changelog-gen-ai

changelog-gen

AI-powered changelog generator for GitHub and GitLab repositories. Analyzes git commits and uses OpenAI to generate well-formatted changelogs following the Keep a Changelog specification.

Features

• Analyzes git commits and diffs to understand changes
• Uses AI to categorize and summarize changes (Added, Changed, Fixed, etc.)
• Supports multiple version tracking methods (tags, changelog parsing, manual)
• Works with any OpenAI-compatible API (OpenAI, Azure, local models)
• Easy integration with GitHub Actions and GitLab CI
• Configurable via YAML config file

Installation

# Install globally
npm install -g changelog-gen

# Or use directly with npx
npx changelog-gen generate

Quick Start

• Set your OpenAI API key:

export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-api-key"

• Generate a changelog:

# Generate changelog from the latest tag to HEAD
changelog-gen generate --from latest-tag

# Preview without writing (dry run)
changelog-gen generate --from latest-tag --dry-run

# Specify a version
changelog-gen generate --from v1.0.0 --version 1.1.0

Configuration

Create a .changelogrc.yaml file in your project root:

# Output file path
output: CHANGELOG.md

# OpenAI-compatible API endpoint
openaiUrl: https://api.openai.com/v1

# Model to use
model: gpt-4o-mini

# Version detection method: tags | changelog | manual
versionSource: tags

# Include commit links
includeCommitLinks: true

# Patterns to exclude
excludePatterns:
  - "chore(deps):"
  - "Merge branch"

Generate a default config file:

changelog-gen init

CLI Options

changelog-gen generate

Generate changelog entries from git commits.

Option	Description	Default
-f, --from <ref>	Starting point (tag, SHA, or "latest-tag")	Auto-detected
-t, --to <ref>	End point	HEAD
-o, --output <file>	Output file path	CHANGELOG.md
-u, --openai-url <url>	OpenAI API endpoint	https://api.openai.com/v1
-k, --api-key <key>	OpenAI API key	OPENAI_API_KEY env
-m, --model <model>	Model to use	gpt-4o-mini
-v, --version <version>	Version string	Auto-incremented
-c, --config <file>	Config file path	.changelogrc.yaml
-d, --dry-run	Preview without writing	false

changelog-gen init

Create a default configuration file.

Option	Description
-f, --force	Overwrite existing config file

CI/CD Integration

GitHub Actions

- name: Generate Changelog
  env:
    OPENAI_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.OPENAI_API_KEY }}
  run: npx changelog-gen generate --from latest-tag

See examples/github-action.yml for a complete workflow.

GitLab CI

changelog:
  image: node:20
  script:
    - npx changelog-gen generate --from latest-tag
  variables:
    GIT_DEPTH: 0

See examples/gitlab-ci.yml for complete examples.

Using with Local AI Models

changelog-gen works with any OpenAI-compatible API. To use with local models:

Ollama

# Start Ollama with an appropriate model
ollama run llama3.1

# Use with changelog-gen
changelog-gen generate --openai-url http://localhost:11434/v1 --model llama3.1

LM Studio

# Start LM Studio server, then:
changelog-gen generate --openai-url http://localhost:1234/v1 --model local-model

Output Format

Generated changelogs follow the Keep a Changelog format:

# Changelog

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

## [1.1.0] - 2024-01-15

### Added

- User authentication with OAuth support
- Dark mode theme option

### Changed

- Improved performance of data loading

### Fixed

- Resolved issue with form validation on mobile devices

Environment Variables

Variable	Description
OPENAI_API_KEY	OpenAI API key (required)

License

MIT