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

Security

Updated dependencies for CVE-2024-1234 [ Unreleased ] : https://github.com/user/repo/compare/v1.2.0...HEAD [ 1.2.0 ] : https://github.com/user/repo/compare/v1.1.0...v1.2.0 2. Conventional Commits [optional scope]: [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 commit in commits %} - {% if commit.scope %}{{ commit.scope }}: {% endif %}\ {{ commit.message | upper_first }}\ {% if commit.github.pr_number %} (#{{ commit.github.pr_number }}){% endif %}\ {% endfor %} {% endfor %} """ footer = """ {% for release in releases -%} {% if release.version -%}

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$version" update_changelog_on_bump = true changelog_incremental = true changelog_start_rev = "v0.1.0" [ tool.commitizen.customize ] message_template = "{{change_type}}{% if scope %}({{scope}}){% endif %}: {{message}}" schema = "(): " schema_pattern = "^(feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|perf|test|chore)($\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)

|

| | react | 18.2.0 | 18.3.0 | Performance improvements | | lodash | 4.17.20 | 4.17.21 | Security patch | 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

安装

Added

Added

User profile avatars

Changed

Deprecated

Removed

Fixed

Security

Install tools

or

Setup commitlint

Setup husky

.github/workflows/release.yml

Alternative: manual release with standard-version

cliff.toml

Changelog

[{{ version | trim_start_matches(pat="v") }}] - {{ timestamp | date(format="%Y-%m-%d") }}

[Unreleased]

{{ group | upper_first }}

Generate changelog

Generate for specific range

Preview without writing

pyproject.toml

Install

Create commit interactively

Bump version and update changelog

Check commits

⚡ Performance

Checkout flow is 40% faster

Known Issues

|

|

|

Feature with scope

Bug fix with issue reference

123

Breaking change

Multiple paragraphs

456