Overview
.NET Change Impact exists for the moment where “what changed?” becomes “what are we allowed to release?” It classifies a branch, diff, compare range, or explicit change summary into Major, Minor, or Patch, then explains the reasoning in compatibility terms instead of leaving the release bump to instinct.
The skill is grounded in Microsoft’s official .NET compatibility guidance and treats the recommendation itself as only part of the output. The real deliverable is the structured explanation that shows which public-surface, behavioral, binary, or design-time changes forced the bump.
Concepts
- Branch-aware defaulting: when the user does not supply a compare range, the skill resolves the current branch against the upstream default branch and classifies the effective diff.
- Compatibility before SemVer cosmetics: public API shape, observable behavior, supported TFMs, dependency expectations, and consumer breakage all matter more than commit message tone.
- Highest-impact wins: if several changes ship together, the recommendation follows the most disruptive one rather than averaging the set.
- Deterministic reasoning: the skill is written to return a recommendation plus key changes, compatibility impact, and a decision statement every time.
Usage guidance
Use this skill when a .NET library change is heading toward a release and nobody should be guessing whether it is safe as a patch. It is especially useful for PR reviews, release branches, API diffs, TFM changes, interface evolution, or any situation where “non-breaking” needs evidence.
Give it an explicit compare range when you already know the release window. Otherwise let it inspect the current branch and classify the pending delta. The skill is strongest when the repository state is real and the answer needs to be defendable in release notes, PR review, or package governance.