Changelog Generator

Name: Changelog Generator
Author: girijashankarj

girijashankarj/cursor-handbook

1 installs
27 repo stars
Updated April 25, 2026
girijashankarj/cursor-handbook

Generates a CHANGELOG.md from Conventional Commit history with grouped sections and version headers following the Keep a Changelog format.

About

Parses git commit history to produce a structured CHANGELOG following Keep a Changelog and Conventional Commits. A developer uses it to create or update a changelog, typically before a release.

Bundled generate-changelog.sh script builds the changelog from recent commits or since a tag
Groups changes into sections with version headers

Changelog Generator by the numbers

1 all-time installs (skills.sh)
Ranked #210 of 248 Release Management skills by installs in the Skillselion catalog
Data as of Jul 22, 2026 (Skillselion catalog sync)

npx skills add https://github.com/girijashankarj/cursor-handbook --skill changelog-generator

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Installs	1
repo stars	★ 27
Last updated	April 25, 2026
Repository	girijashankarj/cursor-handbook ↗

What it does

Generates a CHANGELOG.md from Conventional Commit history with grouped sections and version headers following the Keep a Changelog format.

Files

SKILL.mdMarkdownGitHub ↗

Skill: Changelog Generator

Parse git commit history and produce a structured CHANGELOG following Keep a Changelog format and Conventional Commits.

Trigger

When the user asks to generate, update, or create a changelog — or before a release.

Prerequisites

[ ] Git repository with Conventional Commit messages
[ ] Previous version tag known (or first release)

Quick Usage

For a quick changelog from recent commits, run the bundled script:

scripts/generate-changelog.sh [output-file] [since-tag]

Examples:

scripts/generate-changelog.sh                    # Last 20 commits → CHANGELOG.md
scripts/generate-changelog.sh CHANGELOG.md v1.0  # Commits since v1.0

For a fully structured Keep a Changelog output, follow the detailed steps below.

Steps

Step 1: Determine Version Range

[ ] Get the latest tag: git describe --tags --abbrev=0 2>/dev/null || echo "none"
[ ] Get all tags sorted: git tag --sort=-v:refname | head -10
[ ] Determine range: {last-tag}..HEAD (or all commits if no tag)
[ ] Ask user for the new version number or suggest based on changes:
Has feat → minor bump
Has fix only → patch bump
Has BREAKING CHANGE or ! → major bump

Step 2: Collect Commits

[ ] Run: git log {range} --pretty=format:"%H|%s|%an|%ad" --date=short
[ ] Parse each commit into: hash, type, scope, description, author, date
[ ] Identify breaking changes (footer or ! in type)

Step 3: Categorize Changes

Section	Commit Types	Emoji (optional)
Added	`feat`
Fixed	`fix`
Changed	`refactor`, `perf`
Deprecated	Commits mentioning deprecation
Removed	Commits removing features
Security	`fix` with security scope
Documentation	`docs`
Internal	`chore`, `ci`, `test`, `style`, `build`

Step 4: Generate Changelog Entry

## [X.Y.Z] - YYYY-MM-DD

### Added
- **scope:** description ([hash](commit-url)) — @author

### Fixed
- **scope:** description ([hash](commit-url)) — @author

### Changed
- **scope:** description ([hash](commit-url)) — @author

### Breaking Changes
- **scope:** description of what broke and migration path

Step 5: Handle Edge Cases

[ ] Commits with no type prefix → categorize as Internal
[ ] Merge commits → skip (use --no-merges flag)
[ ] Multiple scopes → list under primary scope
[ ] Very long descriptions → truncate to first sentence

Step 6: Assemble Full Changelog

[ ] If CHANGELOG.md exists, prepend new entry after the header
[ ] If new file, add header:

# Changelog

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

The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/),
and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/).

[ ] Include comparison link: [X.Y.Z]: https://github.com/org/repo/compare/vPREV...vX.Y.Z

Step 7: Validate & Output

[ ] Verify no PII, secrets, or internal URLs in entries
[ ] Verify markdown renders correctly
[ ] Present as copyable output or write to CHANGELOG.md

Rules

ALWAYS follow Keep a Changelog format
ALWAYS group by change type, not by date or author
NEVER include merge commits or version bump commits
NEVER include secrets, internal URLs, or PII
Skip chore/ci/style commits by default (include if user requests)
Most recent version goes at the top

Completion

CHANGELOG.md entry ready to paste or written to file. Includes version header, grouped changes, and comparison links.

If a Step Fails

No tags exist: Treat all commits as the first release (v0.1.0 or v1.0.0)
Non-conventional commits: Group under "Other" with the raw message
Too many commits: Summarize by scope, list top 20, note "and N more"
No new commits since last tag: Report "No changes since vX.Y.Z"

#!/bin/bash
# Generate a changelog from git history (conventional commits).
# Optional: set CHANGELOG_FORMAT=keepachangelog or use auto.

set -e

OUTPUT="${1:-CHANGELOG.md}"
TAG="${2:-}"

echo "# Changelog" > "$OUTPUT"
echo "" >> "$OUTPUT"

if [ -n "$TAG" ]; then
  git log "$TAG"..HEAD --pretty=format:"- %s (%h)" --no-merges >> "$OUTPUT" 2>/dev/null || true
else
  git log -20 --pretty=format:"- %s (%h)" --no-merges >> "$OUTPUT" 2>/dev/null || true
fi

echo "" >> "$OUTPUT"
echo "Generated by scripts/generate-changelog.sh" >> "$OUTPUT"
echo "Changelog written to $OUTPUT"