Changelog

/skill:changelog -- Generate Changelog and Release

Purpose: Generate a changelog from Conventional Commits, calculate the next semantic version, update CHANGELOG.md, and optionally create a git tag and GitHub Release. Every changelog entry maps to a real commit -- nothing is fabricated. Project-agnostic -- adapts to any codebase.

When to Use

• You are ready to cut a release
• You want to preview what has changed since the last release
• You need to update CHANGELOG.md before tagging

Usage

/skill:changelog                          # Auto-calculate version, full release
/skill:changelog --version 2.1.0          # Explicit version override
/skill:changelog --dry-run                # Preview changelog without writing anything
/skill:changelog --no-tag                 # Update CHANGELOG.md but skip git tag and GitHub Release

Arguments

• --version <semver> -- explicit version string (e.g., 2.1.0). Overrides auto-calculation.
• --dry-run -- preview the changelog output without writing files, creating tags, or publishing releases
• --no-tag -- update CHANGELOG.md and commit, but do not create a git tag or GitHub Release

Step 1: Determine Baseline

Find the most recent version tag:

git fetch --tags origin
LAST_TAG=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || echo "")

If no tags exist, collect all commits on the main branch:

MAIN=$(git symbolic-ref refs/remotes/origin/HEAD 2>/dev/null | sed 's@^refs/remotes/origin/@@')
if [ -z "$MAIN" ]; then
  git show-ref --verify --quiet refs/remotes/origin/master && MAIN=master || MAIN=main
fi

Step 2: Collect Commits

Gather all commits since the last tag (or all commits if no tag):

if [ -n "$LAST_TAG" ]; then
  git log "$LAST_TAG"..HEAD --pretty=format:"%H %s" --no-merges
else
  git log --pretty=format:"%H %s" --no-merges
fi

Parse each commit subject line against Conventional Commits format:

<type>[optional scope][optional !]: <description>

Recognized types and their changelog sections:

Breaking changes: A ! after the type/scope or a BREAKING CHANGE: footer triggers a major bump.

Commits that do not match Conventional Commits format are grouped under "Other Changes."

Step 3: Calculate Version

If --version was provided, use that. Otherwise, auto-calculate:

1. Parse the last tag as semver (e.g., v1.3.2 -> 1.3.2)
2. Determine the highest bump level from the collected commits:
   • Any breaking change -> major (1.3.2 -> 2.0.0)
   • Any feat -> minor (1.3.2 -> 1.4.0)
   • Any fix, perf, refactor, hotfix -> patch (1.3.2 -> 1.3.3)
   • Only docs, test, chore, style, ci, build -> patch (still worth a release if there are commits)
3. If no previous tag exists, start at 0.1.0

Step 4: Generate Changelog Entry

Build the changelog entry in this format:

## [<version>] - <YYYY-MM-DD>

### Breaking Changes
- **<scope>:** <description> (<sha-short>)

### Features
- **<scope>:** <description> (<sha-short>)

### Bug Fixes
- <description> (<sha-short>)

### Performance
- <description> (<sha-short>)

### Refactoring
- <description> (<sha-short>)

### Other Changes
- <description> (<sha-short>)

Rules:

• Only include sections that have entries. Do not render empty sections.
• Breaking Changes always appears first if present.
• Each line includes the short SHA linking to the commit.
• If a commit has a scope, bold it: **auth:** fix token refresh.
• If no scope, just the description: fix off-by-one in pagination.
• Never fabricate entries. Every line must map to a real commit SHA.

Step 5: Preview (Dry Run Check)

If --dry-run was specified:

• Print the generated changelog entry to the console
• Print the calculated version
• Print the commit count by type
• Do NOT write any files, create tags, or publish releases
• Stop here

Step 6: Update CHANGELOG.md

Read the existing CHANGELOG.md if it exists. Insert the new entry at the top, after the title line.

If no CHANGELOG.md exists, create one:

# 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 7: Commit the Changelog

git add CHANGELOG.md
git commit -m "chore(release): v<version>"

If --no-tag was specified, stop here.

Step 8: Create Git Tag

git tag -a "v<version>" -m "v<version>"
git push origin "v<version>"
git push origin HEAD

Step 9: Create GitHub Release

gh release create "v<version>" \
  --title "v<version>" \
  --notes "$(cat <<'EOF'
<changelog entry content>
EOF
)"

Step 10: Report

Release: v<version>

  Commits:    <N> total (<breakdown by type>)
  Changelog:  CHANGELOG.md updated
  Tag:        v<version> (pushed)
  Release:    <GitHub Release URL>

  Bump:       <previous> -> <version> (<major|minor|patch>)
  Reason:     <what triggered the bump level>

Key Rules

1. Never fabricate entries. Every changelog line must correspond to a real commit SHA. If a commit does not parse as Conventional Commits, put it in "Other Changes" with its SHA.
2. Respect --dry-run. Do not write files, create tags, or publish releases in dry-run mode.
3. Breaking changes are prominent. They get their own section at the top and trigger a major bump.
4. Idempotent. Running /skill:changelog twice with the same commits and version produces the same output. Do not duplicate entries already in CHANGELOG.md.
5. Tag format is v<semver>. Always prefix with v: v1.4.0, not 1.4.0.
6. Do not skip the commit. The changelog update itself gets committed with chore(release): v<version> before tagging.