Command line tool for generating a changelog from git tags and commit history

npm install -g auto-changelog

Just run in a local git repo. git log is run behind the scenes in order to parse commits.

auto-changelog # Writes log to CHANGELOG.md in current directory

Specify an output file with -o or --output.

auto-changelog --output HISTORY.md # Writes log to HISTORY.md

Specify a theme with -t or --template.

auto-changelog --template compact # Writes log using compact template

• npm install auto-changelog --save-dev
• Add auto-changelog --package; git add CHANGELOG.md to the version scripts in your package.json:

{
  "name": "package",
  "devDependencies": {
    "auto-changelog": "*"
  },
  "scripts": {
    "version": "auto-changelog --package; git add CHANGELOG.md"
  }
}

Using --package or -p uses the version from package.json as the latest release, so that all commits between the previous release and now become part of that release. Essentially anything that would normally be parsed as Unreleased will now come under the version from package.json

Now every time you run npm version, the changelog will automatically update and be part of the version commit.

See keep-a-changelog.

The command parses a git commit history and generates a changelog based on tagged versions, merged pull requests and closed issues. The default output attempts to follow the schema outlined by keep-a-changelog. See a simple example in this very repo.

Because keeping a changelog can be tedious and difficult to get right. If you don’t have the patience for a hand-crafted, bespoke changelog then this makes keeping one rather easy. It also can be automated if you’re feeling extra lazy (see What you might do if you’re clever above).