changelog

name	changelog
description	Regenerate the [Unreleased] section of every affected CHANGELOG.md in Keep a Changelog style. Reads commits since the last release tag plus any uncommitted or staged changes, classifies them by Conventional Commit prefix, and rewrites each [Unreleased] block. Works in single-package repos and monorepos (one CHANGELOG.md per package). Use when preparing a release or drafting changelog entries. Idempotent — safe to re-run as work lands.
argument-hint	["--since <ref>"]
allowed-tools	Bash(git *), Read, Edit
shell-timeout	10
contract	{"produces":{"kind":"side-effect","meta":{"effect":"changelog-edit"}},"consumes":{"meta":{"world":"git-history"}}}

Generate CHANGELOG entries

You are tasked with regenerating the ## [Unreleased] section of every affected CHANGELOG.md in the repository so it reflects all change since the last release tag — committed and uncommitted alike.

Input

$ARGUMENTS — optional --since <ref> flag. Empty/literal → range starts at last_tag: from the Metadata block.

Metadata

node "${SKILL_DIR}/../_shared/changelog-bootstrap.mjs"

• in_repo: — yes or no. Used by Step 1.1.
• last_tag: — last release tag, or (no tags). Used by Step 1.3 and Step 2.1 when no --since is supplied.
• ---changelogs--- block — paths of every tracked CHANGELOG.md (one per line, empty if none). Used by Step 1.2.

Workflow

1. Bail-out checks
2. Determine the change range
3. Determine each CHANGELOG's scope and collect commits + uncommitted hunks
4. Classify and draft entries
5. Preview and confirm
6. Apply

Step 1: Bail-out checks

1. If in_repo: is no, tell the user "This directory is not a git repository." and stop.
2. If the ---changelogs--- block is empty, tell the user "No CHANGELOG.md found in the repository — create one (root or per-package) before running this skill." and stop.
3. If last_tag: is (no tags) AND $ARGUMENTS lacks --since <ref>, ask the user to supply --since <ref> and stop until they do.

Step 2: Determine the change range

1. Parse the input for a --since <ref> flag. If absent, use last_tag: from the Metadata block as SINCE.
2. The range is $SINCE..HEAD for committed changes, plus the current uncommitted+staged working tree.

Step 3: Determine each CHANGELOG's scope, then collect commits + uncommitted hunks

Each CHANGELOG.md discovered in Step 1.2 owns a path scope:

• Nested CHANGELOG (e.g. packages/foo/CHANGELOG.md, apps/web/CHANGELOG.md): scope is its parent directory — packages/foo/, apps/web/.
• Root CHANGELOG (CHANGELOG.md at repo root):
  • If no nested CHANGELOGs exist: scope is the entire repository.
  • If nested CHANGELOGs also exist: scope is the repository excluding every directory that owns a nested CHANGELOG. The root file captures repo-wide change (CI, build config, root README) that no per-package file would claim.

For each scope:

1. Committed: git log $SINCE..HEAD --pretty=format:"%H%x09%s%x09%b%x1e" -- <scope>. For root-with-exclusions, pass :(exclude)<dir> pathspecs for every nested-CHANGELOG directory. Records are \x1e-delimited; parse subject (%s) and body (%b).
2. Uncommitted: git diff HEAD -- <scope> and git diff --cached -- <scope> with the same pathspec rules. Treat the union as a single virtual "pending" change set with no commit message — the model classifies it from the diff itself.
3. Skip CHANGELOGs whose scope has no committed and no uncommitted changes in range.

Step 4: Classify and draft entries

For each affected CHANGELOG, produce entries grouped under the Keep a Changelog 1.1.0 sections, in this order: Added, Changed, Deprecated, Removed, Fixed, Security, Performance. Append a Breaking / Upgrade Notes section only when a breaking change exists.

Conventional Commit → section mapping

• feat: → Added
• fix: → Fixed
• perf: → Performance
• refactor:, style:, build:, ci:, chore: → Changed
• docs: → Changed (only if user-facing docs; skip internal thoughts/ or research notes)
• test: → omit (not user-visible)
• revert: → Changed (note what was reverted)

Always-skip commits

Skip any commit whose subject matches one of these — they are release pipeline housekeeping, not user-visible change:

• Release v<x.y.z> or chore(release): v<x.y.z> (common release-bot patterns)
• Add [Unreleased] section for next cycle
• Version-only bumps with no other content (<x.y.z> as the entire subject)
• Merge commits with no diff content of their own

Breaking change detection

Flag a commit as breaking if any of these are true:

• The type carries an exclamation suffix (feat!:, refactor!:, etc.)
• The commit body contains a BREAKING CHANGE: footer
• The diff removes or renames an exported symbol, removes a CLI flag, or removes a public file

For each breaking change, add an entry to Breaking / Upgrade Notes in addition to the regular section, written as a one-line upgrade instruction.

Style rules — match Keep a Changelog 1.1.0 prose

• One short user-facing sentence per entry. Imperative mood ("Add", "Fix", "Remove").
• Write for the plugin's users, not its maintainers. No internal symbol names, file paths, regex literals, or precedent commit hashes inside entries.
• If a feature has a user-visible name (a slash command, a CLI flag, a skill name), name it in backticks. Example: Added `--locale` flag for per-invocation language override.
• Group entries by category, not by commit. Merge duplicate-topic commits into one entry.
• If a commit reverses something earlier in the same [Unreleased] window (e.g. add → remove → add-back), reflect only the net effect.
• Skip entries that have zero user-visible impact: dependency bumps with no behavior change, internal refactors invisible to users, test additions, type-only changes.

Worked example

Input commits in packages/api/:

abc1234 feat(api): add /v2/search endpoint with cursor pagination
def5678 feat(api): support webhook retries with exponential backoff
ghi9abc fix(api): rotate session secret on every JWT refresh
jkl0def docs(api): document rate-limit headers in OpenAPI spec
mno1234 chore(deps): bump @types/node to 20.11
pqr5678 test(api): coverage for cursor edge cases
stu9abc refactor(api): inline httpClient factory (no behavior change)

Output [Unreleased]:

## [Unreleased]

### Added
- `/v2/search` endpoint with cursor-based pagination.
- Webhook delivery retries with exponential backoff.

### Changed
- OpenAPI spec documents rate-limit response headers.

### Fixed
- JWT refresh rotates the session secret on every renewal.

What this example demonstrates:

• Two feat: commits → two Added entries (one per user-visible feature).
• docs: for a user-facing API spec → Changed (skip if the docs touched were internal notes).
• fix: → Fixed, written as the corrected behavior in imperative mood, not as the bug.
• chore(deps): with no behavior change → omitted.
• test: → omitted (not user-visible).
• refactor: flagged "no behavior change" → omitted (the rule is user-visible impact, not commit type).
• Commit hashes never appear in entries.

Step 5: Preview and confirm

1. Print a per-CHANGELOG summary: file path, count by section, breaking-change flag.
2. Print the proposed [Unreleased] body for each affected CHANGELOG, in full.
3. Call ask_user_question:
   • Question: "Apply regenerated [Unreleased] to {N} CHANGELOG(s)?"
   • Header is capped at ≤16 characters (MAX_HEADER_LENGTH = 16 — longer values are rejected).
   • Header: "Changelog"
   • Options:
     • "Apply (Recommended)" — Write the regenerated sections to disk. Refinement, if needed, happens afterward in normal chat (Edit tool) or via git restore to roll back.
     • "Show Preview" — For each affected CHANGELOG, render a unified diff between the current [Unreleased] body on disk and the proposed regenerated body. Lines marked - are about to be removed; lines marked + are about to be added. After printing, re-ask this same question.

Step 6: Apply

For each affected CHANGELOG:

1. Read the file.
2. Locate the ## [Unreleased] heading. The block runs from that heading up to (but not including) the next ## [ heading — or end of file if no later version exists. If no ## [Unreleased] heading exists, insert one above the first ## [ heading (or after the file's intro prose if no version sections exist yet).
3. Use Edit to replace the entire block with ## [Unreleased]\n\n followed by the regenerated sections.
4. Never touch any heading below [Unreleased]. Released version sections are immutable.

After all writes complete, print the list of modified files and remind the user to commit them before invoking their release pipeline — most release scripts require a clean working tree.

Important Notes

• ALWAYS preview before writing. Never apply without the user's ask_user_question confirmation.
• ALWAYS replace the full [Unreleased] body, not append. The skill is idempotent regeneration, not accumulation.
• NEVER modify released version sections (anything below the first ## [x.y.z] heading).
• NEVER write Conventional Commit prefixes (feat:, fix:, etc.) into the changelog body. They classify the entry; they don't appear in the prose.
• NEVER include commit hashes, PR numbers, or author names in entries. The audience is end users, not git archaeologists.
• NEVER pick or suggest a version number. The release pipeline owns the bump.
• NEVER invoke a release script from this skill. Authoring is a separate step from releasing.
• If a CHANGELOG has changes in the range but every commit is omit-worthy by the style rules (test-only, type-only, internal refactor), leave its [Unreleased] body empty — do not invent entries.