[Vivswan]

Before

release run -> walk main back from its tip -> 500 commits read: stop -> changelog built from those 500
                                              (the 3.0.0 cycle reached 658 commits back, so the oldest 158 were never read)

$ census faf72dab
cycle v2.0.0..f2b96b13: 659 first-parent commits, 137 of type feat, fix, or perf
IN=112  ABSENT=25
control f68d78b: present
control 9ae375c: absent

After

release run -> walk main back from its tip -> last-release-sha reached? -> yes: stop, changelog built from the whole cycle
                                                                        -> no:  stop after 5000 commits

$ census 393e9b2e
cycle v2.0.0..f2b96b13: 659 first-parent commits, 137 of type feat, fix, or perf
IN=137  ABSENT=0
control f68d78b: present
control 9ae375c: present

• Not changed: the published GitHub release notes of v3.0.0 still lack the 25 lines.
• No guard: a cycle past 5000 commits would be cut the same silent way.
• After the merge: release-please rebuilds the open 3.0.1 release PR, and its entry gains one Bug Fixes line for this PR.

How

• The key: commit-search-depth: 5000 in release-please-config.json, where release-please's default is 500.
• Why 5000: about 7.6 times the 659-commit cycle that overflowed.
• No added cost: the walk still stops at last-release-sha, so the depth is only a ceiling.
• The 25 lines: 5 under Features and 20 under Bug Fixes, each where release-please's own writer sorts it.
• Library: release-please already owns the changelog, and the fix is its own option.

Proof

• Diff: CHANGELOG.md gains 25 lines and loses none.
• Rebuild: release-please 17.6.0's parser and writer reproduce the old entry at depth 500, and this one at full depth.

Technical details

• Option source, schema: release-please's schemas/config.json defines the root key as "commit-search-depth": { "description": "When considering commit history, only look this many commits deep.", "type": "number" }.
• Option source, docs: release-please's docs/manifest-releaser.md says "When fetching the list of commits to consider, only consider the last N commits." and "We expect to only need to consider the last 500 commits on a branch."
• Option source, code: src/manifest.ts at v17.6.0 holds DEFAULT_COMMIT_SEARCH_DEPTH = 500 and hands the option to the commit walk as maxResults.
• Version in use: the release workflow pins release-please-action v5.0.0, whose lockfile resolves release-please 17.6.0.
• Where the walk stops: the same loop breaks when this.lastReleaseSha === commit.sha, the boundary the release hook keeps in last-release-sha.
• Request size: the walk reads 10 commits a request by default, so its cost follows the cycle's length, never the ceiling.
• Pace: the 659 commits took three months, so 5000 is about two years of commits at that pace.
• Why the loss was silent: when the walk ends at the depth, release-please's loop just ends, and nothing compares the cycle's length with the depth.
• 658 and 659: the cycle is 659 commits with the release commit, and 658 as release-please walked it back from 6dbc9a96.
• Schema check: the edited config validates against that schema, which is closed at the root.
• Schema control: the same config with the key misspelt is refused as an additional property, and a string value is refused.
• Hook round-trip: the release hook rewrites the file with JSON.stringify(config, null, 2), which reproduces the edited file byte for byte.
• Split at 500: counted back from 6dbc9a96, every listed feat, fix, or perf commit sits at position 496 or newer and every absent one at 503 or older.
• Rebuild input: each cycle commit's message and its merged pull request's body, read from the GraphQL history release-please itself queries.
• Rebuild control: fed the newest 500 commits, release-please 17.6.0's parseConventionalCommits and DefaultChangelogNotes return the 3.0.0 entry as it was committed, byte for byte below its dated heading.
• Rebuild result: fed all 658, they return that entry plus 25 lines and no other difference, and this PR commits that output under the unchanged heading.
• Order rule: conventional-changelog-writer 6.0.1 sorts a section by localeCompare over scope and subject joined, so a line without a scope sorts by its subject.
• Order check: all 154 lines of the entry satisfy that rule, as the 129 before did.
• Line check: each restored line carries its commit's subject, the pull request link its subject names, and its full-sha link.
• Breaking: none of the 25 has a ! or a breaking footer, and the rebuild counts 50 breaking entries at both depths.
• Features (5): 8a65765, 9ae375c, d062cf1, 51068cd, 83f3c84.
• Bug Fixes (20): 44dab3b, 73b6b4a, ceb9f46, b9de617, b5db672, 7dcc225, 65f97a2, 9152a91, e41aa99, 0181f01, d34d031, f5c4c59, 6fb2603, ae278c9, 56ca3e4, 64aad27, c1fc169, 08d5585, 8543af8, 3fc0f85.
• Tests: no test is added for a configuration value.
• Existing tests: the two that read the config pass, release configuration contract and marker-bearing files equal the release-please extra-files set.
• Gates: typecheck, lint, lint:arch, knip, check:compat, and build:check exit 0.
• Census refs: census <ref> reads CHANGELOG.md at that ref, where faf72dab is main's tip under this branch and 393e9b2e is this PR's head.
• Census controls: f68d78b is a line the entry always had, and 9ae375c is one of the 25.
• Census failure: a failed git read, a missing ref, or a filter that matches no commit ends the function with a non-zero exit and no count line.
• Census function: paste it into bash inside a clone that has the tags.

census() (
  set -euo pipefail
  ref="$1"                               # the tree whose CHANGELOG.md is read
  range=v2.0.0..f2b96b13                 # the 3.0.0 cycle, its release commit included
  changelog="$(git show "$ref:CHANGELOG.md")"
  cycle="$(git log --first-parent --format='%H%x09%s' "$range")"
  typed="$(grep -E $'^[0-9a-f]{40}\t(feat|fix|perf)[(:!]' <<<"$cycle")"
  in=0; absent=0
  while IFS=$'\t' read -r sha subject; do
    if grep -q -F "[${sha:0:7}](" <<<"$changelog"; then in=$((in + 1)); else absent=$((absent + 1)); fi
  done <<<"$typed"
  echo "cycle $range: $(wc -l <<<"$cycle") first-parent commits, $(wc -l <<<"$typed") of type feat, fix, or perf"
  echo "IN=$in  ABSENT=$absent"
  for control in f68d78b 9ae375c; do
    if grep -q -F "[$control](" <<<"$changelog"; then echo "control $control: present"; else echo "control $control: absent"; fi
  done
)

[github-actions]

File size check

0 over a hard cap (fails), 6 warning(s).

File	Size	Tier	Cap
src/engine/diff.ts:56	11 comment lines	warn	10
src/github/api-error.ts:9	11 comment lines	warn	10
src/problem.ts:73	18 comment lines	warn	10
src/sections/contract/errors.ts:13	11 comment lines	warn	10
src/sections/contract/module.ts:55	12 comment lines	warn	10
src/sections/shared/list/decl.ts:265	14 comment lines	warn	10

Split the file, wrap the line, shorten or exempt the comment, or list the path in .file-size-allow.local with a # reason.

5 managed file(s) skipped; repo-platform owns them.

[github-actions]

Member shape check

1 finding(s).

File	Line	Rule
test/sections/contract/validate-hook.test.ts	80	all-or-none

Add the blank lines, make the comment one line directly above the item, comment every field or none, or list the path in .member-shape-allow.local with a # reason.

4 generated file(s) skipped.

[Copilot]

🟢 Approval recommended

No active review issues remain for the commit-search depth increase and changelog restoration.

No open issues 🎉

What changed in this PR

This PR expands release-please's commit-history search to cover longer release cycles and restores entries omitted from the 3.0.0 changelog.

Changes:

• Raises the commit-search ceiling from 500 to 5,000, while retaining the last-release boundary.
• Restores 25 changelog entries: 5 features and 20 bug fixes. Published GitHub release notes remain unchanged.

File	Description
release-please-config.json	Sets commit-search-depth to 5,000.
CHANGELOG.md	Restores 25 missing entries under the existing 3.0.0 sections.

_{Review effort: Balanced}