changelog-gen-cli

Generate a CHANGELOG.md from git conventional commits — zero npm dependencies.

Install

npm install -g changelog-gen-cli

Usage

# Generate CHANGELOG.md in the current repo
changelog-gen

# Preview output without writing (dry run)
changelog-gen --dry-run

# Limit history since a tag or date
changelog-gen --since=v1.0.0
changelog-gen --since=2024-01-01

# Highlight breaking changes
changelog-gen --breaking

# Write to a custom file
changelog-gen --output=CHANGES.md

# Combine flags
changelog-gen --dry-run --since=v2.0.0 --breaking

Options

| Flag | Description | |---|---| | --since <tag\|date\|ref> | Start of history range. Default: last git tag (or all if no tags) | | --output <file> | Output file path. Default: CHANGELOG.md | | --dry-run | Print to stdout instead of writing file | | --breaking | Highlight commits with BREAKING CHANGE: footer or ! after type | | --help, -h | Show help | | --version, -v | Show version |

Output Format

Follows the Keep a Changelog format and groups commits by type:

• BREAKING CHANGES — feat!:, fix!:, or BREAKING CHANGE: footer
• Features — feat:
• Bug Fixes — fix:
• Performance Improvements — perf:
• Code Refactoring — refactor:
• Documentation — docs:
• Build System — build:
• CI/CD — ci:
• Tests — test:
• Chores — chore:

If git tags exist, versioned sections are generated automatically. The [Unreleased] section covers commits since the latest tag.

Example Output

# Changelog

...

## [Unreleased] - 2025-06-01

### Features

- add dark mode support (`a1b2c3d`)
- new --json output flag (`e4f5g6h`)

### Bug Fixes

- fix crash on empty repo (`7i8j9k0`)

## [v1.2.0] - 2025-05-15

### BREAKING CHANGES

- remove legacy --format flag (`l1m2n3o`)

Exit Codes

| Code | Meaning | |---|---| | 0 | Success | | 1 | Not a git repository | | 2 | Unexpected error |

Requirements

• Node.js >= 16
• Git installed and accessible in PATH
• Must be run from inside a git repository

License

MIT