Scoped Commits in Changelogs

Understanding Scoped Commits

In Conventional Commits, the scope is an optional parenthetical identifier that narrows the area of the codebase affected by the change. Common scopes include module names (auth, api, ui), package names in a monorepo, or feature areas (billing, search).

How Scopes Are Rendered

When the generator encounters a scoped commit like feat(auth): add OAuth2 login, it renders it as:

- **auth:** add OAuth2 login

The scope becomes a bold prefix, making it easy to scan which part of the codebase changed. Unscoped commits like feat: add dark mode are rendered without a prefix:

- add dark mode

Mixing Scoped and Unscoped

Within a single section, both scoped and unscoped commits coexist naturally:

### Added
- **auth:** add OAuth2 login with Google
- **api:** implement rate limiting middleware
- add dark mode toggle to settings page

Scope Naming Conventions

While the generator accepts any scope string, common conventions include:

Convention	Example	Description
Module name	feat(auth):	Affected module or package
Layer	fix(ui):	Application layer (ui, api, db)
Feature area	perf(search):	Business domain feature
Package	build(eslint):	Dependency or tool name

Benefits of Scopes

Scopes make changelogs scannable. A reader looking for authentication changes can quickly scan for the bold auth: prefix across all sections, rather than reading every line item.