Changelog Light

Generate a changelog with conventional commit types.

Requirements

The basic requirements:

• NodeJS version 18+
• NPM

Use

CLI

NPM install...

  $ npm i changelog-light

CLI Usage

  $ changelog --help
  Generate a CHANGELOG.md with conventional commit types.

  Usage: changelog [options]

  Options:
    -b, --basic            Keep updates to [CHANGELOG.md] basic, skip all markdown
                           link syntax                  [boolean] [default: false]
    -c, --commit           Commit [CHANGELOG.md] and package.json with a release
                           commit                        [boolean] [default: true]
    -d, --date             [CHANGELOG.md] release date in the form of a valid date
                           string. Uses system new Date([your date])
                                    [string] [default: "2024-03-21T13:20:45.593Z"]
    -n, --non-cc           Allow non-conventional commits to apply a semver weight
                           and appear in [CHANGELOG.md] under a general type
                           description.                 [boolean] [default: false]
    -o, --override         Use a version you define.                      [string]
    -r, --dry-run          Generate [CHANGELOG.md] sample output
                                                        [boolean] [default: false]
        --branch           The local branch used to run `$ git log [branch]`
                           against, defaults to HEAD, or just `$ git log`
                                                        [string] [default: "HEAD"]
        --changelog        Changelog output filename and relative path
                                              [string] [default: "./CHANGELOG.md"]
        --commit-path      [CHANGELOG.md] path used for commits. This will be
                           "joined" with "link-url". Defaults to the commits path
                           for GitHub.               [string] [default: "commit/"]
        --compare-path     [CHANGELOG.md] path used for version comparison. This
                           will be "joined" with "link-url". Defaults to the
                           comparison path for GitHub.
                                                    [string] [default: "compare/"]
        --link-url         Url override for updating all [CHANGELOG.md] base urls.
                           This should start with "http". Attempts to use "$ git
                           remote get-url origin", if it starts with "http"
                                                                          [string]
        --lock-file        Lock file read and relative path lookup. Defaults to
                           looking for git related updates to "package-lock.json"
                           and "yarn.lock" during release. You can pass your own
                           custom "lock" file if needed. To disable, pass a
                           falsely value.
                          [array] [default: ["./package-lock.json","./yarn.lock"]]
        --package          package.json read, output and relative path
                                              [string] [default: "./package.json"]
        --pr-path          [CHANGELOG.md] path used for PRs/MRs. This will be
                           "joined" with "link-url". Defaults to the PR path for
                           GitHub.                     [string] [default: "pull/"]
        --release-message  A list of prefix release scope commit messages. First
                           list item is the new commit message prefix, the second
                           list item searches for the prior release message prefix
                           for range. [write new, search old]
                                               [array] [default: "chore(release)"]
        --release-desc     Add a description under the release version header
                           copy. Example, "Lorem ipsum dolor sit!"        [string]
    -h, --help             Show help                                     [boolean]
    -v, --version          Show version number                           [boolean]

Using within a project

Using changelog-light within a project requires one primary thing... formatting your commit messages using conventional commit types

This project leverages this conventional commit types resource to determine how CHANGELOG.md is generated.

How it works

changelog-light doesn't use tags. Focusing on tags to determine what gets generated works in some environments.

Since handling tags was unnecessary for our purpose, we kept it simple. Instead, changelog-light looks for the last commit message, of a specific type, to determine the range of commits...

chore(release): [semver version format]

Example NPM script

Using within a project you could apply changelog-light as a NPM script in package.json

"scripts": {
  "release": "changelog"
}

How to use

Assuming you're using GitHub as your base. If you're not using GitHub we do expose the url paths used to generate the log.

1. First, git checkout the branch you want to run changelog-light on

2. Next, run the CLI, either directly, or through a NPM script like the above example.

   $ changelog --dry-run --non-cc
   

   We recommend you try the --dry-run and --non-cc options for your first run.

3. Review the output, you have a few choices

   • in your terminal only, see option --dry-run
   • or as a commit with a CHANGELOG.md and package.json update. This is the default option --commit
   • or as updated files CHANGELOG.md and package.json, if you opted to update without a commit, see option --commit=false

4. That's it!

Common scenario

I want to run changelog-light from a different branch in the same repository, or from a "forked" repository?

To get your release commit setup from a different branch...

1. Make sure your working branch is synced and updated with the branch you want to merge into
2. Run and confirm the hashes align in the terminal with...

   $ changelog --dry-run
   

3. Run the release script

   $ changelog
   

4. Setup your pull/merge request, there should be a single commit difference... your release commit.

   If there is more than one commit difference then you incorrectly synced your branch. Confer online, or with your team, for the git commands needed.

5. Merge, or rebase, your commit (depending on your approval process) into the target branch

   The git hash associated with the release commit IS NOT USED until the next time you run changelog-light. Having it updated when you merge, or rebase, your commit makes no difference in your markdown.

To get your release commit setup from a "forked" repository...

1. Make sure your working branch is synced and updated with the remote branch you want to merge into
2. Run and confirm the hashes AND LINKS with the remote align in the terminal with...

   $ changelog --dry-run --link-url https://github.com/[the remote url].git
   

3. Run the release script

   $ changelog --link-url https://github.com/[the remote url].git
   

4. Setup your pull/merge request, there should be a single commit difference... your release commit.

   If there is more than one commit difference then you incorrectly synced your branch. Confer online, or with your team, for the git commands needed.

5. Merge, or rebase, your commit (depending on your approval process) into the target branch

   The git hash associated with the release commit IS NOT USED until the next time you run changelog-light. Having it updated when you merge, or rebase, your commit makes no difference in your markdown.

Credit

This project is influenced by the deprecated project Standard Version.

The primary differences between Standard Version and this project are the weighting assigned to commit message types and a fraction of the features.

Contributing

Contributing? Guidelines can be found here CONTRIBUTING.md.