Start with what is ready to announce
A published update connects back to its ideas, and those cards show Announced for your team. You can optionally archive announced cards to keep Shipped manageable.
- Confirm a card is shipped and identify who can use the change.
- Select shipped cards from Ready to announce, or start a draft in Updates and link the relevant ideas.
- Describe the customer outcome, where to find it, and any availability limits. Review AI-assisted text before using it.
- Preview the update and eligible recipient count. Choose whether to email followers, then explicitly publish.
A vote is not an email subscription
Followers control separate preferences for replies, selected status updates, and releases. Voting alone does not turn on email. Publishing checks the linked ideas and eligible followers; a person following several ideas in the same release is deduplicated.
Delivery rechecks access and preferences. Someone who has lost private-portal access or opted out should not receive the queued update. Delivery diagnostics give the team a place to investigate failures.
Moving a card to Shipped does not silently send an email. Declining or cancelling an idea is also separate from publishing a release.
Write for the customer’s next action
“Improved reporting” does not tell a customer whether their problem was solved. State what changed, who can use it, and how to start. If an administrator must enable the feature, say that before the customer goes looking for it.
Use the free release notes builder for a structured draft. It runs in your browser without an account or an AI request. For examples and an editing checklist, read how to write customer release notes.
A customer changelog, not a commit-log generator
BuildCaster does not turn Git commits into releases or sync your sprint tracker. It is for explaining customer-facing changes and keeping the feedback-to-release connection intact.
If all you need is a Markdown file in a repository, a hosted feedback platform may be more than you need. If you need ideas, a roadmap, and release communication in one portal, try the complete loop in the demo.