git-changelog

Update existing file or create a new History.md file with the commit messages since the latest Git tag

$ git changelog

$ git changelog [[-l|--list]]

$ git changelog [[-l|--list]] [[-s|--start-tag]] 2.1.0

$ git changelog [[-s|--start-tag]] 0.5.0 [[-f|--final-tag]] 1.0.0

$ git changelog --start-commit 0b97430 [[-f|--final-tag]] 1.0.0

$ git changelog CHANGELOG.md

$ git changelog [[-p|--prune-old]]

git-changelog [OPTIONS] [REPO_DIR]

--output, -o FILE
    Write changelog to FILE (default: stdout).

--template TEMPLATE
    Path to custom Handlebars template file.

--since TAG
    Start changelog from this tag/version.

--until TAG
    Stop changelog before this tag/version.

--unreleased
    Include a section for unreleased changes.

--tag TAG
    Specify unreleased version tag.

--header TEMPLATE
    Custom header template file.

--no-merge
    Exclude merge commits from changelog.

--pretty FORMAT
    Custom git log pretty format string.

--grep REGEX
    Include only commits matching regex.

--invert-grep
    Exclude commits matching --grep regex.

--author AUTHOR
    Filter commits by author name/email.

--help
    Print help and exit.

--version
    Print version and exit.

git-changelog is a lightweight command-line tool written in Rust that automatically generates changelogs from a Git repository's commit history. It excels at parsing conventional commit messages (feat:, fix:, etc.) and grouping changes by semantic version tags, producing structured Markdown output by default.

It scans git tags to delineate versions (e.g., v1.0.0), categorizes commits into sections like Added, Changed, Fixed, and Deprecated, and supports unreleased changes. Customizable via templates, it allows filtering by date, author, or grep patterns, ignoring merges if desired.

Ideal for open-source projects following Conventional Commits, it outputs to file or stdout, making it perfect for CI/CD pipelines to automate CHANGELOG.md updates before releases. Unlike git log pipes, it provides ready-to-use formatted changelogs with minimal configuration.

Requires a Git repository with tags for best results; assumes Conventional Commits for categorization. Run from repo root or specify path. Limited to linear history unless --no-merge used.

Supports ~/.config/git-changelog/config.toml for defaults like templates and output format.

git-changelog --output CHANGELOG.md --unreleased
git-changelog --since v1.0.0 ../myrepo

Developed by Fahrstuhl (Fabian Möller) in Rust for fast performance. Initial release v0.1.0 in 2020; actively maintained with semantic versioning support added in v0.5+. Available via Cargo, Homebrew, and distro packages.

git-log(1), git-tag(1), git-shortlog(1)