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`
`writeToFile`	Should CHANGELOG.md be updated with latest changelog	❌	`true`
`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!

sgarlick987/changelog-action