Changelog Generator Skill

Description

This skill generates professional changelogs from git commit history. It parses conventional commits, categorizes changes, links to pull requests and issues, and produces customer-friendly release notes. Supports multiple output formats and customizable templates for different audiences (developers, end users, stakeholders).

Instructions

1. Parse Commits: Read git log between two tags/commits and parse conventional commit messages
2. Categorize: Group commits by type (feat, fix, perf, docs, breaking, etc.)
3. Enhance: Resolve PR numbers, link issues, identify breaking changes
4. Format: Generate the changelog in the requested format and audience level
5. Insert: Prepend to CHANGELOG.md or output standalone

Rules

• Follow the Keep a Changelog format (https://keepachangelog.com)
• Categorize using Conventional Commits types (feat, fix, perf, refactor, docs, chore, ci, test)
• Always highlight breaking changes prominently at the top
• Rewrite commit messages to be user-friendly (not developer jargon)
• Group related changes together (e.g., multiple commits for one feature)
• Include the date and version number
• Link to PRs, issues, and relevant documentation
• Generate different detail levels for different audiences

Conventional Commit Parsing

feat(auth): add OAuth2 Google login (#142)
fix(api): handle null response in user endpoint
perf: reduce bundle size by 30% with tree shaking
BREAKING CHANGE: removed deprecated /v1/users endpoint
docs: update API authentication guide
chore(deps): bump express from 4.18 to 4.19

Category Mapping

Commit Type	Changelog Section	User-Friendly Label
feat	Added	New Features
fix	Fixed	Bug Fixes
perf	Performance	Performance Improvements
refactor	Changed	Improvements
docs	Documentation	Documentation
BREAKING CHANGE	Breaking Changes	Breaking Changes
deprecate	Deprecated	Deprecated
chore(deps)	Dependencies	Dependency Updates
security	Security	Security Fixes

Output Formats

Developer Changelog (CHANGELOG.md)

Copy
# Changelog

## [2.4.0] - 2025-03-25

### Breaking Changes
- Removed deprecated `/v1/users` endpoint. Migrate to `/v2/users`. See [migration guide](docs/migration-v2.md). (#156)

### New Features
- **Authentication**: Added OAuth2 Google login support (#142)
- **Dashboard**: New analytics widget with real-time metrics (#148)
- **API**: Added bulk import endpoint for user data (#151)

### Bug Fixes
- Fixed null response handling in user endpoint (#143)
- Fixed timezone offset in scheduled reports (#147)
- Fixed memory leak in WebSocket connection pool (#150)

### Performance
- Reduced JavaScript bundle size by 30% through tree shaking (#149)
- Optimized database queries for user listing (2.3s → 0.4s) (#152)

### Dependencies
- Bumped express from 4.18 to 4.19
- Bumped react from 18.2 to 18.3

Customer-Facing Release Notes

Copy
# What's New in v2.4

## Sign in with Google
You can now sign in using your Google account for faster, more secure access.

## Real-Time Analytics Dashboard
The dashboard now shows live metrics updated every 30 seconds, including
active users, conversion rates, and revenue tracking.

## Performance Improvements
- Pages load 30% faster across the application
- User listing page is now 5x faster

## Bug Fixes
- Fixed an issue where scheduled reports showed incorrect times
- Fixed occasional disconnections in live updates

## Important: API Changes
The v1 Users API has been removed. If you're using the API directly,
please update to v2. [See migration guide →](docs/migration-v2.md)

JSON Format (for programmatic use)

Copy
{
  "version": "2.4.0",
  "date": "2025-03-25",
  "sections": {
    "breaking": [{"message": "Removed /v1/users endpoint", "pr": 156}],
    "features": [{"message": "OAuth2 Google login", "pr": 142, "scope": "auth"}],
    "fixes": [{"message": "Null response in user endpoint", "pr": 143, "scope": "api"}],
    "performance": [{"message": "30% bundle size reduction", "pr": 149}]
  }
}

Generation Script

Copy
# Generate changelog between two tags
git log v2.3.0..v2.4.0 --pretty=format:"%H %s" --no-merges

# With PR references
git log v2.3.0..v2.4.0 --pretty=format:"%H %s" --no-merges | \
  grep -oP '#\d+' | sort -u

Examples

"Generate a changelog from the last 20 commits"
"Create customer-facing release notes for v2.4"
"Generate a changelog between v2.3.0 and v2.4.0 tags"
"List all breaking changes since the last release"
"Create a JSON changelog for our release API"