| name | generate-changelog |
| description | Generate a changelog from conventional commits in this repository. Use when asked to generate, create, or update a changelog, release notes, or summarize changes between versions/tags/refs. Handles both top-level conventional commit prefixes and conventional commits embedded in squash merge commit bodies. Use when this capability is needed. |
| metadata | {"author":"captainsafia"} |
Generate Changelog
Workflow
- Determine the commit range from user input (two tags, a tag and HEAD, etc.). If not specified, detect the two most recent release tags (matching
vX.Y.Z without -preview) via git tag --list 'v*' --sort=-version:refname.
- Retrieve commits with full bodies:
git --no-pager log --format="__COMMIT__%H%n%s%n%b__END__" <from>..<to>
- Extract conventional commit entries from each commit using the rules below.
- Format and output the changelog.
Extracting Conventional Commits
This repo uses squash merges. Conventional commit prefixes may appear in two places:
- Top-level subject line — e.g.
feat: add worktree picker (#47)
- Body of a squash merge — individual commits listed as
* feat: ... or * fix: ... lines in the commit body. The top-level subject may lack a conventional prefix entirely.
For each commit:
- If the subject matches
<type>: <description>, record it as a single entry with that type.
- Always scan the body for lines matching
* <type>: <description> (where * may also be -). Record each as a separate entry. If the subject already had a conventional prefix, do not double-count entries that duplicate the subject.
- If neither the subject nor any body line has a conventional prefix, categorize the commit as
other.
Recognized types and their changelog categories:
feat → Featuresfix → Bug Fixesdocs / doc → Documentationchore → Chorestest → Testsrefactor → Refactorsperf → Performanceci → CIstyle → Style- Anything else → Other
Formatting
Output the changelog in Markdown:
## [<version>] - YYYY-MM-DD
### Features
- Description of change (#PR)
### Bug Fixes
- Description of change (#PR)
...
Rules:
- Use the target tag (or "Unreleased" if targeting HEAD) as the version header.
- Get the date from the tagged commit (
git log -1 --format=%as <tag>). For HEAD, use today's date.
- Group entries by category. Omit empty categories.
- Order categories: Features, Bug Fixes, Refactors, Performance, Documentation, Tests, CI, Chores, Style, Other.
- Rewrite each entry as a clear, user-friendly description (not a raw commit message). Remove redundant type prefixes.
- Preserve PR references like
(#47) at the end of each bullet.
- Do not include merge commits or entries that are purely version bumps (
chore: bump package version) unless the user explicitly asks for them.
Source: captainsafia/grove — distributed by TomeVault.
