git-cliff is a changelog generator that parses Git history using Conventional Commits and regex-powered custom parsers to automatically produce formatted changelog files.
The tool solves the problem of manually maintaining changelogs by extracting commit information directly from Git history. It uses Conventional Commits as its primary parsing mechanism, allowing developers to structure their commits in a standard way that the tool can automatically categorize and format. For projects that do not follow Conventional Commits, regex-powered custom parsers provide flexibility to extract changelog-relevant information from any commit message format. The generated changelog can be customized through a configuration file and templating system to match any desired output format.
Teams should adopt this tool if they maintain a changelog and want to automate its generation from commit history. It suits projects already using or willing to adopt Conventional Commits, as well as projects with custom commit message formats that can be described with regex patterns. The tool includes monorepo support, making it applicable to larger projects with multiple packages or services. It is particularly valuable for teams automating release management, as it can extract version information and categorize changes systematically.
The project maintains continuous integration and deployment workflows. Docker images are built and published alongside releases. The codebase includes a separate core library with published documentation, enabling other tools to integrate changelog generation capabilities. Test coverage is tracked and monitored throughout development.
