Changelog from Conventional Commits - Github Action

This GitHub Action automatically generates a changelog based on all the Conventional Commits between the latest tag and the previous tag, or beween 2 specific tags.

• Features
• Example Workflows
  • Using the latest tag
  • Using a specific tag range
• Inputs
• Outputs
• Important Info

Features

• Generates the CHANGELOG changes in Markdown format
• Turns PR ids into links and add the PR author.
• Prepends a shortened commit SHA ID to the commit for quick access.
• BREAKING CHANGE notes are added to the top of the changelog version along with the related commit.
• Exports changelog to a variable that can used in a subsequent step to create a release changelog.
• Automatically injects the changes into the CHANGELOG.md file or creates it if it doesn't exist yet. (optional)
• Will not mess up with any header or instructions you already have at the top of your CHANGELOG.md.
• Will not add duplicate version changes if it already exists in the CHANGELOG.md file.
• Optionally exclude types from the CHANGELOG. (default: build,docs,other,style)

Example Workflows

Using the latest tag

name: Deploy

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout Code
        uses: actions/checkout@v3

      - name: Update CHANGELOG
        id: changelog
        uses: requarks/changelog-action@v1
        with:
          token: ${{ github.token }}
          tag: ${{ github.ref_name }}

      - name: Create Release
        uses: ncipollo/release-action@v1.12.0
        with:
          allowUpdates: true
          draft: false
          makeLatest: true
          name: ${{ github.ref_name }}
          body: ${{ steps.changelog.outputs.changes }}
          token: ${{ github.token }}

      - name: Commit CHANGELOG.md
        uses: stefanzweifel/git-auto-commit-action@v4
        with:
          branch: main
          commit_message: 'docs: update CHANGELOG.md for ${{ github.ref_name }} [skip ci]'
          file_pattern: CHANGELOG.md

Using a specific tag range

name: Deploy

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - v[0-9]+.[0-9]+.[0-9]+

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout Code
        uses: actions/checkout@v3
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Get previous tag
        id: previousTag
        run: |
          name=$(git --no-pager tag --sort=creatordate --merged ${{ github.ref_name }} | tail -2 | head -1)
          echo "previousTag: $name"
          echo "previousTag=$name" >> $GITHUB_ENV

      - name: Update CHANGELOG
        id: changelog
        uses: requarks/changelog-action@v1
        with:
          token: ${{ github.token }}
          fromTag: ${{ github.ref_name }}
          toTag: ${{ env.previousTag }}
          writeToFile: false

      - name: Create Release
        uses: ncipollo/release-action@v1.12.0
        with:
          allowUpdates: true
          draft: true
          makeLatest: true
          name: ${{ github.ref_name }}
          body: ${{ steps.changelog.outputs.changes }}
          token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Inputs

Field	Description	Required	Default
token	Your GitHub token (e.g. ${{ github.token }})	✅
tag	The latest tag which triggered the job. (e.g. ${{ github.ref_name }})	✅ (unless using fromTag and toTag)
fromTag	The tag from which the changelog is to be determined (latest)	✅ (unless using tag)
toTag	The tag up to which the changelog is to be determined (oldest)	✅ (unless using tag)
excludeTypes	A comma-separated list of commit types you want to exclude from the changelog (e.g. doc,chore,perf)	❌	build,docs,other,style
excludeScopes	A comma-separated list of commit scopes you want to include in the changelog (e.g. dev,release)	❌
restrictToTypes	A comma-separated list of commit types you want to restrict to for the changelog (e.g. feat,fix,refactor). Overrides excludeTypes if defined.	❌
writeToFile	Should CHANGELOG.md be updated with latest changelog	❌	true
changelogFilePath	The CHANGELOG.md file path when writeToFile is true	❌	CHANGELOG.md
includeRefIssues	Should the changelog include the issues referenced for each PR.	❌	true
useGitmojis	Should type headers be prepended with their related gitmoji	❌	true
includeInvalidCommits	Whether to include commits that don't respect the Conventional Commits format	❌	false
reverseOrder	List commits in reverse order (from newer to older) instead of the default (older to newer).	❌	false

Outputs

Field	Description
changes	Generated CHANGELOG changes for the latest tag, without the version / date header (for use in GitHub Releases).

⚠️ Important ⚠️

You must already have 2 tags in your repository (1 previous tag + the current latest tag triggering the job). The job will exit with an error if it can't find the previous tag!