> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.shipstar.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Does It Work?

> How Shipstar transforms your GitHub commits into polished marketing content

## Overview

Shipstar connects to your GitHub repositories, analyzes your commits, and uses AI to generate marketing content that focuses on what matters to your users — not implementation details.

<Info>
  All content generation happens asynchronously. You trigger a generation request, and Shipstar processes it in the background.
</Info>

## The Pipeline

<Steps>
  <Step title="Connect & Track">
    Connect your GitHub account via OAuth and select which repositories to track. Shipstar monitors commits across all your tracked repos.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Analyze Commits">
    When you trigger content generation, Shipstar fetches commits from all active tracked repositories for the specified date range (default: last 7 days). Each commit's message, author, date, and repository are collected.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Generate Content">
    The commits are passed to Claude along with a specialized prompt for the content type you requested. The AI filters out internal noise (dependency bumps, CI fixes, refactors) and focuses on user-facing changes.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review & Edit">
    Generated content is saved to your project. You can review, edit, and refine it in the dashboard or via the API before publishing.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Publish & Distribute">
    Publish content to get a public URL with an RSS feed. You can also push directly to Slack channels or Intercom for KB articles.
  </Step>
</Steps>

***

## Content Generation

### How Commits Become Content

Shipstar doesn't just summarize your git log. Each content type has a specialized prompt that instructs the AI to:

* **Focus on the user perspective** — describe what changed in terms of benefits, not implementation
* **Filter out noise** — skip internal refactors, dependency updates, CI/CD changes, and code cleanup
* **Match the format** — follow the specific structure and tone for each content type (professional for LinkedIn, concise for Twitter, detailed for blog posts)
* **Never mention tools or AI** — the output reads as if written by your team

### Content Types

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Daily Product Update" icon="newspaper">
    Daily summary of what shipped in the last 24 hours. Markdown format covering the highlights across all tracked repos.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Weekly Product Update" icon="clipboard-list">
    Weekly summary of development highlights for non-technical stakeholders. Focused on business outcomes and user impact.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Feature Blog" icon="pen-nib">
    SEO-optimized feature announcement (1200-1800 words). Deep dive into the most significant changes with a narrative arc.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Blog Post" icon="file-lines">
    General blog post (600-1000 words). Concise coverage of recent development activity.
  </Card>

  <Card title="LinkedIn Post" icon="linkedin">
    Professional social post (150-300 words). Polished and engaging, ready to share.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Twitter Thread" icon="twitter">
    3-5 tweet thread. Each tweet stays under 280 characters. Designed for engagement.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Feature Page" icon="browser">
    Structured JSON with hero section, benefits, how-it-works steps, and CTA. Ready to render on your marketing site.
  </Card>

  <Card title="KB Articles" icon="book">
    Categorized help center articles in JSON format. Multiple articles per generation, organized by topic.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Changelog" icon="list-check">
    Structured JSON changelog with categorized entries (new features, improvements, fixes). Each entry has a title and description.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Release Notes Email" icon="envelope">
    Email-formatted release notes with subject line, introduction, structured notes, and closing. Ready to send to subscribers.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

***

## Scheduling

Shipstar supports automated content generation on a schedule using calendar events.

### Recurring Events

Set up recurring calendar events to automatically generate content on a cadence:

* **Weekly changelog** every Friday
* **Monthly blog post** on the 1st
* **Daily product update** for stakeholders

Events follow the RFC 5545 RRULE standard, so you can configure any recurrence pattern. Each event triggers the specified content type and can be set to auto-publish.

***

## Publishing & Distribution

### Public URLs

When you publish content, Shipstar generates a unique public URL. Published content is accessible without authentication:

* **Changelogs**: `https://api.shipstar.ai/api/v1/changelog/{slug}`
* **Blog Posts**: `https://api.shipstar.ai/api/v1/blog/{slug}`
* **KB Articles**: `https://api.shipstar.ai/api/v1/kb/{slug}`

### RSS Feeds

Every published changelog and blog post includes an RSS feed, so your users can subscribe to updates:

* `https://api.shipstar.ai/api/v1/changelog/{slug}/feed`
* `https://api.shipstar.ai/api/v1/blog/{slug}/feed`
* `https://api.shipstar.ai/api/v1/blogs/feed` (all blog posts)

### Integrations

Push content directly to the tools your team already uses:

| Destination | Content Types | How                                                      |
| ----------- | ------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| Slack       | All types     | Publish to any connected Slack channel                   |
| Intercom    | KB Articles   | Sync help articles directly to your Intercom help center |

***

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="rocket" href="/quickstart">
    Generate your first piece of content in under 5 minutes
  </Card>

  <Card title="API Reference" icon="terminal" href="/api-reference/overview">
    Explore the full API documentation
  </Card>
</CardGroup>