memstack-development-changelog-generator

name	memstack-development-changelog-generator
description	Use when the user says 'generate changelog', 'update changelog', 'what changed', 'release notes', 'write changelog', or needs a formatted CHANGELOG.md from git commit history. Do NOT use for diary entries, git log viewing, or commit message writing.
metadata	{"author":"cwinvestments"}

Changelog Generator — Generating changelog...

Produces a formatted CHANGELOG.md from git commit history, grouped by type and ready for release.

Activation

Trigger	Status
User says "generate changelog" or "update changelog"	ACTIVE
User says "what changed" or "release notes"	ACTIVE
User says "write changelog" or "changelog since"	ACTIVE
User wants to view git log only	NOT this skill — use git commands directly
User wants a diary entry	NOT this skill — use Diary

Context Guard

• Do NOT use for session logging (that's Diary)
• Do NOT use for commit message writing (that's a git workflow)
• Do NOT use for PR descriptions (that's a git workflow)
• This skill ONLY produces CHANGELOG.md content from existing commits

Steps

Step 1: Determine the range

Ask the user or infer from context:

Parameter	Default	Example
Since tag/date	Last tag or last 7 days	v3.3.0, 2026-03-01
Until	HEAD	v3.4.0, HEAD
Format	Keep a Changelog	Conventional, custom

# Find the last tag
git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || echo "No tags found"

# Get commits since last tag (or date)
git log --oneline --no-merges $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || echo "HEAD~50")..HEAD

Step 2: Categorize commits

Parse each commit message and classify by prefix:

Prefix	Category	Changelog Section
feat: / feature:	Features	### Added
fix: / bugfix:	Bug Fixes	### Fixed
docs:	Documentation	### Changed
refactor:	Refactoring	### Changed
perf:	Performance	### Changed
test:	Tests	(omit unless user requests)
chore: / build: / ci:	Maintenance	(omit unless user requests)
BREAKING CHANGE or !:	Breaking	### Breaking Changes
No prefix	Uncategorized	### Other

Step 3: Generate the changelog entry

Follow Keep a Changelog format:

## [version] - YYYY-MM-DD

### Breaking Changes
- Description of breaking change ([commit-hash])

### Added
- New feature description ([commit-hash])

### Fixed
- Bug fix description ([commit-hash])

### Changed
- Refactor/improvement description ([commit-hash])

Writing rules:

1. Rewrite technical commit messages into user-facing language
2. Group related commits into single entries where sensible
3. Lead with the impact, not the implementation ("Users can now..." not "Added handler for...")
4. Include short commit hash as reference
5. Skip merge commits, version bumps, and trivial chores unless requested
6. Order: Breaking Changes > Added > Fixed > Changed > Removed > Other

Step 4: Handle existing CHANGELOG.md

# Check if CHANGELOG.md exists
ls CHANGELOG.md 2>/dev/null

• If exists: prepend the new entry after the title line, before existing entries
• If not exists: create with header:

# Changelog

All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.

The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/),
and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/).

## [version] - YYYY-MM-DD
...

Step 5: Present for review

Changelog entry for [version] ([date]):
- [N] features added
- [N] bugs fixed
- [N] changes
- [N] breaking changes

Ready to write to CHANGELOG.md? (prepend / overwrite / clipboard only)

Disambiguation

• "generate changelog" / "update changelog" / "release notes" = Changelog Generator
• "save diary" / "log session" = Diary (not Changelog Generator)
• "what did we do" / "last session" = Echo (not Changelog Generator)
• "git log" / "show commits" = Direct git commands (not Changelog Generator)

Level History

• Lv.1 — Base: Git-to-changelog with Keep a Changelog format, commit categorization by conventional commits prefix, user-facing rewriting, existing file handling. (Origin: MemStack v3.5, Apr 2026)

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Source: cwinvestments/memstack — distributed by TomeVault.