Standard Version is a command-line utility that automates versioning and CHANGELOG generation using semantic versioning and Conventional Commits.
The tool solves the problem of manual version management and changelog maintenance by automating these tasks based on commit message conventions. It reads the current version from package files or git tags, analyzes commits following the Conventional Commits specification to determine the appropriate semantic version bump, generates a changelog from commit history, creates a commit with updated version files and changelog, and tags the repository with the new version number.
Developers should be aware that Standard Version is deprecated. The README explicitly recommends release-please as an alternative for GitHub users, and commit-and-tag-version as a fork for those unable to use GitHub Actions or who need to maintain Standard Version compatibility. The tool works best for Node.js projects out of the box, though it supports custom configuration through packageFiles, bumpFiles, and updaters for projects in other languages or with non-standard version file locations. It requires that your project follows the Conventional Commits specification for commit messages to function effectively.
The project maintains active continuous integration workflows and code coverage tracking. Development activity shows ongoing maintenance of the codebase alongside the deprecation notice, indicating the maintainers continue to support existing users while directing new adopters toward successor tools.
