The Latest.FeaturesPricingSign inStart for free

Release notes template

Four templates you can copy: a feature release, a fixes-and-improvements roundup, a breaking change, and a monthly summary. Each one is short on purpose — release notes that take ten minutes to write are the ones that actually get written.

The release notes format — what every note needs

Whatever you are writing — software release notes, a product update, a shop announcement — the format answers four questions in the reader's order, not yours:

  • What changed? One sentence, in the words your users would use.
  • Why does it matter to me? The problem it removes, not the implementation.
  • Do I have to do anything? Most of the time the answer is no — say so, because silence reads as “maybe”.
  • Where do I go next? A link to the feature, the docs, or the place to send feedback.

A version number and a date belong at the top. They are how someone works out whether the entry they are reading is the one they are affected by.

Template 1 — a new feature

The default. Lead with the outcome, keep the detail underneath for the people who want it.

## v1.8.0 — Scheduled exports

**What's new**
You can now schedule a CSV export to run every Monday morning instead of
remembering to click the button.

**Why**
Weekly reporting was the most common reason people opened the dashboard on
a Monday. Now the file is already in your inbox.

**How to use it**
Settings → Exports → “Schedule”. Pick a day, a time and a destination.

**Anything else**
Existing manual exports keep working exactly as before. Nothing to migrate.

Template 2 — fixes and improvements

Small changes are worth publishing together. A grouped list shows momentum that a dozen one-line entries never do, and it is much faster to skim.

## v1.7.3 — Fixes and improvements

**Improved**
- Search now matches partial words, so “inv” finds “invoice”
- The project list remembers your last sort order
- Faster first load on slow connections

**Fixed**
- Uploads over 10 MB failed silently on Safari
- The date picker showed the wrong month for users in UTC+13
- Keyboard focus was lost after closing a dialog

Thanks to everyone who reported these.

Template 3 — a breaking change

The one release note that has to be complete. Say what breaks, when, what to do, and how to get help — in that order, at the top, before any praise for the new design.

## v2.0.0 — API v1 is being retired

**Action required by 31 March**
The v1 REST API will be retired on 31 March. Requests to /api/v1/*
will return 410 after that date.

**What to do**
Move to /api/v2/*. The response format is unchanged except for two fields:
- `created` is now `created_at` (ISO 8601 instead of a Unix timestamp)
- `owner` returns an object instead of an ID string

**Who is affected**
Anyone calling the API directly. If you only use the web app or the
official SDK (v3.2 or later), nothing changes for you.

**Need more time?**
Email support@example.com — we would rather extend your deadline than
break your integration.

Template 4 — a monthly roundup

If you ship continuously, a monthly note is often the only one people read — it is the shape most SaaS release notes settle into. It works for non-software updates too — a shop, a studio, a community group.

## What shipped in March

**The headline**
Scheduled exports. Set them up once and the file arrives every Monday.

**Also this month**
- Partial-word search
- A faster first load on slow connections
- Seven bug fixes, including the Safari upload failure

**Coming next**
Shared dashboards. If you would like to try an early version, email us.

How to write release notes people read

The templates handle the structure. These are the habits that decide whether anyone comes back for the next one.

  • Write the title as the outcome. “Scheduled exports” beats “Export improvements”, and both beat “v1.8.0”.
  • Use your users' vocabulary. If they say “folder” and your codebase says “collection”, the release note says folder.
  • Keep one entry per release, not per commit. A changelog generated from commit messages is a log, not a note — useful to you, unreadable to everyone else.
  • Say when nothing is required. “No action needed” is one of the most reassuring lines you can write.
  • Name the fixes people reported. It proves reports get read, which is the cheapest way to get more of them.
  • Publish on a stable URL. A note that only exists inside an in-app popup disappears the moment it is dismissed.

A short note published today beats a thorough one published “when we have time”. If you only have five minutes, use Template 2 — a grouped list of small changes is a complete release note.

Where to publish them

Release notes need somewhere permanent: a page anyone can link to, that search engines can index, and that readers can subscribe to. That is exactly what The Latest is — write a post, hit publish, and it lands on your page, your RSS feed and the embeddable widget on your own site at the same time.

Paste any of the templates above into the editor and it keeps its headings and lists. If you were searching for a release notes generator, this is usually all the generator you need — a sample to copy, blanks to fill in, and a page that publishes it. Free to start, no credit card.

Start for freeSee all featuresChangelog examples →Announcement examples →