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](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/),
and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).

## Detailed patterns and worked examples

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

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

When to Use This Skill

Core Concepts

1. Keep a Changelog Format

Commit Message Examples

Best Practices

Do’s

Don’ts

Appendix 63.1

ReferencesMarkdown · 1 file

About this skill

Trigger

Colophon

Appendix 63.1

ReferencesMarkdown · 1 file