Changelog Generator

Tier: POWERFUL
Category: Engineering
Domain: Release Management / Documentation

Overview

Use this skill to produce consistent, auditable release notes from Conventional Commits. It separates commit parsing, semantic bump logic, and changelog rendering so teams can automate releases without losing editorial control.

Core Capabilities

Parse commit messages using Conventional Commit rules
Detect semantic bump (
```
major
```
,
```
minor
```
,
```
patch
```
) from commit stream
Render Keep a Changelog sections (
```
Added
```
,
```
Changed
```
,
```
Fixed
```
, etc.)
Generate release entries from git ranges or provided commit input
Enforce commit format with a dedicated linter script
Support CI integration via machine-readable JSON output

When to Use

Before publishing a release tag
During CI to generate release notes automatically
During PR checks to block invalid commit message formats
In monorepos where package changelogs require scoped filtering
When converting raw git history into user-facing notes

Key Workflows

1. Generate Changelog Entry From Git

bash

python3 scripts/generate_changelog.py \
  --from-tag v1.3.0 \
  --to-tag v1.4.0 \
  --next-version v1.4.0 \
  --format markdown

2. Generate Entry From stdin/File Input

bash

git log v1.3.0..v1.4.0 --pretty=format:'%s' | \
  python3 scripts/generate_changelog.py --next-version v1.4.0 --format markdown

python3 scripts/generate_changelog.py --input commits.txt --next-version v1.4.0 --format json

3. Update

CHANGELOG.md

bash

python3 scripts/generate_changelog.py \
  --from-tag v1.3.0 \
  --to-tag HEAD \
  --next-version v1.4.0 \
  --write CHANGELOG.md

4. Lint Commits Before Merge

bash

python3 scripts/commit_linter.py --from-ref origin/main --to-ref HEAD --strict --format text

Or file/stdin:

bash

python3 scripts/commit_linter.py --input commits.txt --strict
cat commits.txt | python3 scripts/commit_linter.py --format json

Conventional Commit Rules

Supported types:

```
feat
```
,
```
fix
```
,
```
perf
```
,
```
refactor
```
,
```
docs
```
,
```
test
```
,
```
build
```
,
```
ci
```
,
```
chore
```
```
security
```
,
```
deprecated
```
,
```
remove
```

Breaking changes:

```
type(scope)!: summary
```
Footer/body includes
```
BREAKING CHANGE:
```

SemVer mapping:

breaking ->
```
major
```
non-breaking
```
feat
```
->
```
minor
```
all others ->
```
patch
```

Script Interfaces

```
python3 scripts/generate_changelog.py --help
```
- Reads commits from git or stdin/
```
--input
```
- Renders markdown or JSON
- Optional in-place changelog prepend
```
python3 scripts/commit_linter.py --help
```
- Validates commit format
- Returns non-zero in
```
--strict
```
  mode on violations

Common Pitfalls

Mixing merge commit messages with release commit parsing
Using vague commit summaries that cannot become release notes
Failing to include migration guidance for breaking changes
Treating docs/chore changes as user-facing features
Overwriting historical changelog sections instead of prepending

Best Practices

Keep commits small and intent-driven.
Scope commit messages (
```
feat(api): ...
```
) in multi-package repos.
Enforce linter checks in PR pipelines.
Review generated markdown before publishing.
Tag releases only after changelog generation succeeds.
Keep an
```
[Unreleased]
```
section for manual curation when needed.

References

references/ci-integration.md
references/changelog-formatting-guide.md
references/monorepo-strategy.md
README.md

Release Governance

Use this release flow for predictability:

Lint commit history for target release range.
Generate changelog draft from commits.
Manually adjust wording for customer clarity.
Validate semver bump recommendation.
Tag release only after changelog is approved.

Output Quality Checks

Each bullet is user-meaningful, not implementation noise.
Breaking changes include migration action.
Security fixes are isolated in
```
Security
```
section.
Sections with no entries are omitted.
Duplicate bullets across sections are removed.

CI Policy

Run
```
commit_linter.py --strict
```
on all PRs.
Block merge on invalid conventional commits.
Auto-generate draft release notes on tag push.
Require human approval before writing into
```
CHANGELOG.md
```
on main branch.

Monorepo Guidance

Prefer commit scopes aligned to package names.
Filter commit stream by scope for package-specific releases.
Keep infra-wide changes in root changelog.
Store package changelogs near package roots for ownership clarity.

Failure Handling

If no valid conventional commits found: fail early, do not generate misleading empty notes.
If git range invalid: surface explicit range in error output.
If write target missing: create safe changelog header scaffolding.

changelog-generator

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Changelog Generator

Overview

Core Capabilities

When to Use

Key Workflows

1. Generate Changelog Entry From Git

2. Generate Entry From stdin/File Input

3. Update
`CHANGELOG.md`

4. Lint Commits Before Merge

Conventional Commit Rules

Script Interfaces

Common Pitfalls

Best Practices

References

Release Governance

Output Quality Checks

CI Policy

Monorepo Guidance

Failure Handling