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, and this project adheres to Semantic Versioning.
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
```bash
# 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