changelog-automation

Use it when:: You want changelogs and release notes generated from commit history instead of written by hand, or a team to agree on a commit message format.
It does:: Explains Conventional Commits, how each commit type maps to a Keep a Changelog section, and which version number a change bumps.
You get:: Commit message examples, a release notes template, and six automation setups in its reference file, from commitlint with husky to semantic-release and git-cliff.
Rules:: One logical change per commit, validate messages with commitlint and in CI, never hand-edit a generated changelog, always mark breaking changes.

Its SKILL.md was cut in the middle of a code block when it was split into two files. The Keep a Changelog example stops partway and continues at the top of the reference file, so the pointer to that file and a release notes template now sit inside the example's code block, and the commit type table and version rules are only in the reference file.

TL;DR

A reference for automating release documentation. Conventional Commits is a commit message format, type(scope): description, where the type (feat, fix, perf and so on) decides which changelog section a change lands in and whether the major, minor or patch number goes up; a ! or a BREAKING CHANGE footer marks a breaking change. Keep a Changelog is a changelog layout with an Unreleased section and Added, Changed, Deprecated, Removed, Fixed and Security headings under each version. The SKILL.md itself holds commit message examples, the body of an internal release notes template (summary, highlights, breaking changes, upgrade guide, known issues, updated dependencies) and do's and don'ts. The commit type table, the version rules and most of the changelog example sit in its reference file, which also gives six ways to automate it: conventional-changelog tooling with commitlint and a husky commit hook, standard-version, semantic-release for fully automated releases, a GitHub Actions release workflow, git-cliff, and commitizen for Python projects, plus a GitHub release notes template.

Summarizes the skill at 4bde316.

npx skills add https://github.com/wshobson/agents --skill changelog-automation

skills.sh page Source on GitHub All skills from wshobson/agents

Total Downloads: 14,100 on skills.sh, Nov 9, 2026
Repo stars: 42,334 wshobson/agents
First seen: Jan 20, 2026 on skills.sh

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Category	category:engineering category:writing category:software-engineering Test-first work, implementation from specs, git hygiene and scope control. Articles, docs, internal comms, research write-ups and prose that doesn't read as generated. Everything for building software: planning, coding, debugging, design, frameworks, cloud, agents and skills.
Type	type:guidelines Knowledge and rules the agent applies while it works: best practices, design principles, API references.
Effect	effect:none Adds no side effects of its own. It shapes how the agent thinks, writes or reviews. Guidelines and routers are always effect:none, even when the task they support edits code.
Needs	needs:none Instructions only. Works in any agent that supports skills.
Publisher	by:community Everyone else. Unverified vendor claims default to community.
Topics	git docs-writing ci
Stack	stack:git

SKILL.md

From wshobson/agents at 4bde316. Checked daily, last changed Nov 6, 2026.

Frontmatter

name: changelog-automation
description: Automate changelog generation from commits, PRs, and releases following Keep a Changelog format. Use when setting up release workflows, generating release notes, or standardizing commit conventions.

Changelog Automation

Patterns and tools for automating changelog generation, release notes, and version management following industry standards.

When to Use This Skill

Setting up automated changelog generation
Implementing Conventional Commits
Creating release note workflows
Standardizing commit message formats
Generating GitHub/GitLab release notes
Managing semantic versioning

Core Concepts

1. Keep a Changelog Format

# 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).

## Detailed patterns and worked examples

Detailed pattern documentation lives in `references/details.md`. Read that file when the navigation tier above is insufficient.

## Summary

This release introduces dark mode support and improves checkout performance
by 40%. It also includes important security updates.

## Highlights

### 🌙 Dark Mode

Users can now switch to dark mode from settings. The preference is
automatically saved and synced across devices.

### ⚡ Performance

- Checkout flow is 40% faster
- Reduced bundle size by 15%

## Breaking Changes

None in this release.

## Upgrade Guide

No special steps required. Standard deployment process applies.

## Known Issues

- Dark mode may flicker on initial load (fix scheduled for v2.1.1)

## Dependencies Updated

| Package | From    | To      | Reason                   |
| ------- | ------- | ------- | ------------------------ |
| react   | 18.2.0  | 18.3.0  | Performance improvements |
| lodash  | 4.17.20 | 4.17.21 | Security patch           |

Commit Message Examples

# Feature with scope
feat(auth): add OAuth2 support for Google login

# Bug fix with issue reference
fix(checkout): resolve race condition in payment processing

Closes #123

# Breaking change
feat(api)!: change user endpoint response format

BREAKING CHANGE: The user endpoint now returns `userId` instead of `id`.
Migration guide: Update all API consumers to use the new field name.

# Multiple paragraphs
fix(database): handle connection timeouts gracefully

Previously, connection timeouts would cause the entire request to fail
without retry. This change implements exponential backoff with up to
3 retries before failing.

The timeout threshold has been increased from 5s to 10s based on p99
latency analysis.

Fixes #456
Reviewed-by: @alice

Best Practices

Do's

Follow Conventional Commits - Enables automation
Write clear messages - Future you will thank you
Reference issues - Link commits to tickets
Use scopes consistently - Define team conventions
Automate releases - Reduce manual errors

Don'ts

Don't mix changes - One logical change per commit
Don't skip validation - Use commitlint
Don't manual edit - Generated changelogs only
Don't forget breaking changes - Mark with ! or footer
Don't ignore CI - Validate commits in pipeline