changelog-rules

name	changelog-rules
description	Shared changelog conventions and formatting rules referenced by $create-changelog and $update-changelog. Not typically invoked directly.

Changelog Rules

The changelog is kept in CHANGELOG.md at the project root. The format is based on Keep a Changelog, and projects using these conventions adhere to Semantic Versioning.

File Structure

# Changelog

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

The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/), and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).

## [Unreleased]

## [1.2.0] - 2024-03-15

### Added

- Add dark mode support ([#38](https://github.com/owner/repo/issues/38), [#42](https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/42))

### Fixed

- Fix crash on startup ([#40](https://github.com/owner/repo/issues/40), [#43](https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/43))

[Unreleased]: https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/compare/v1.2.0...HEAD
[1.2.0]: https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/compare/v1.1.0...v1.2.0
[1.1.0]: https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>/releases/tag/v1.1.0

Changelog-Worthiness

Not every change belongs in a changelog. Changelogs are for humans, not machines.

Skip changes that are purely internal:

• Refactoring with no user-facing impact
• Code formatting, linting, whitespace
• Test additions or modifications (unless they indicate a fixed bug)
• CI/CD configuration
• Developer tooling (linters, editor config)
• Documentation updates (README, comments, docstrings)
• Dependency bumps with no behavior change

Include changes that affect users:

• New features or capabilities
• Changes to existing behavior
• Deprecated or removed functionality
• Bug fixes
• Security patches

Entry Format

• Imperative present tense without trailing periods (e.g., "Add dark mode support")
• One bullet point per distinct change
• Concise but complete. Include enough context that users understand the impact.

User-Centric Writing

Entries describe what changed for the user. Focus on outcomes and impact.

• Lead with a user-visible verb: "Add", "Fix", "Improve", "Allow", "Prevent", "Show", "Check". Avoid developer-centric verbs like "Enforce", "Implement", "Refactor", "Handle", "Register".
• Describe the experience, not the mechanism. "Show grouped notifications: the list buckets items by source before rendering" carries the mechanism after the colon; "Show notifications grouped by the app that sent them" states only what the user gets.
• When a change prevents a problem or protects the user, say what it does for them.

Net Delta from the Last Release

Entries describe the change relative to the last released version.

• Judge each entry by whether a user of the previous release would observe the change. "No longer does X" or "removed the Y glitch" where X or Y never shipped is the obvious tell.
• A positively-phrased entry hides the same trap. "Allow renaming saved filters straight from the list, so fixing a typo takes one click" reads like a real improvement, yet it belongs to the feature when saved filters themselves arrived in the same unreleased cycle.
• When finalizing a release, compare the behavior at the last release tag against the behavior today: git show <last-tag>:<path>, plus git log --follow -- <path> when the file moved. A path that exists at the tag settles nothing on its own, since new behavior often lands in files that were already there.
• When the behavior an entry describes arrived after the tag, rewrite the entry as the net capability, fold it into whatever introduced that behavior, or drop it.
• Keep one entry per net user-visible change.

PR and Issue References

Reference both the PR and any associated GitHub issue in each entry using inline parenthetical format with linked numbers in ascending order.

- Add dark mode support ([#38](https://github.com/owner/repo/issues/38), [#42](https://github.com/owner/repo/pull/42))

To discover associated issues for a PR, run:

gh pr view <number> --json closingIssuesReferences --jq '.closingIssuesReferences[].number'

• If there is no associated issue, reference only the PR
• If there is no PR (e.g., backfilling from git tags), omit references

Change Types

Standard types in this order when present: Added, Changed, Deprecated, Removed, Fixed, Security. Omit empty sections.

Section Format

• Unreleased section always present at the top
• ISO 8601 dates (YYYY-MM-DD)
• Reverse chronological order (newest first)
• Blank line between each section header and its content
• Version comparison links at the bottom, derived from the repository's remote URL
• Detect whether the project uses v-prefixed tags (e.g., v1.0.0) or bare tags (e.g., 1.0.0) and match that convention in comparison links