Changelog

The changelog command automatically generates a changelog from the repository’s commit messages.

Depending on the configuration used in the workflow, the changelog can:

• update or create the CHANGELOG.md file;
• be sent to stdout for use in other steps;
• consider only commits since the last release.

Full release example

The example below demonstrates a workflow that generates changelog automatically when creating a tag and uses the result as a description of a GitHub Release.

name: Release Deployment

on:
  push:
    tags:
      - 'v*'

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v6
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
          ref: main

      - name: Generate Changelog
        id: gitwit
        uses: rafandoo/gitwit-action@v1
        with:
          command: changelog
          changelog_stdout: true
          changelog_from_latest_release: true

      - name: Create GitHub Release
        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
        with:
          body: |
            ${{ steps.gitwit.outputs.changelog }}

Generate changelog in file

- name: Generate Changelog
  uses: rafandoo/gitwit-action@v1
  with:
    command: changelog

In this case, GitWit will generate or update the CHANGELOG.md file in the repository.

Add to changelog

- name: Generate Changelog
  uses: rafandoo/gitwit-action@v1
  with:
    command: changelog
    args: --append

This setting adds new content to the existing CHANGELOG.md file instead of overwriting it.

Generate changelog since last release

changelog_from_latest_release: true

When this option is enabled, only commits made after the last release will be considered in changelog generation.

Using the output

When changelog_stdout=true is configured, the content of the generated changelog becomes available as the action’s output:

${{ steps.gitwit.outputs.changelog }}

To access this output in other steps, the step that executes GitWit must have an id defined (in the example above, id: gitwit). So you can use the changelog generated in:

• creation of GitHub Releases;
• sending notifications to Slack;
• automatic comments on Pull Requests.