CHANGELOG Generator
Turn a list of Conventional Commits into a Keep a Changelog section.
What is CHANGELOG?
A changelog generator. Paste the commit subjects between two releases and it produces the Markdown section a maintainer would otherwise assemble by hand — grouped, scoped, and with commit links where a repository URL is provided.
How it works
Each line is parsed as an optional commit hash plus a Conventional Commit. The type maps to a Keep a Changelog group, a `!` or BREAKING CHANGE footer moves the entry to Breaking Changes with its explanation, and the scope is rendered in bold. Grouping can switch to scope instead, and the lines that are not Conventional Commits are listed separately rather than quietly dropped.
- Paste or fill in the input. Drop in a commit message, a diff, a package.json, a path list or a set of options. The tool reads it locally — nothing is uploaded and no repository is contacted.
- Adjust the rules to match your project. Every linter here takes its convention from a setting you can change: allowed commit types, header length, target branch length, known branch names. Set them once to what your team actually uses.
- Copy the result. Generated files copy straight to the clipboard or download as a real file with the right name (.gitignore, CODEOWNERS, LICENSE, COMMIT_EDITMSG), and Reset returns every field to its default.
Examples
A commit message that fails CI
"Updated(auth): Fixed the expired-token redirect." is rejected by release automation and reported here with the exact reasons: unknown type, capitalised description, past tense and a trailing period.
A .gitignore that only half works
The Checker shows which rule decides a path — and why `!keep.txt` inside an ignored directory never fires, the mistake that sends people to Stack Overflow.
A dependency bump nobody reviewed
The package.json Diff separates added, removed and changed entries per section, so a caret bump of a runtime dependency does not hide inside a lockfile-sized pull request.
A diff pasted from a code review comment
The Diff Viewer understands several `diff --git` blocks, mode-only changes, renames and binary stubs, and calls out a pasted `--stat` summary instead of rendering an empty box.
Common mistakes
Committing a .gitignore without checking it
Rules look right and behave differently: a pattern containing a slash is anchored to the root, a trailing slash means directories only, and a file inside an ignored directory cannot be re-included. Check the paths that matter before you commit the file.
Rewriting published history
A clean commit history is worth having, but amend, rebase and filter-repo change commit hashes. Only rewrite commits that nobody has pulled; after a rewrite, push with --force-with-lease rather than --force.
Treating a generated file as if it were reviewed
These tools produce a starting point, not a decision. Check the licence text against the canonical source, read the security policy before publishing it, and make sure a CODEOWNERS team actually exists — GitHub silently ignores rules whose owner has no write access.
Putting slow checks in a pre-commit hook
A hook that takes 30 seconds gets bypassed with --no-verify within a week, and then it protects nothing. Keep pre-commit to formatting and linting, move type checks and tests to pre-push or CI.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get the input?
git log --oneline v1.4.0..HEAD gives one line per commit with the hash and subject, which is exactly the format this tool expects. A GitHub compare page works too.
Should the changelog be written by hand instead?
For a user-facing release, a curated sentence per feature beats a raw commit dump. Generate the section for the structure and the commit links, then edit the wording — which is also what Keep a Changelog recommends.
What about the lines the tool could not classify?
They are listed under their own heading. Usually they are merge commits or an old commit that predates the convention; rewrite them with an interactive rebase before the release if the changelog matters.