update-changelog

Yes, it can create a changelog if none exists. When no CHANGELOG.md or baseline tag is found, the skill uses a fallback mechanism to generate a new markdown file populated with human-friendly entries derived from your recent git commits.

The changelog update process finds unreleased commits by using git describe to identify the latest baseline release tag, then running git log to capture all changes between that tag and the current main branch that are not yet incorporated into the changelog.

No, updating the changelog preserves your existing markdown formatting and structure. The skill reads the current CHANGELOG.md and modifies only the Unreleased section, ensuring your historical release notes remain completely intact.

You need at least one baseline release tag for the skill to accurately calculate unreleased changes. If no baseline tag exists, the skill supports a fallback mode to aggregate changes, but established versioning tags yield the most accurate results.

The best way to maintain repository documentation for unreleased changes is to aggregate git commits between the last release tag and main branch. This skill automates that process, updating the Unreleased section of your changelog with consistent entries.