name: changelog-automation
description: "Apply changelog automation and semantic versioning patterns using Changesets or semantic-release: conventional commits, automated version bumping, release notes generation. Use when setting up release workflows, discussing versioning, or implementing changelog automation."

Changelog Automation

Manual changelog maintenance is error-prone. Automate version bumping, changelog updates, and release notes.

For full infrastructure setup, use /changelog — the orchestrator skill that installs semantic-release, LLM synthesis, and a public changelog page.

Philosophy

Two proven approaches:
1. semantic-release: Commit-based workflow using conventional commits (recommended for web apps)
2. Changesets: PR-based workflow with explicit change declarations (best for npm monorepos)

Both enforce Semantic Versioning and integrate with CI/CD.

When to Use What

Default recommendation: semantic-release for web apps. Every merge to main deploys to production anyway — let the release happen automatically.

Semantic Versioning (SemVer)

MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH:
- MAJOR (1.0.0 → 2.0.0): Breaking changes
- MINOR (1.0.0 → 1.1.0): New features, backward-compatible
- PATCH (1.0.0 → 1.0.1): Bug fixes

Comparison

The Full Stack

For complete release infrastructure (not just versioning), /changelog installs:
1. semantic-release — Automatic version bumping from conventional commits
2. commitlint + Lefthook — Enforce commit message format
3. GitHub Actions — CI workflow for releases
4. Gemini 3 Flash synthesis — Transform technical notes to user-friendly language
5. Public changelog page — /changelog route with RSS feed

Best Practices

Do

• Choose one approach, not both
• Enforce conventional commits (commitlint)
• Automate with GitHub Actions
• Generate user-friendly release notes (LLM synthesis)
• Tag releases in git
• Provide a public changelog page

Don't

• Manually edit CHANGELOG.md
• Skip commit message enforcement
• Ignore breaking changes
• Publish without CI
• Forget to build before publish
• Hide release notes behind auth

Quick Setup

Full infrastructure (recommended):

/changelog setup

Just semantic-release:

pnpm add -D semantic-release @semantic-release/git @semantic-release/changelog
pnpm add -D @commitlint/cli @commitlint/config-conventional
# Configure .releaserc.js, commitlint, GitHub Action

Just Changesets:

pnpm add -D @changesets/cli
pnpm changeset init
# Add GitHub Action, document workflow

References

Detailed configurations:
- /changelog orchestrator — Full infrastructure setup
- references/changesets.md — Changesets installation, config, workflow
- references/semantic-release.md — semantic-release installation, config
- references/conventional-commits.md — Commitlint setup, Lefthook integration

"Versioning should be automatic, not an afterthought."