changelog-gen-cli

Auto-generate a CHANGELOG.md from your git commit history using Conventional Commits.

No external dependencies. Zero config. Works in any git repository.

Install

npm install -g changelog-gen-cli

Or run once with npx:

npx changelog-gen-cli

Usage

changelog-gen [options]

OPTIONS
  --from=<ref>      Start ref (tag, commit SHA, branch, HEAD~N). Default: all commits
  --to=<ref>        End ref. Default: HEAD
  --output=<file>   Output file path. Default: CHANGELOG.md
  --overwrite       Always overwrite output file (default: prepend to existing)
  --version         Print version
  --help            Show help

Examples

# Generate from last 10 commits
changelog-gen --from=HEAD~10

# Generate between two tags
changelog-gen --from=v1.0.0 --to=v2.0.0

# Custom output file, overwrite
changelog-gen --from=v1.2.0 --output=CHANGES.md --overwrite

# Prepend latest release to existing CHANGELOG.md
changelog-gen --from=v1.3.0 --to=v1.4.0

Conventional Commit Format

Your commits should follow the pattern:

type(scope): description

Supported types and their changelog sections:

| Type | Section | |------------|----------------------------| | feat | Features | | fix | Bug Fixes | | perf | Performance Improvements | | refactor | Refactoring | | docs | Documentation | | build | Build System | | ci | CI/CD | | test | Tests | | style | Styles | | chore | Chores | | revert | Reverts |

Adding ! after the type marks a BREAKING CHANGE:

feat!: drop Node 12 support
refactor(auth)!: rename login endpoint

Non-conventional commits are grouped under Other Changes.

Sample Output

# Changelog

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

## [v2.0.0] - 2024-03-22

### BREAKING CHANGES

- **auth:** rename login endpoint (`a1b2c3d`)

### Features

- **ui:** add dark mode toggle (`e4f5a6b`)
- support multi-language output (`c7d8e9f`)

### Bug Fixes

- fix null pointer in parser (`0a1b2c3`)

How It Works

1. Runs git log <from>..<to> --oneline --no-merges to collect commits.
2. Parses each subject line with the Conventional Commits regex.
3. Groups commits into sections (feat, fix, breaking, etc.).
4. Writes a Markdown changelog block.
5. By default, prepends the new section to an existing CHANGELOG.md (preserving history). Use --overwrite to start fresh.

License

MIT