changelog-generator

Imported from borghei/claude-skills (engineering/changelog-generator/SKILL.md). Install upstream with npx skills add borghei/claude-skills --skill changelog-generator. Copyright stays with the author (MIT + Commons Clause).

Changelog Generator

Generate consistent, auditable changelogs and release notes from Conventional Commits. Parses commit messages, detects semantic version bumps (major/minor/patch), renders Keep a Changelog sections, supports monorepo scoped changelogs, integrates with CI for automated release notes, and enforces commit format with linting. Separates commit parsing, bump logic, and rendering so teams can automate releases without losing editorial control.

Keywords

changelog, release notes, conventional commits, semantic versioning, semver, Keep a Changelog, commit linting, release automation, monorepo changelog

Core Capabilities

• Commit parsing — parse Conventional Commit messages into structured data (type, scope, description, body, footer); detect breaking changes from ! and BREAKING CHANGE:.
• Semantic version detection — map commit types to bump levels (breaking→major, feat→minor, others→patch); support pre-release versions.
• Changelog rendering — Keep a Changelog, GitHub release notes, plain markdown, and JSON output grouped by type.
• Quality enforcement — commit message linter for CI and pre-commit hooks, strict mode, scope validation, breaking-change documentation requirements.

When to Use

• Before publishing a release tag
• During CI to generate release notes automatically
• In PR checks to enforce commit message standards
• In monorepos where package changelogs need scoped filtering
• When converting raw git history into user-facing notes
• As a pre-release checklist step

Clarify First

Before generating the changelog, settle the inputs below. When one is missing or vague and would change the result, ask about it; when it wouldn't, use a sensible default and say which one you used.

• Commit range: since which tag or commit (defines what history is included).
• Output format: Keep a Changelog, GitHub release notes, plain markdown, or JSON (sets changelog_formatter.py --format).
• Version & scope: the release version, and in a monorepo which package scope to filter (sets --version and scoped filtering).

Ask about the two or three inputs that matter most for this request, not the whole list. If the user wants a result straight away, produce it and state your assumptions at the top.

Tools

References

Load the reference that matches the task — keep this file lean and pull detail on demand:

• references/commit-format-and-rendering.md — the Conventional Commit grammar, type→section/semver mapping table, breaking-change rules, and the Keep a Changelog and GitHub Release Notes output formats. Read when defining commit standards or output style.
• references/generation-and-linting.md — the 4-step parse→bump→render workflow with Python code, the pre-commit hook and CI commitlint config, monorepo scoped-changelog strategy, and the release-workflow integration diagram. Read when building the pipeline or enforcing format.
• references/quality-and-troubleshooting.md — the pre-publish quality checklist, common pitfalls, best practices, troubleshooting table, and success criteria. Read before publishing a changelog or when diagnosing an issue.

Scope & Limitations

This skill covers:

• Parsing Conventional Commit messages into structured data for changelog generation
• Determining semantic version bumps (major/minor/patch) from commit history
• Rendering changelogs in Keep a Changelog, GitHub Release Notes, plain markdown, and JSON formats
• Enforcing commit message standards via pre-commit hooks and CI linting

This skill does NOT cover:

• Actual release publishing or deployment pipeline execution — see engineering/ci-cd-pipeline-design
• Git tag management, branch strategies, or merge workflows — see engineering/git-workflow-automation
• Writing or improving commit messages themselves — see standards/git/git-workflow-standards.md
• Coordinated multi-package versioning with tools like Changesets or Lerna — referenced in monorepo strategy but not implemented here

Integration Points