Automated Release Notes Workflow

Automating Changelog Generation

While the Changelog Generator is a browser-based tool, the principles it implements can be integrated into automated workflows. The tool serves as both a quick generator for manual use and a learning tool for understanding the commit-to-changelog transformation.

The Manual Workflow

1. Run git log --oneline --no-decorate vPREVIOUS..HEAD to extract commits since the last release.
2. Paste the output into the Changelog Generator.
3. Set the version and date.
4. Copy the output and update your CHANGELOG.md.
5. Commit the updated changelog and tag the release.

The Semi-Automated Workflow

# Extract commits
git log --pretty=format:'%s' v1.2.0..HEAD > /tmp/commits.txt

# Open the generator, paste from /tmp/commits.txt
# Review and adjust the output
# Download as CHANGELOG.md

CI/CD Integration Patterns

For full automation, many teams use tools like:

• conventional-changelog (npm) — Generates changelogs from git history
• standard-version — Automates versioning and changelog generation
• semantic-release — Full CI/CD release automation
• release-please — Google's automated release tool for GitHub

When to Use the Browser Tool vs. CLI

Scenario	Use Browser Tool	Use CLI Tool
One-off release	Yes	Optional
Learning the format	Yes	No
CI/CD pipeline	No	Yes
Reviewing before publish	Yes	Optional
Custom formatting	Yes	Limited

Best Practice: Review Before Publish

Even with automated tools, reviewing the generated changelog before publishing is recommended. Commit messages may have typos, unclear descriptions, or missing scopes that are easier to catch in a formatted changelog than in raw git log output.