Changelog Automation

Patterns and tools for automating changelog generation, release notes, and version management following industry standards.

When to Use This Skill

• Setting up automated changelog generation

• Implementing Conventional Commits

• Creating release note workflows

• Standardizing commit message formats

• Generating GitHub/GitLab release notes

• Managing semantic versioning

Core Concepts

1. Keep a Changelog Format

Changelog

All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.

The format is based on Keep a Changelog, and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning.

Unreleased

Added

• New feature X

1.2.0 - 2024-01-15

Added

• User profile avatars
• Dark mode support

Changed

• Improved loading performance by 40%

Deprecated

• Old authentication API (use v2)

Removed

• Legacy payment gateway

Fixed

• Login timeout issue (#123)

Security

• Updated dependencies for CVE-2024-1234

2. Conventional Commits

<type>[optional scope]: <description>

[optional body]

[optional footer(s)]

Type Description Changelog Section

feat

New feature Added

fix

Bug fix Fixed

docs

Documentation (usually excluded)

style

Formatting (usually excluded)

refactor

Code restructure Changed

perf

Performance Changed

test

Tests (usually excluded)

chore

Maintenance (usually excluded)

ci

CI changes (usually excluded)

build

Build system (usually excluded)

revert

Revert commit Removed

3. Semantic Versioning

MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH

MAJOR: Breaking changes (feat! or BREAKING CHANGE) MINOR: New features (feat) PATCH: Bug fixes (fix)

Implementation

Method 1: Conventional Changelog (Node.js)

Install tools

npm install -D @commitlint/cli @commitlint/config-conventional npm install -D husky npm install -D standard-version

or

npm install -D semantic-release

Setup commitlint

cat > commitlint.config.js << 'EOF' module.exports = { extends: ['@commitlint/config-conventional'], rules: { 'type-enum': [ 2, 'always', [ 'feat', 'fix', 'docs', 'style', 'refactor', 'perf', 'test', 'chore', 'ci', 'build', 'revert', ], ], 'subject-case': [2, 'never', ['start-case', 'pascal-case', 'upper-case']], 'subject-max-length': [2, 'always', 72], }, }; EOF

Setup husky

npx husky init echo "npx --no -- commitlint --edit $1" > .husky/commit-msg

Method 2: standard-version Configuration

// .versionrc.js module.exports = { types: [ { type: "feat", section: "Features" }, { type: "fix", section: "Bug Fixes" }, { type: "perf", section: "Performance Improvements" }, { type: "revert", section: "Reverts" }, { type: "docs", section: "Documentation", hidden: true }, { type: "style", section: "Styles", hidden: true }, { type: "chore", section: "Miscellaneous", hidden: true }, { type: "refactor", section: "Code Refactoring", hidden: true }, { type: "test", section: "Tests", hidden: true }, { type: "build", section: "Build System", hidden: true }, { type: "ci", section: "CI/CD", hidden: true }, ], commitUrlFormat: "{{host}}/{{owner}}/{{repository}}/commit/{{hash}}", compareUrlFormat: "{{host}}/{{owner}}/{{repository}}/compare/{{previousTag}}...{{currentTag}}", issueUrlFormat: "{{host}}/{{owner}}/{{repository}}/issues/{{id}}", userUrlFormat: "{{host}}/{{user}}", releaseCommitMessageFormat: "chore(release): {{currentTag}}", scripts: { prebump: 'echo "Running prebump"', postbump: 'echo "Running postbump"', prechangelog: 'echo "Running prechangelog"', postchangelog: 'echo "Running postchangelog"', }, };

// package.json scripts { "scripts": { "release": "standard-version", "release:minor": "standard-version --release-as minor", "release:major": "standard-version --release-as major", "release:patch": "standard-version --release-as patch", "release:dry": "standard-version --dry-run" } }

Method 3: semantic-release (Full Automation)

// release.config.js module.exports = { branches: [ "main", { name: "beta", prerelease: true }, { name: "alpha", prerelease: true }, ], plugins: [ "@semantic-release/commit-analyzer", "@semantic-release/release-notes-generator", [ "@semantic-release/changelog", { changelogFile: "CHANGELOG.md", }, ], [ "@semantic-release/npm", { npmPublish: true, }, ], [ "@semantic-release/github", { assets: ["dist//*.js", "dist//*.css"], }, ], [ "@semantic-release/git", { assets: ["CHANGELOG.md", "package.json"], message: "chore(release): ${nextRelease.version} [skip ci]\n\n${nextRelease.notes}", }, ], ], };

Method 4: GitHub Actions Workflow

.github/workflows/release.yml

name: Release

on: push: branches: [main] workflow_dispatch: inputs: release_type: description: "Release type" required: true default: "patch" type: choice options: - patch - minor - major

permissions: contents: write pull-requests: write

jobs: release: runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 with: fetch-depth: 0 token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

  - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
    with:
      node-version: "20"
      cache: "npm"

  - run: npm ci

  - name: Configure Git
    run: |
      git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
      git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"

  - name: Run semantic-release
    env:
      GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
      NPM_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.NPM_TOKEN }}
    run: npx semantic-release

Alternative: manual release with standard-version

manual-release: if: github.event_name == 'workflow_dispatch' runs-on: ubuntu-latest steps: - uses: actions/checkout@v4 with: fetch-depth: 0

  - uses: actions/setup-node@v4
    with:
      node-version: "20"

  - run: npm ci

  - name: Configure Git
    run: |
      git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
      git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"

  - name: Bump version and generate changelog
    run: npx standard-version --release-as ${{ inputs.release_type }}

  - name: Push changes
    run: git push --follow-tags origin main

  - name: Create GitHub Release
    uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
    with:
      tag_name: ${{ steps.version.outputs.tag }}
      body_path: RELEASE_NOTES.md
      generate_release_notes: true

Method 5: git-cliff (Rust-based, Fast)

cliff.toml

[changelog] header = """

Changelog

All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.

""" body = """ {% if version %}
## [{{ version | trim_start_matches(pat="v") }}] - {{ timestamp | date(format="%Y-%m-%d") }} {% else %}
## Unreleased {% endif %}
{% for group, commits in commits | group_by(attribute="group") %} ### {{ group | upper_first }} {% for commit in commits %} - {% if commit.scope %}{{ commit.scope }}: {% endif %}
{{ commit.message | upper_first }}
{% if commit.github.pr_number %} ([#{{ commit.github.pr_number }}](https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/{{ commit.github.pr_number }})){% endif %}
{% endfor %} {% endfor %} """ footer = """ {% for release in releases -%} {% if release.version -%} {% if release.previous.version -%} [{{ release.version | trim_start_matches(pat="v") }}]:
https://github.com/owner/repo/compare/{{ release.previous.version }}...{{ release.version }} {% endif -%} {% else -%} unreleased: https://github.com/owner/repo/compare/{{ release.previous.version }}...HEAD {% endif -%} {% endfor %} """ trim = true

[git] conventional_commits = true filter_unconventional = true split_commits = false commit_parsers = [ { message = "^feat", group = "Features" }, { message = "^fix", group = "Bug Fixes" }, { message = "^doc", group = "Documentation" }, { message = "^perf", group = "Performance" }, { message = "^refactor", group = "Refactoring" }, { message = "^style", group = "Styling" }, { message = "^test", group = "Testing" }, { message = "^chore\(release\)", skip = true }, { message = "^chore", group = "Miscellaneous" }, ] filter_commits = false tag_pattern = "v[0-9]*" skip_tags = "" ignore_tags = "" topo_order = false sort_commits = "oldest"

[github] owner = "owner" repo = "repo"

Generate changelog

git cliff -o CHANGELOG.md

Generate for specific range

git cliff v1.0.0..v2.0.0 -o RELEASE_NOTES.md

Preview without writing

git cliff --unreleased --dry-run

Method 6: Python (commitizen)

pyproject.toml

[tool.commitizen] name = "cz_conventional_commits" version = "1.0.0" version_files = [ "pyproject.toml:version", "src/init.py:version", ] tag_format = "v$version" update_changelog_on_bump = true changelog_incremental = true changelog_start_rev = "v0.1.0"

[tool.commitizen.customize] message_template = "{{change_type}}{% if scope %}({{scope}}){% endif %}: {{message}}" schema = "<type>(<scope>): <subject>" schema_pattern = "^(feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|perf|test|chore)(\(\w+\))?:\s.*" bump_pattern = "^(feat|fix|perf|refactor)" bump_map = {"feat" = "MINOR", "fix" = "PATCH", "perf" = "PATCH", "refactor" = "PATCH"}

Install

pip install commitizen

Create commit interactively

cz commit

Bump version and update changelog

cz bump --changelog

Check commits

cz check --rev-range HEAD~5..HEAD

Release Notes Templates

GitHub Release Template

What's Changed

🚀 Features

{{ range .Features }}

• {{ .Title }} by @{{ .Author }} in #{{ .PR }} {{ end }}

🐛 Bug Fixes

{{ range .Fixes }}

• {{ .Title }} by @{{ .Author }} in #{{ .PR }} {{ end }}

📚 Documentation

{{ range .Docs }}

• {{ .Title }} by @{{ .Author }} in #{{ .PR }} {{ end }}

🔧 Maintenance

{{ range .Chores }}

• {{ .Title }} by @{{ .Author }} in #{{ .PR }} {{ end }}

New Contributors

{{ range .NewContributors }}

• @{{ .Username }} made their first contribution in #{{ .PR }} {{ end }}

Full Changelog: https://github.com/owner/repo/compare/v{{ .Previous }}...v{{ .Current }}

Internal Release Notes

Release v2.1.0 - January 15, 2024

Summary

This release introduces dark mode support and improves checkout performance by 40%. It also includes important security updates.

Highlights

🌙 Dark Mode

Users can now switch to dark mode from settings. The preference is automatically saved and synced across devices.

⚡ Performance

• Checkout flow is 40% faster
• Reduced bundle size by 15%

Breaking Changes

None in this release.

Upgrade Guide

No special steps required. Standard deployment process applies.

Known Issues

• Dark mode may flicker on initial load (fix scheduled for v2.1.1)

Dependencies Updated

Commit Message Examples

Feature with scope

feat(auth): add OAuth2 support for Google login

Bug fix with issue reference

fix(checkout): resolve race condition in payment processing

Closes #123

Breaking change

feat(api)!: change user endpoint response format

BREAKING CHANGE: The user endpoint now returns userId instead of id. Migration guide: Update all API consumers to use the new field name.

Multiple paragraphs

fix(database): handle connection timeouts gracefully

Previously, connection timeouts would cause the entire request to fail without retry. This change implements exponential backoff with up to 3 retries before failing.

The timeout threshold has been increased from 5s to 10s based on p99 latency analysis.

Fixes #456 Reviewed-by: @alice

Best Practices

Do's

• Follow Conventional Commits - Enables automation

• Write clear messages - Future you will thank you

• Reference issues - Link commits to tickets

• Use scopes consistently - Define team conventions

• Automate releases - Reduce manual errors

Don'ts

• Don't mix changes - One logical change per commit

• Don't skip validation - Use commitlint

• Don't manual edit - Generated changelogs only

• Don't forget breaking changes - Mark with ! or footer

• Don't ignore CI - Validate commits in pipeline