Changelog

Git-based changelog manager for JavaScript, Python, and Go projects using semantic versioning and git.

Usage

$ changelog help

Git-based changelog manager for JavaScript, Python, and Go projects.

Usage:
  changelog [command]

Available Commands:
  add         Add a changelog entry.
  apply       Apply changelog entries.
  check       Check that the current branch or last commit contains a changelog entry. Useful for CI workflows to enforce the presence of changelog entries.
  help        Help about any command
  init        Initialize project to use changelog.
  update      Update to the latest version of changelog
  version     Print the current version of changelog

Flags:
      --cwd string   project directory for changelog. (default ".")
  -h, --help         help for changelog
      --verbose      enable verbose logging.

Use "changelog [command] --help" for more information about a command.

Init

changelog init

Walks through creating a .changelog directory with the following files.

config.yaml

Changelog configuration:

# Example config.yaml

# Current version of the project.
# This gets bumped, along with the files listed below,
# when running `changelog apply`
version: 0.1.0
changelogFile: CHANGELOG.md # Changelog file to manage

# A list of files containing versions to bump when running
# `changelog apply`.
# Uses RegExp patterns for matching and replacing the actual version.
# The RegExp must contain 1 capture group with the version portion to replace.
# View https://pkg.go.dev/regexp/syntax@go1.24.1 for RegExp syntax
# Use https://regex101.com/ with GoLang selected to test patterns.
# Examples for Node package.json and python pyproject.toml below.
files:
    - path: package.json
      pattern: '"version":\s*"(\d+\.\d+\.\d+)"'
    - path: pyproject.toml
      pattern: 'version\s*=\s*"(\d+\.\d+\.\d+)"'

# Configures `changelog add` command
onAdd:
    # commit staged files + added changelog entry
    # Uses the provided description as the commit message.
    commitFiles: true

# Configure `changelog apply` command
onApply:
    commitFiles: true
    tagCommit: true
    tagFormat: v{{version}}
    # A list of commands to run after bumping version files
    # and before committing and tagging.
    # Often useful to run install/sync commands that may update
    # lock files.
    commands:
        - npm install
        - uv sync

changelogTemplate.hbs

A Handlebars template used for adding new entries to the changelog file specified in the .changelog/config.yaml file.

Default template:

## {{version}}
{{#if majorChanges}}

### Major Changes

{{#each majorChanges}}
- {{shortSha}}: {{description}}
{{/each}}
{{/if}}
{{#if minorChanges}}

### Minor Changes

{{#each minorChanges}}
- {{shortSha}}: {{description}}
{{/each}}
{{/if}}
{{#if patchChanges}}

### Patch Changes

{{#each patchChanges}}
- {{shortSha}}: {{description}}
{{/each}}
{{/if}}

Available Variables

• version: The new version of the project.
• oldVersion: The previous version of the project.
• majorChanges, minorChanges, patchChanges: A list of change descriptions.
  • Change Description:
    • Sha: The git Sha associated with the change commit.
    • shortSha: The git short Sha associated with the change commit.
    • change: patch|minor|major
    • description: The description of the change

Add

changelog add

Creates a timestamped .md changelog entry file in the .changelog directory ready to be added to source control and applied at a later time. The changelog entry contains the type of change (patch|minor|major) along with the provided description.

Example changelog entry:

---
change: "major"
---
A major change.

Depending on how changelog is configured, the add command also adds the timestamped file to the git staging area and then commit all staged files using the provided description as the commit message.

Note

As a best practice, commit the timestamp file with the set of files the changelog entry describes. For example, run git add <FILES...> prior to running changelog add.

Apply

The apply command...

• Runs in dry mode by default. The command shows a preview of the changes and ask for confirmation prior to applying any changes.
• gathers previously created changelog entries from the .changelog directory and prepends the info to the CHANGELOG.md file according to the .changelog/changelogTemplate.hbs template file.
• Bumps semantic version numbers in specified files according to .changelog/config.yaml.
• run any commands listed in .changelog/config.yaml.

changelog apply

If .changelog/config.yaml is configured to commit and tag files when running changelog apply then git log and git tag should show the commit and associated tag.

TODO

• Add support for prereleases

Install

NPM

https://www.npmjs.com/package/@d-dev/changelog

npm install @d-dev/changelog
# or globally
npm install @d-dev/changelog -g

Python

https://pypi.org/project/changesets/

pip install changesets
# Or with UV
uv add changesets --dev
# package is called changesets but command is still changelog

Golang

https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/dworthen/changelog

With go version 1.24.x you can add the package as a tool to your project with

go get -tool github.com/dworthen/changelog@latest

and use with

go tool changelog help

Prior to 1.24

go install github.com/dworthen/changelog

Binaries

Windows

Requires the newer powershell core.

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dworthen/changelog/main/scripts/install.ps1 | pwsh -Command -

This will install changelog to ~/bin, be sure to export the location in the user or machine $PATH or use the -to flag to specify a download location.

Running the installer with additional flags:

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dworthen/changelog/main/scripts/install.ps1 -o install.ps1 &&
pwsh -File install.ps1 -force -tag v0.0.1 -to ~/bin &&
rm install.ps1

Linux/Darwin

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dworthen/changelog/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

This will install changelog to ~/bin, be sure to export the location in the user $PATH or use the -to flag to specify a download location.

Running the installer with additional flags:

curl -sSfL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dworthen/changelog/main/scripts/install.sh | bash -s -- --force --tag v0.0.1 --to ~/bin

Prebuilt Binaries

https://github.com/dworthen/changelog/releases

From Source with Go

git clone https://github.com/dworthen/changelog.git
cd changelog
go mod tidy
go build ./main.go