🐡 [readme] initial .just/RELEASE_NOTES.md (#34)

* 🐡 [readme] initial .just/RELEASE_NOTES.md

* cross-link related docs

Author: chicks-net

.just/README.md

@@ -9,3 +9,6 @@ project for updates.
 
 We use the [repos-summary script](https://github.com/chicks-net/chicks-home/blob/main/bin/repos-summary)
 to see which of our repos need updates of the just files.
+
+You can read our [release notes](RELEASE_NOTES.md) to learn more about
+the history of how we have evolved the github PR process.

.just/RELEASE_NOTES.md

@@ -0,0 +1,122 @@
+# Release Notes: gh-process.just
+
+This file tracks the evolution of the Git/GitHub workflow automation module.
+
+## Planned Changes
+
+- Remove requirement to use
+  [my git aliases](https://github.com/chicks-net/chicks-home/blob/main/.gitconfig)
+  for this to work by expanding all of the `git` commands to
+  work on stock `git` installs.
+
+## November 2025 - The Polish Update
+
+### v3.7 - Pre-PR Hook Support (#32, #33)
+
+Added support for optional pre-PR hooks to allow project-specific automation
+before creating pull requests. The `pr` recipe now checks for
+`.just/pr-hook.just` and runs it if present. This is particularly useful for
+projects that need to rebuild assets (like Hugo sites) before pushing.
+
+- Added conditional hook execution in PR workflow
+- Hidden `_pr-hook` recipe (internal use)
+- Updated documentation with workflow versioning
+
+**Related PRs:** [#32](https://github.com/fini-net/template-repo/pull/32), [#33](https://github.com/fini-net/template-repo/pull/33)
+
+### v3.6 - Quote Consistency (#31)
+
+Improved shell script robustness with more consistent quoting of variables and
+just template parameters. Small change, but makes the scripts more reliable
+when dealing with branch names or paths that might contain spaces.
+
+**Related PRs:** [#31](https://github.com/fini-net/template-repo/pull/31)
+
+### v3.5 - Spacing and Multi-Commit Handling (#30)
+
+Cleaned up the codebase and improved handling of branches with multiple commits:
+
+- Better formatting and spacing throughout
+- Cleaned up vestigial variables from earlier iterations
+- Improved quoting of just variables
+- More consistent handling of multiple commits on a branch
+
+**Related PRs:** [#30](https://github.com/fini-net/template-repo/pull/30)
+
+## October 2025 - The AI Review Update
+
+### v3.4 - Graceful Failure Handling (#26)
+
+Fixed an issue where broken GitHub Actions would prevent the review comments
+from being displayed. The workflow now continues to show AI reviews even if
+some checks fail, because you probably want to see those reviews even more when
+things are broken.
+
+**Related PRs:** [#26](https://github.com/fini-net/template-repo/pull/26)
+
+### v3.3 - Copilot and Claude Review Integration (#25)
+
+This was a big one. After PR checks complete, the workflow now automatically
+fetches and displays comments from both GitHub Copilot and Claude Code reviews
+right in your terminal. No more switching to the browser to see what the bots
+think.
+
+- Added GraphQL query to fetch Copilot PR review comments
+- Displays Copilot suggestions after PR checks complete
+- Shows Claude's most recent comment
+- Uses `jq` to parse and filter review data
+
+**Related PRs:** [#25](https://github.com/fini-net/template-repo/pull/25)
+
+## August 2025 - The Safety Update
+
+### v3.2 - Commit Verification (#21)
+
+Added a sanity check to prevent accidentally creating empty PRs. The `pr` recipe now verifies that your branch actually has commits before allowing you to create a pull request. Uses `git cherry` to compare against the release branch.
+
+- New `_has_commits` dependency check
+- Clear error message when branch is empty
+- Exit code 101 for tracking
+
+**Related PRs:** [#21](https://github.com/fini-net/template-repo/pull/21)
+
+### Faster PR Check Monitoring (#20)
+
+Changed the PR checks watcher to poll every 5 seconds instead of the default. Because who wants to wait around? GitHub's API might be lazy, but we don't have to be.
+
+**Related PRs:** [#20](https://github.com/fini-net/template-repo/pull/20)
+
+## June 2025 - The Beginning of this file
+
+### v3.1 - Initial Release (#11)
+
+Created as part of a larger refactoring effort to modularize the main justfile.
+This file extracted all the Git/GitHub workflow automation into a separate
+module.
+
+Core recipes included from day one:
+
+- `sync` - Return to main and pull latest
+- `pr` - Create PR from current branch
+- `merge` - Squash merge and clean up
+- `branch` - Create dated feature branches
+- `prweb` - Open PR in browser
+- `release` - Create GitHub releases
+- `pr_checks` - Watch PR checks (later enhanced)
+
+Plus a bunch of sanity check helpers (`_on_a_branch`, `_main_branch`, etc.) to
+keep you from footgunning yourself.
+
+**Related PRs:** [#11](https://github.com/fini-net/template-repo/pull/11)
+
+---
+
+## Pre-history
+
+Earlier versions of this code came from the `/justfile` in
+[this repo](https://github.com/fini-net/template-repo/blob/main/justfile)
+and some of my other repos, primarily
+[www-chicks-net](https://github.com/chicks-net/www-chicks-net/blob/main/justfile).
+It all started [very simply](https://github.com/chicks-net/www-chicks-net/commit/06f28b13d82e445951b10af1a57488a1dc9e1069).
+
+I think there were some 2.x versions, but I haven't found them again.

.just/gh-process.just

@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 # git/gh process justfile
 
+# check out the RELEASE_NOTES.md for the detailed history of this file
+# the README.md in this directory also might be useful to you
+
 # some useful variables
 release_branch := "main"