diff --git a/lib/lifecycles/commit.js b/lib/lifecycles/commit.js
index c273949be..968ea8b56 100644
--- a/lib/lifecycles/commit.js
+++ b/lib/lifecycles/commit.js
@@ -19,21 +19,37 @@ module.exports = function (args, newVersion) {
 
 function execCommit (args, newVersion) {
   var msg = 'committing %s'
-  var paths = [args.infile]
-  var verify = args.verify === false || args.n ? '--no-verify ' : ''
+  var paths = []
   var toAdd = ''
+
+  // only start with a pre-populated paths list when CHANGELOG processing is not skipped
+  if (!args.skip.changelog) {
+    paths = [args.infile]
+    toAdd += args.infile
+  }
+
+  var verify = args.verify === false || args.n ? '--no-verify ' : ''
   // commit any of the config files that we've updated
   // the version # for.
   Object.keys(bump.getUpdatedConfigs()).forEach(function (p) {
     if (bump.getUpdatedConfigs()[p]) {
-      msg += ' and %s'
       paths.unshift(path.basename(p))
       toAdd += ' ' + path.relative(process.cwd(), p)
+
+      // account for multiple files in the output message
+      if (paths.length > 1) {
+        msg += ' and %s'
+      }
     }
   })
   checkpoint(args, msg, paths)
-  return runExec(args, 'git add' + toAdd + ' ' + args.infile)
+
+  if (args.skip.changelog && args.skip.bump && toAdd.length === 0) {
+    return Promise.resolve()
+  }
+
+  return runExec(args, 'git add ' + toAdd)
     .then(() => {
-      return runExec(args, 'git commit ' + verify + (args.sign ? '-S ' : '') + (args.commitAll ? '' : (args.infile + toAdd)) + ' -m "' + formatCommitMessage(args.message, newVersion) + '"')
+      return runExec(args, 'git commit ' + verify + (args.sign ? '-S ' : '') + (args.commitAll ? '' : (toAdd)) + ' -m "' + formatCommitMessage(args.message, newVersion) + '"')
     })
 }
diff --git a/test.js b/test.js
index 88126d430..adbf6b8e1 100644
--- a/test.js
+++ b/test.js
@@ -885,6 +885,16 @@ describe('standard-version', function () {
   })
 
   describe('skip', () => {
+    it('can skip changelog generation when a changelog file is not present', function () {
+      writePackageJson('1.0.0')
+
+      commit('feat: first commit')
+      return execCliAsync('--skip.changelog true')
+        .then(function () {
+          getPackageVersion().should.equal('1.1.0')
+        })
+    })
+
     it('allows bump and changelog generation to be skipped', function () {
       let changelogContent = 'legacy header format<a name="1.0.0">\n'
       writePackageJson('1.0.0')