sections and dropdown values. Use it as a structural reference only — do not output YAML.

Example issues

Search dotnet/docs for 2-3 recent issues with the breaking-change label. Read their bodies to understand the expected quality, tone, and level of detail.

Step 5: Author the Documentation

Generate a complete breaking change issue. The output must be clean markdown formatted to work with the GitHub issue form template. Structure it as follows:

Required sections

Title

[Breaking change]: <concise description of the change>

Do not just repeat the PR title. Write a clear, user-facing summary.

Description

Brief description of the breaking change. Include the PR link.

Version

Use the EstimatedVersion from Step 2. Must match one of the template dropdown values (e.g., ".NET 11 Preview 3"). If it doesn't match exactly, use "Other (please put exact version in description textbox)" and state the version in the description.

Previous behavior

Describe what happened before the change. Include a code example if applicable showing the old behavior.

New behavior

Describe what happens now. Include a code example if applicable showing the new behavior. Highlight exceptions thrown, changed return values, or different default settings.

Type of breaking change

Categorize as one or more of:

• Binary incompatible: existing binaries may fail to load/execute
• Source incompatible: existing source may fail to compile
• Behavioral change: existing binaries behave differently at runtime

Most changes are behavioral. Only mark binary/source incompatible when the change actually affects compilation or binary loading.

Reason for change

Explain why the change was made. Reference the motivation from the PR body and closing issues.

Recommended action

Provide specific, actionable guidance:

• Code changes the user should make
• Configuration switches to restore old behavior (if any exist, e.g. AppContext switches)
• Workarounds

Feature area

Use the mapping from Step 1.

Affected APIs

List all affected APIs. For methods, specify whether it's all overloads or specific ones. Use fully qualified names (e.g., System.IO.Compression.ZipArchiveEntry.Open()).

Quality guidelines

• Professional tone — this is official Microsoft documentation.
• Concrete examples — before/after code snippets make the change tangible.
• Actionable guidance — don't just describe the problem, help users fix it.
• Accurate version — use the detected version from Step 2.
• Complete API list — review the diff to find all affected public APIs.

Step 6: Publish

Write the issue draft file

Create the output directory and write the full markdown content from Step 5 (everything except the title line) to artifacts/docs/breakingChanges/issue-draft.md. This file is the primary output and can be reviewed before taking any further action.

mkdir -p artifacts/docs/breakingChanges

Build the PR comment file

Run the helper script to produce a PR comment with a URL-encoded issue link:

pwsh .github/skills/breaking-change-doc/Build-IssueComment.ps1 \
  -IssueDraftPath artifacts/docs/breakingChanges/issue-draft.md \
  -Title "<the [Breaking change]: ... title from Step 5>" \
  -OutputPath artifacts/docs/breakingChanges/pr-comment.md

The script:

• URL-encodes the title, body, and labels using [Uri]::EscapeDataString
• Builds a clickable https://github.com/dotnet/docs/issues/new?... link
• Writes pr-comment.md containing the full draft, the link, and an email reminder
• Warns if the URL exceeds browser length limits

Post the comment

When running interactively (not in dry-run mode), post the contents of artifacts/docs/breakingChanges/pr-comment.md as a comment on the original dotnet/runtime PR using GitHub tools.

When running in automated (gh-aw) mode, use the add_comment safe-output tool to post the comment.

When in dry-run mode or when the user has not explicitly asked to comment, skip posting — the two files under artifacts/docs/breakingChanges/ are the outputs for review.

AI-generated content disclosure

The Build-IssueComment.ps1 script includes the standard AI disclosure note in the generated comment. No additional action is needed.

Email reminder

The generated comment includes an email reminder. When running interactively, also remind the user:

Please email a link to this breaking change issue to .NET Breaking Change Notifications.

Draft-only mode

If the user asks for a draft or review before publishing, or if you are uncertain about any aspect of the documentation:

1. Present the full issue content in chat for review.
2. Ask the user to confirm before creating the issue.
3. Only publish after explicit confirmation.

When the user has not explicitly asked to create the issue, default to draft mode.

Processing multiple PRs

If the user provides a GitHub search query or asks to process multiple PRs:

1. Search for matching PRs using the query.
2. For each PR, run Steps 1-5.
3. Present a summary table of all PRs with their status (already documented vs needs docs).
4. For PRs needing docs, present drafts and ask for confirmation before creating issues.

Troubleshooting