Steffen Finsland

If your release notes say “Bug fixes and minor improvements,” you’re doing it wrong. The right release notes can boost morale, surface hidden wins, and make your product look alive. Here’s proof.

The stand-up question no one wanted to answer
It turned out to be the most valuable part of the release.

www.icyiterations.com/p/youre-doin...

Not only that, but our tools are laser focused on the bad things - the defects, the bugs..
If you work on a project for a long time, all you see are its flaws and remaining issues.

Cursor, responding: "I'm out of juice-let's come back to this in the next message."

Cursor got tired and needed a break. I hadn't even finished my first cup of coffee yet!

Stop Staring at Blank Changelogs: Meet Your AI Release Notes Generator | Release The Notes! Turn messy Git commits like 'refact login' and 'attempt #3' into polished release notes instantly. This AI-powered tool generates copy-ready changelogs for both users and stakeholders—no more manual t...

In a perfect universe every commit is a Stack Overflow answer with 10k upvotes.
releasethenotes.com/blog/ai-rele...

Did you know that you can just build websites and push new updates live, _all the time_, without needing to wait for App Review first? 🤯🔥

I cloned Signal app's git repo and generated 'What's New' for their latest version using Release The Notes. Here's how it works:

Release The Notes! - Stop struggling. Just ship. Release The Notes! transforms messy Git commits into crystal-clear changelogs in seconds. Less archaeology, more shipping.

Blank stare when someone asks ‘What’s new?’ Let AI handle your release notes—point it at your git repo, pick your commits, and voilà: polished notes for users or bosses in 1 click. Free trial on the Mac App Store
releasethenotes.com

App rejected notice, from Apple.

Me, after checking a looong release checklist: *Submits app*
Apple: No.

To this day, I've never been able to get the 1.0 of a new approved by Apple on the first try.

Screenshot of the notes view in "Release The Notes!".

Dev time: ✅ Readable release notes: 😵‍💫

Release The Notes! turns commits into clear updates (concise, funny, marketing-ish, whatever). Mac beta is live; I need a few testers to kick the tyres and spot the rough edges. DM or reply if you're in, or visit releasethenotes.com ⚡️📝

When building macOS apps, a fun way to give your app some extra personality is to play with the user's chosen accent color.

Commit Messages Should Say Why, Not What The ChatGPT integration seemed brilliant when I first wired it into Gitonium's commit flow in early 2023. Automatic commit messages. Like finding cheat codes for developer productivity: no more paraly...

I thought auto commit messages were my shortcut to productivity. Turns out, a diff isn’t enough to capture the story behind a change. Read about my misadventures and why explaining the “why” changed everything.

steffenfinsland.substack.com/p/commit-mes...

"I absolutely hate writing release notes"

Spend less time writing changelogs and more time coding.
Release The Notes! transforms Git commits and diffs into clear, natural-language summaries instantly. Early access at releasethenotes.com

New Ideas and Freak Accidents Hello everyone!

Struggling with writing release notes? Me too. So I built something better: "Release The Notes!", a macOS app that automatically turns commits into clear, readable summaries. Check out the story and sign up for early access.
steffenfinsland.substack.com/p/new-ideas-...

Minecraft screenshot of Alex and Steve, digging.

Trying *so* hard to be Alex, but often feeling like Steve.

‎Git Merge Tool: Gitonium ‎Have you ever needed to merge a long-living feature branch into the main repository? You may have been working on a new feature for a long time, and now it's time to integrate it with the main branch...

Gitonium 2025.1.3 is out now on the Mac App Store!
No huge news this time, but a couple of nice new features, six improvements, and two bugs squashed.

apps.apple.com/us/app/git-c...

How Clean Code Silently Corrupts Your Git History And How to Fix It

Ever been framed by your own code?
Turns out, cleaning up code can make Git frame you for crimes you didn’t commit.

open.substack.com/pub/steffenf...

Hello, World.