changelog-automation

Use tools like standard-version, semantic-release, or git-cliff that parse Conventional Commits and generate a Keep a Changelog formatted file. Commit types like feat and fix are mapped to changelog sections such as Added and Fixed automatically.

standard-version runs locally or on demand to bump versions and update CHANGELOG.md, while semantic-release runs fully automated in CI to analyze commits, version, changelog, and publish releases. semantic-release requires stricter commit discipline but removes manual release steps.

Install commitlint with the conventional config and add a Husky commit-msg hook that runs commitlint on every commit message. This rejects commits that do not follow the type(scope): description format before they enter history.

Yes, commitizen supports Python projects through pyproject.toml configuration. It can bump versions in version files, update the changelog incrementally, and validate commit messages with cz check.

Breaking changes are marked with an exclamation mark after the type, like feat(api)!, or with a BREAKING CHANGE footer. These trigger a MAJOR version bump under semantic versioning and appear prominently in generated release notes.