Agent skill
changelog-generator
Automatically creates user-facing changelogs from git commits by analyzing commit history, categorizing changes, and transforming technical commits into clear, customer-friendly release notes.
Install this agent skill to your Project
npx add-skill https://github.com/j0KZ/mcp-agents/tree/main/docs/universal-skills/changelog-generator
SKILL.md
Changelog Generator
This skill transforms technical git commits into polished, user-friendly changelogs that your customers and users will actually understand and appreciate.
When to Use This Skill
- Preparing release notes for a new version
- Creating weekly or monthly product update summaries
- Documenting changes for customers
- Writing changelog entries for app store submissions
- Generating update notifications
- Creating internal release documentation
- Maintaining a public changelog/product updates page
What This Skill Does
- Scans Git History: Analyzes commits from a specific time period or between versions
- Categorizes Changes: Groups commits into logical categories (features, improvements, bug fixes, breaking changes, security)
- Translates Technical to User-Friendly: Converts developer commits into customer language
- Formats Professionally: Creates clean, structured changelog entries
- Filters Noise: Excludes internal commits (refactoring, tests, etc.)
- Follows Best Practices: Applies changelog guidelines and your brand voice
How to Use
Basic Usage
From your project repository:
Create a changelog from commits since last release
Generate changelog for all commits from the past week
Create release notes for version 2.5.0
With Specific Date Range
Create a changelog for all commits between March 1 and March 15
With Custom Guidelines
Create a changelog for commits since v2.4.0, using my changelog
guidelines from CHANGELOG_STYLE.md
Instructions
When a user requests a changelog:
Step 1: Gather Commit History
# Get commits since last tag
git log $(git describe --tags --abbrev=0)..HEAD --oneline
# Get commits from specific date range
git log --since="2024-01-01" --until="2024-01-31" --oneline
# Get commits between two tags
git log v2.4.0..v2.5.0 --oneline
Step 2: Categorize Commits
Group commits into these categories:
| Category | Prefix Indicators | Icon |
|---|---|---|
| New Features | feat:, feature:, add: | ✨ |
| Improvements | improve:, enhance:, update:, perf: | 🔧 |
| Bug Fixes | fix:, bugfix:, hotfix: | 🐛 |
| Breaking Changes | BREAKING:, breaking: | ⚠️ |
| Security | security:, sec: | 🔒 |
| Documentation | docs:, doc: | 📚 |
Step 3: Filter Out Internal Changes
Exclude these commit types from user-facing changelogs:
- refactor:, refactoring
- test:, tests:
- chore:
- ci:, build:
- style: (formatting only)
- wip:, WIP
Step 4: Transform to User-Friendly Language
Before (Technical):
feat(auth): implement JWT refresh token rotation with sliding window
fix(api): resolve race condition in concurrent request handler
perf(db): add composite index on users table for search queries
After (User-Friendly):
✨ New Features
- Stay logged in longer! Your session now automatically refreshes
🐛 Fixes
- Fixed an issue where simultaneous actions could cause errors
🔧 Improvements
- User search is now significantly faster
Step 5: Format the Changelog
# Updates - [Version/Date]
## ✨ New Features
- **[Feature Name]**: [One sentence description of what users can now do]
## 🔧 Improvements
- **[Area]**: [How the user experience is better]
## 🐛 Fixes
- Fixed [user-facing issue description]
## ⚠️ Breaking Changes (if any)
- [What changed and what users need to do]
Example
Input: "Create a changelog for commits from the past 7 days"
Output:
# Updates - Week of March 10, 2024
## ✨ New Features
- **Team Workspaces**: Create separate workspaces for different
projects. Invite team members and keep everything organized.
- **Keyboard Shortcuts**: Press ? to see all available shortcuts.
Navigate faster without touching your mouse.
## 🔧 Improvements
- **Faster Sync**: Files now sync 2x faster across devices
- **Better Search**: Search now includes file contents, not just titles
## 🐛 Fixes
- Fixed issue where large images wouldn't upload
- Resolved timezone confusion in scheduled posts
- Corrected notification badge count
Tips
- Run from your git repository root
- Specify date ranges for focused changelogs
- Use a CHANGELOG_STYLE.md for consistent formatting
- Review and adjust the generated changelog before publishing
- Save output directly to CHANGELOG.md
Related Use Cases
- Creating GitHub release notes
- Writing app store update descriptions
- Generating email updates for users
- Creating social media announcement posts
WITH MCP Tools
If you have MCP tools available, the process is faster:
"Generate changelog from last week's commits using review_file for analysis"
WITHOUT MCP Tools
Use standard git commands:
# View recent commits
git log --oneline -50
# View commits since tag
git log v1.0.0..HEAD --pretty=format:"%s"
# View commits by author
git log --author="name" --since="1 week ago"
Recommended Agent Skills
Expand your agent's capabilities with these related and highly-rated skills.
j0KZ/mcp-agents
debug-detective
Systematic debugging approach for ANY codebase, ANY language, ANY bug type
j0KZ/mcp-agents
tool-discovery
Guide for discovering and using @j0kz MCP tools efficiently through search, filtering, and progressive exploration. Use when exploring available capabilities, finding the right tool for a task, or ...
j0KZ/mcp-agents
project-standardization
Guides correct usage of @j0kz/mcp-agents standardization and automation scripts including version.json single source of truth, test count automation, URL casing rules, and critical workflow pattern...
j0KZ/mcp-agents
api-integration
Master third-party API integration in ANY language with best practices and patterns
j0KZ/mcp-agents
documentation-generation
Documentation generation and maintenance patterns including README structure, CHANGELOG management, API documentation, wiki synchronization, and badge updates. Use when creating package docs, updat...
j0KZ/mcp-agents
competitive-ads-extractor
Extracts and analyzes competitor ads from ad libraries (Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Google). Use when researching competitor messaging, creative patterns, campaign strategies, or ad inspiration. Ch...
Didn't find tool you were looking for?