change-log-generator

Change Log Generator

Automatically generate comprehensive change logs from git history and code changes.

Core Capabilities

This skill helps create change logs by:

1. Analyzing git commits - Parse commit messages for changes
2. Processing conventional commits - Extract structured information from standardized commits
3. Examining diffs/patches - Understand code changes from git diff output
4. Categorizing changes - Automatically group by type (features, fixes, docs, etc.)
5. Formatting output - Generate Markdown change logs following best practices

Change Log Generation Workflow

Step 1: Gather Change Information

Collect commits and changes for the release period.

Determine Release Range:

# Changes since last tag
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --oneline

# Changes between two tags
git log v1.2.0..v1.3.0 --oneline

# Changes in last N commits
git log -n 50 --oneline

# Changes since specific date
git log --since="2024-01-01" --oneline

# Changes in current branch vs main
git log main..HEAD --oneline

Get Detailed Commit Information:

# Full commit messages
git log v1.2.0..HEAD --format="%H|%an|%ad|%s|%b" --date=short

# With file changes
git log v1.2.0..HEAD --name-status

# With diff stats
git log v1.2.0..HEAD --stat

Get Pull Request Information:

# Using GitHub CLI
gh pr list --state merged --base main --limit 50

# Get PR details
gh pr view 123 --json title,body,labels,mergedAt

Step 2: Parse Commit Messages

Extract meaningful information from commits.

Conventional Commit Format:

<type>[optional scope]: <description>

[optional body]

[optional footer(s)]

Common Types:

• feat: New feature
• fix: Bug fix
• docs: Documentation changes
• style: Code style changes (formatting, missing semicolons, etc.)
• refactor: Code refactoring
• perf: Performance improvements
• test: Adding or updating tests
• build: Build system or external dependency changes
• ci: CI configuration changes
• chore: Other changes that don't modify src or test files