Describe skip label availability and add skip-specific comment

changelog/README.md

@@ -138,9 +138,12 @@ submit workflow (write permissions, via workflow_run)
        │     └── posts PR comment with view/edit links
        │
        ├── if "no-label":
-       │     └── posts PR comment listing available labels
+       │     └── posts PR comment listing available type labels and skip labels
        │
-       └── otherwise (skipped, manually-edited): no-op
+       ├── if "skipped" (label rules):
+       │     └── posts PR comment confirming changelog was skipped
+       │
+       └── otherwise (manually-edited): no-op
 ```
 
 The evaluate logic runs twice — once as a gate (with event-specific checks like body-only edit and bot-loop detection), and once in the trusted submit context to drive behavior. This is intentional: the second evaluation uses fresh PR data from the API, so it correctly handles label or title changes between the two runs. The submit workflow runs for any non-cancelled validate conclusion, so it can post actionable feedback (e.g., listing available labels) even when validate fails.
@@ -171,6 +174,8 @@ rules:
 
 When all products are blocked by the create rules, the validate action passes with `skipped` status (so CI stays green) and the submit action exits without generating. If no matching type label is found (including when labels exist but none correspond to a configured type or skip rule), validate fails with `no-label` and submit posts a comment listing the available labels. You can also use `include` mode or per-product overrides. See [Rules for creation and publishing](https://elastic.github.io/docs-builder/contribute/changelog/#rules-for-creation-and-publishing) for the full reference.
 
+When a PR has no type label, the failure comment also lists the available skip labels (if configured), so contributors know how to opt out of changelog generation.
+
 ## Manual edits
 
 If a human edits the changelog file directly (i.e., the last commit to the changelog file is not from `github-actions[bot]`), the automation will not overwrite it. This lets authors customize the generated entry without it being regenerated on the next push.

changelog/submit/action.yml

@@ -251,9 +251,22 @@ runs:
         PR_NUMBER: ${{ steps.pr.outputs.number }}
         LABEL_TABLE: ${{ steps.evaluate.outputs.label-table }}
         PRODUCT_LABEL_TABLE: ${{ steps.evaluate.outputs.product-label-table }}
+        SKIP_LABELS: ${{ steps.evaluate.outputs.skip-labels }}
         CONFIG_FILE: ${{ inputs.config }}
       with:
         github-token: ${{ inputs.github-token }}
         script: |
           const script = require('${{ github.action_path }}/scripts/post-failure-comment.js');
           await script({ github, context, core });
+
+    - name: Post skipped comment
+      if: steps.evaluate.outputs.status == 'skipped'
+      uses: actions/github-script@v8
+      env:
+        PR_NUMBER: ${{ steps.pr.outputs.number }}
+        SKIP_LABELS: ${{ steps.evaluate.outputs.skip-labels }}
+      with:
+        github-token: ${{ inputs.github-token }}
+        script: |
+          const script = require('${{ github.action_path }}/scripts/post-skipped-comment.js');
+          await script({ github, context, core });

changelog/submit/scripts/post-failure-comment.js

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ module.exports = async ({ github, context, core }) => {
   const configFile = process.env.CONFIG_FILE || 'docs/changelog.yml';
   const labelRows = process.env.LABEL_TABLE || '';
   const productLabelRows = process.env.PRODUCT_LABEL_TABLE || '';
+  const skipLabels = process.env.SKIP_LABELS || '';
 
   let labelSection;
   if (labelRows.trim()) {
@@ -28,14 +29,23 @@ module.exports = async ({ github, context, core }) => {
     ].join('\n');
   }
 
+  let skipSection;
+  if (skipLabels.trim()) {
+    const formatted = skipLabels.split(',').map(l => `\`${l.trim()}\``).join(', ');
+    skipSection = `\n⏭️ To skip changelog generation, add one of these labels: ${formatted}`;
+  } else {
+    skipSection = `\n⏭️ No skip labels are configured. To allow skipping changelog generation, add a label to \`rules.create.exclude\` in \`${configFile}\`.`;
+  }
+
   const body = [
     TITLE,
     '',
     '⚠️ **Cannot generate changelog:** no matching type label found on this PR.',
     labelSection,
     productSection,
+    skipSection,
     '',
-    `🔖 To skip changelog generation or configure label rules, see \`${configFile}\`.`,
+    `📄 See \`${configFile}\` for the full changelog configuration.`,
   ].join('\n');
 
   await upsertComment({ github, context, prNumber, body });

changelog/submit/scripts/post-skipped-comment.js

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+const { TITLE, upsertComment } = require('./comment-helper');
+
+module.exports = async ({ github, context, core }) => {
+  const prNumber = parseInt(process.env.PR_NUMBER, 10);
+  const skipLabels = process.env.SKIP_LABELS || '';
+
+  const bodyParts = [
+    TITLE,
+    '',
+    '⏭️ Changelog generation was skipped for this pull request.',
+  ];
+
+  if (skipLabels.trim()) {
+    const formatted = skipLabels.split(',').map(l => `\`${l.trim()}\``).join(', ');
+    bodyParts.push('', `Matched skip label(s): ${formatted}`);
+  }
+
+  await upsertComment({ github, context, prNumber, body: bodyParts.join('\n') });
+};