ShipScribe — release docs from your git history

ShipScribe turns your commits into the documents your team actually needs — release notes, QA checklists, executable test cases with test data, and UAT/deployment handover docs — as Markdown, Word (.docx), and Excel (.xlsx).

Everything runs on your machine. Your code is analyzed locally (git diff + tree-sitter AST); only the prompts you approve are sent to the AI provider(s) you configure with your own API key(s) — stack several (Grok, Groq, OpenRouter, Gemini…) and ShipScribe falls through to the next when one is rate-limited.

Optionally sync generated documents to a team dashboard, where you (or teammates) can view, edit, download, or delete any version — changes pull back into your editor.

Quick start

Open any git repository.
Run ShipScribe: Set AI Provider API Key — pick Claude, Gemini, OpenAI, xAI (Grok), Groq, OpenRouter, or a custom OpenAI-compatible endpoint, and paste your key (stored in your OS keychain, never in settings files). Add several and ShipScribe tries them in order, falling through to the next when one is rate-limited — so you can stack free APIs.
Run ShipScribe: Generate Release Notes — pick the release range from your tags and branches (one commit or thousands) and watch the release notes open.
For the full pack, run ShipScribe: Generate Handover Pack — pick any of Release Notes, QA Checklist, Test Cases + Test Data, and Deployment/UAT Handover. Files land in a .shipscribe/ folder in your repo.

Commands

Command	What it does
`ShipScribe: Generate Release Notes`	Release notes for a commit range you choose (md + json)
`ShipScribe: Generate Handover Pack`	Any combination of the four document types as .docx/.xlsx/.json
`ShipScribe: Set AI Provider API Key`	Add a provider to your fallback chain (Claude/Gemini/OpenAI/Grok/Groq/OpenRouter/custom)
`ShipScribe: Connect to Cloud Dashboard`	One-step cloud setup — paste a token and it configures the rest
`ShipScribe: Sync Documents to Cloud`	Upload generated documents to your team dashboard — always behind an explicit consent dialog
`ShipScribe: Pull Documents from Cloud`	Download documents generated/edited on the dashboard back into `.shipscribe/`
`ShipScribe: Delete Cloud Version`	Remove a version and its documents from the dashboard
`ShipScribe: Delete Local Version`	Remove a version's local `.shipscribe/<version>/` folder

Your templates, filled automatically

Drop your company's own Word/Excel templates into .shipscribe/templates/ (e.g. test-cases.xlsx with your column headers, or release-notes.docx with {{placeholders}}) and ShipScribe fills your format instead of its built-in one. Recognized names: release-notes.docx, qa-checklist.docx, test-cases.docx, test-cases.xlsx, deployment-handover.docx.

Settings

Setting	Default	Purpose
`shipscribe.provider`	`claude`	AI provider: `claude`, `gemini`, or `openai`
`shipscribe.model`	(provider default)	Optional model override
`shipscribe.cloud.baseUrl`	(empty = fully local)	Your ShipScribe dashboard URL
`shipscribe.cloud.organizationId`	—	Organization to sync into
`shipscribe.cloud.projectName`	(folder name)	Project name used when syncing
`shipscribe.cloud.autoSync`	`false`	Upload documents automatically after every generation — VS Code and your dashboard stay in sync with zero clicks

Privacy, in plain words

Read-only git: ShipScribe never commits, never installs hooks, never modifies your repository. Its only write is the .shipscribe/ output folder.
Local analysis: diffs and code structure are computed on your machine.
BYOK: code snippets are sent only to the AI provider you configured, under your own API key. No ShipScribe servers see your code.
Opt-in sync: cloud sync is off until you configure it, and every upload shows a consent dialog listing exactly what will be sent — generated documents only, never source code.

Requirements

git available on your PATH
An API key for Claude, Gemini, or OpenAI
Works with any git hosting (GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, self-hosted — or none)