logchange Reference Documentation

Complete reference for logchange commands, configuration options, and YAML format specifications.

CLI Commands

Global Options

Option	Short	Default	Description
`--path`	`-p`	`.`	Project root directory path
`--help`	`-h`		Show help information
`--version`	`-v`		Show version information

logchange init

Initialize a project with logchange structure.

logchange init [options]

Option	Default	Description
`--path, -p`	current directory	Directory to initialize
`--inputDir`	`changelog`	Input directory name
`--unreleasedVersionDir`	`unreleased`	Unreleased changes directory
`--outputFile`	`CHANGELOG.md`	Output changelog filename

Examples:

# Initialize current directory
logchange init

# Initialize specific directory
logchange init --path /path/to/project

# Custom directory structure
logchange init --inputDir docs/changelog --outputFile CHANGES.md

logchange add

Create a new changelog entry.

logchange add [options]

Option	Default	Description
`--path, -p`	current directory	Project root directory
`--inputDir`	`changelog`	Input directory
`--unreleasedVersionDir`	`unreleased`	Directory for new entries
`--fileName`	generated	Entry filename
`--batchMode`	`false`	Non-interactive mode
`--empty`	`false`	Create empty entry template
`--title`		Entry title
`--author`		Author info (format: "name; nick; url")
`--authors`		Multiple authors (comma-separated)
`--type`		Change type
`--link.name`		Link name
`--link.url`		Link URL

Examples:

# Interactive entry creation
logchange add

# Batch mode with predefined values
logchange add --batchMode --title "Add user authentication" --type added

# Empty template
logchange add --empty --fileName 001-new-feature.yml

# Multiple authors
logchange add --authors "John Doe; johndoe; https://github.com/johndoe, Jane Smith; jsmith; https://github.com/jsmith"

logchange example

Generate a pre-filled example entry.

logchange example [options]

Option	Default	Description
`--path, -p`	current directory	Project root directory
`--inputDir`	`changelog`	Input directory
`--unreleasedVersionDir`	`unreleased`	Directory for example
`--fileName`	`00000-entry.yml`	Example filename

logchange generate

Generate CHANGELOG.md from entries.

logchange generate [options]

Option	Default	Description
`--path, -p`	current directory	Project root directory
`--inputDir`	`changelog`	Input directory
`--outputFile`	`CHANGELOG.md`	Output filename
`--configFile`	`logchange-config.yml`	Configuration file

logchange lint

Validate YAML entries and configuration.

logchange lint [options]

Option	Default	Description
`--path, -p`	current directory	Project root directory
`--inputDir`	`changelog`	Input directory
`--outputFile`	`CHANGELOG.md`	Output filename (for validation)
`--configFile`	`logchange-config.yml`	Configuration file

logchange release

Create a release by moving unreleased entries.

logchange release [options]

Option	Default	Description
`--path, -p`	current directory	Project root directory
`--versionToRelease`	required	Version number (e.g., 1.2.0)
`--unreleasedVersionDir`	`unreleased`	Unreleased directory
`--inputDir`	`changelog`	Input directory
`--outputFile`	`CHANGELOG.md`	Output filename
`--configFile`	`logchange-config.yml`	Configuration file
`--generateChangesXml`	`false`	Generate XML changes file
`--xmlOutputFile`	`changes.xml`	XML output filename

Examples:

# Standard release
logchange release --versionToRelease 1.2.0

# Release with XML generation
logchange release --versionToRelease 1.2.0 --generateChangesXml

# Custom unreleased directory
logchange release --versionToRelease 1.2.0 --unreleasedVersionDir unreleased-1.2.0

logchange aggregate

Aggregate changelogs from multiple projects.

logchange aggregate [options]

Option	Default	Description
`--path, -p`	current directory	Project root directory
`--aggregateVersion`	required	Version to aggregate
`--inputDir`	`changelog`	Input directory
`--configFile`	`logchange-config.yml`	Configuration file

Examples:

# Aggregate released version
logchange aggregate --aggregateVersion 2.1.0

# Aggregate unreleased changes
logchange aggregate --aggregateVersion unreleased

logchange archive

Archive old versions to reduce directory clutter.

logchange archive [options]

Option	Default	Description
`--path, -p`	current directory	Project root directory
`--version`	required	Archive versions up to (inclusive)
`--inputDir`	`changelog`	Input directory
`--configFile`	`logchange-config.yml`	Configuration file

Maven Plugin Goals

Configuration

<plugin>
    <groupId>dev.logchange</groupId>
    <artifactId>logchange-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>1.19.5</version>
    <configuration>
        <inputDir>changelog</inputDir>
        <outputFile>CHANGELOG.md</outputFile>
        <unreleasedVersionDir>unreleased</unreleasedVersionDir>
        <configFile>logchange-config.yml</configFile>
    </configuration>
</plugin>

Goals

Goal	Description	Command
`logchange:init`	Initialize project	`mvn logchange:init`
`logchange:add`	Add new entry	`mvn logchange:add`
`logchange:example`	Create example entry	`mvn logchange:example`
`logchange:generate`	Generate changelog	`mvn logchange:generate`
`logchange:lint`	Validate entries	`mvn logchange:lint`
`logchange:release`	Create release	`mvn logchange:release`
`logchange:aggregate`	Aggregate projects	`mvn logchange:aggregate`
`logchange:archive`	Archive versions	`mvn logchange:archive`

Maven Properties

Property	Default	Description
`empty`	`false`	Create empty entry
`fileName`	generated	Entry filename
`aggregateVersion`		Version for aggregation
`changesXml`	`false`	Generate changes.xml
`outputFileXml`	`changes.xml`	XML output file
`version`		Version for archiving

Examples:

# Empty entry with custom name
mvn logchange:add -Dempty -DfileName=001-my-feature.yml

# Release with XML generation
mvn logchange:release -DchangesXml -DoutputFileXml=maven-changes.xml

# Aggregate specific version
mvn logchange:aggregate -DaggregateVersion=2.1.0

# Archive up to version
mvn logchange:archive -Dversion=1.5.0

Gradle Plugin Tasks

Configuration

logchange {
    rootPath = "."
    inputDir = "changelog"
    unreleasedVersionDir = "unreleased"
    outputFile = "CHANGELOG.md"
    configFile = "logchange-config.yml"
    generateChangesXml = false
    xmlOutputFile = "changes.xml"
}

Tasks

Task	Description
`logchangeInit`	Initialize directory structure
`logchangeAdd`	Creates new YML entry file
`logchangeExample`	Creates pre-filled example entry
`logchangeGenerate`	Generates changelog from entries
`logchangeLint`	Validates YML files and config
`logchangeRelease`	Creates release by moving unreleased files
`logchangeAggregate`	Aggregates multiple project changelogs
`logchangeArchive`	Archives released versions

Examples:

# Basic tasks
./gradlew logchangeInit
./gradlew logchangeAdd
./gradlew logchangeGenerate

# Release with XML
./gradlew logchangeRelease -PgenerateChangesXml=true

# Aggregate version
./gradlew logchangeAggregate -PaggregateVersion=2.1.0

YAML Entry Format

Complete Field Reference

# Required header comment
# This file is used by logchange tool to generate CHANGELOG.md 🌳 🪓 => 🪵
# Visit https://github.com/logchange/logchange and leave a star 🌟

# Required fields
title: "Brief description of the change"
authors:
  - name: "Author Full Name"
    nick: "github-username"
    url: "https://github.com/github-username"
type: "added"  # See entry types below

# Optional fields
modules:
  - "module-name"
  - "another-module"

merge_requests:
  - 123
  - 456

issues:
  - 789
  - 101112

links:
  - name: "External Reference"
    url: "https://example.com/reference"
  - name: "JIRA-123"
    url: "https://company.atlassian.net/browse/JIRA-123"

important_notes:
  - "Important information for users"
  - "Migration steps required"
  - "Breaking change details"

configurations:
  - type: "environment variable"
    action: "add"  # add/update/delete
    key: "CONFIG_KEY"
    default_value: "default_value"
    description: "Configuration description"
    more_info: "Additional details with [links](https://example.com)"
  - type: "application.properties"
    action: "update"
    key: "app.feature.enabled"
    default_value: true
    description: "Enable new feature"

Entry Types

Type	Description	When to Use
`added`	New features	New functionality added
`changed`	Changes to existing functionality	Modified behavior
`deprecated`	Features marked for removal	Features to be removed in future
`removed`	Removed features	Features that were removed
`fixed`	Bug fixes	Bug corrections
`security`	Security fixes	Vulnerability fixes
`dependency_update`	Dependency updates	Library/framework updates
`other`	Other changes	Changes not fitting other categories

Field Validation Rules

Field	Type	Required	Validation
`title`	String	✅	Non-empty string
`authors`	Array	✅	At least one author with name, nick, url
`type`	String	✅	Must match configured entry types
`modules`	Array	❌	Array of strings
`merge_requests`	Array	❌	Array of integers
`issues`	Array	❌	Array of integers
`links`	Array	❌	Objects with name and url fields
`important_notes`	Array	❌	Array of strings
`configurations`	Array	❌	Objects with required type, action, key fields

Configuration Reference

Complete logchange-config.yml

# This file configures logchange tool 🌳 🪓 => 🪵 
# Visit https://github.com/logchange/logchange and leave a star 🌟

changelog:
  # Optional heading for the changelog
  heading: |
    Custom heading text that appears at the top of CHANGELOG.md

    Can contain markdown and multiple lines.

  # Custom entry types (overrides defaults)
  entryTypes:
    - key: "feature"
      order: 1
    - key: "bugfix"
      order: 2
    - key: "improvement" 
      order: 3
    - key: "breaking"
      order: 4

  # Customize display labels
  labels:
    unreleased: "Unreleased"
    important_notes: "Important Notes"

    types:
      # Labels for entry type sections
      entryTypesLabels:
        added: "Added"
        changed: "Changed"
        deprecated: "Deprecated"
        removed: "Removed"
        fixed: "Fixed"
        security: "Security"
        dependency_update: "Dependency Updates"
        other: "Other"

      # Pluralization for change counts
      number_of_changes:
        singular: "change"
        plural: "changes"

    # Configuration section labels
    configuration:
      heading: "Configuration Changes"
      type: "Type"
      actions:
        add: "Added"
        update: "Updated"
        delete: "Deleted"
      with_default_value: "with default value"
      description: "Description"

  # Template customization
  templates:
    # Entry format template
    entry: "${prefix}${title} ${merge_requests} ${issues} ${links} ${authors}"

    # Author format template
    author: "([${name}](${url}) @${nick})"

    # Version summary templates (generated files)
    version_summary_templates:
      - path: "release-notes.html"
      - path: "version-summary.json"

    # Full changelog templates
    changelog_templates:
      - path: "changelog.html"
      - path: "changelog.xml"

# Project aggregation configuration
aggregates:
  projects:
    - name: "project-name"
      url: "https://github.com/org/project/archive/main.tar.gz"
      type: "tar.gz"  # Currently only tar.gz supported
      input_dir: "changelog"
    - name: "another-project"
      url: "https://github.com/org/another/archive/master.tar.gz"
      type: "tar.gz"
      input_dir: "docs/changelog"

Template Variables

Entry Template Variables

Variable	Description	Example Output
`${prefix}`	Project name prefix (aggregation)	`MyProject -`
`${title}`	Entry title	`Add user authentication`
`${merge_requests}`	Formatted merge request links	`!123 !456`
`${issues}`	Formatted issue links	`#789 #101112`
`${links}`	Formatted external links	`[JIRA-123](https://...)`
`${authors}`	Formatted author information	`([John Doe](https://...) @johndoe)`

Author Template Variables

Variable	Description
`${name}`	Author full name
`${nick}`	Author nickname/handle
`${url}`	Author profile URL

Template System

Custom Version Summary Templates

Create templates in changelog/.templates/:

HTML Template Example

<!-- changelog/.templates/release-notes.html -->
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
    <title>{{ version.version }} Release Notes</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Release {{ version.version }}</h1>
    <p>Released: {{ version.releaseDateTime }}</p>

    {% for entriesGroup in version.entriesGroups %}
    {% if entriesGroup.notEmpty %}
    <section>
        <h2>{{ entriesGroup.type }}</h2>
        <ul>
        {% for entry in entriesGroup.entries %}
            <li>{{ entry }}</li>
        {% endfor %}
        </ul>
    </section>
    {% endif %}
    {% endfor %}

    {% if version.hasImportantNotes %}
    <section>
        <h2>Important Notes</h2>
        <ul>
        {% for note in version.importantNotes %}
            <li>{{ note }}</li>
        {% endfor %}
        </ul>
    </section>
    {% endif %}
</body>
</html>

JSON Template Example

changelog/.templates/version-summary.json:

{
  "version": "{{ version.version }}",
  "releaseDate": "{{ version.releaseDateTime }}",
  "changes": [
    {% for entriesGroup in version.entriesGroups %}
    {% if entriesGroup.notEmpty %}
    {
      "type": "{{ entriesGroup.type }}",
      "entries": [
        {% for entry in entriesGroup.entries %}
        "{{ entry }}"{% if not loop.last %},{% endif %}
        {% endfor %}
      ]
    }{% if not loop.last %},{% endif %}
    {% endif %}
    {% endfor %}
  ]
}

Template Objects Reference

Version Object

Property	Type	Description
`version.version`	String	Version number
`version.releaseDateTime`	String	Release date/time
`version.entriesGroups`	Array	Grouped entries by type
`version.importantNotes`	Array	Important notes
`version.hasImportantNotes`	Boolean	Whether important notes exist

EntriesGroup Object

Property	Type	Description
`entriesGroup.type`	String	Entry type label
`entriesGroup.entries`	Array	Formatted entries
`entriesGroup.notEmpty`	Boolean	Whether group has entries

File Structure

Standard Directory Layout

project-root/
├── changelog/
│   ├── logchange-config.yml          # Configuration
│   ├── .templates/                   # Custom templates
│   │   ├── release-notes.html
│   │   └── version-summary.json
│   ├── unreleased/                   # Pending changes
│   │   ├── 001-new-feature.yml
│   │   └── 002-bug-fix.yml
│   ├── unreleased-1.2.0/            # Version-specific unreleased
│   │   └── hotfix-security.yml
│   ├── v1.0.0/                      # Released version
│   │   ├── release-date.txt
│   │   ├── version-summary.md
│   │   ├── feature-auth.yml
│   │   └── bugfix-login.yml
│   ├── v1.1.0/
│   │   └── ...
│   └── archive.md                    # Historical changelog
└── CHANGELOG.md                      # Generated changelog

Generated Files

release-date.txt

2024-08-30

version-summary.md

## [1.2.0] - 2024-08-30

### Added
- New user authentication system !123 #456 ([John Doe](https://github.com/johndoe) @johndoe)

### Fixed
- Memory leak in connection pooling !124 #457 ([Jane Smith](https://github.com/jsmith) @jsmith)

### Important Notes
- Database migration required: run `migrate-auth-tables.sql`
- Update environment variables: add OAUTH_CLIENT_ID and OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET

Environment Variables

CLI Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
`LOGCHANGE_PATH`	Default project path	`.`
`LOGCHANGE_INPUT_DIR`	Default input directory	`changelog`
`LOGCHANGE_OUTPUT_FILE`	Default output file	`CHANGELOG.md`
`LOGCHANGE_CONFIG_FILE`	Default config file	`logchange-config.yml`

CI/CD Variables

Useful environment variables for CI/CD pipelines:

Variable	Description	Example
`CI_COMMIT_TAG`	Git tag for release	`v1.2.0`
`GITHUB_REF_NAME`	GitHub ref name	`1.2.0`
`CI_PROJECT_PATH`	Project path	`company/project`

Usage in CI/CD

# Extract version from tag
VERSION=${CI_COMMIT_TAG#v}  # Remove 'v' prefix
logchange release --versionToRelease $VERSION

# Dynamic configuration
export LOGCHANGE_INPUT_DIR="docs/changelog"
export LOGCHANGE_OUTPUT_FILE="CHANGES.md"
logchange generate

Exit Codes

Code	Description
`0`	Success
`1`	General error
`2`	Invalid arguments
`3`	File not found
`4`	YAML syntax error
`5`	Configuration error
`6`	Network error (aggregation)

Best Practices Summary

File Organization

Use descriptive filenames
Include sequence numbers for ordering
Group related changes in modules

YAML Content

Write clear, concise titles
Include all relevant authors
Use appropriate entry types
Document configuration changes

Team Workflow

Validate entries in CI/CD
Review changelog entries in PRs
Generate changelogs in release pipeline
Use version-specific unreleased directories for parallel development

Configuration

Customize labels and templates for your project
Use aggregation for multi-repository projects
Archive old versions to keep directories manageable

📚 For more information, see: - Getting Started Guide - Usage Guide - FAQ - GitHub Repository

logchange Reference Documentation

Table of Contents

CLI Commands

Global Options

logchange init

logchange add

logchange example

logchange generate

logchange lint

logchange release

logchange aggregate

logchange archive

Maven Plugin Goals

Configuration

Goals

Maven Properties

Gradle Plugin Tasks

Configuration

Tasks

YAML Entry Format

Complete Field Reference

Entry Types

Field Validation Rules

Configuration Reference

Complete logchange-config.yml

Template Variables

Entry Template Variables

Author Template Variables

Template System

Custom Version Summary Templates

HTML Template Example

JSON Template Example

Template Objects Reference

Version Object

EntriesGroup Object

File Structure

Standard Directory Layout

Generated Files

release-date.txt

version-summary.md

Environment Variables

CLI Environment Variables

CI/CD Variables

Usage in CI/CD

Exit Codes

Best Practices Summary

File Organization

YAML Content

Team Workflow

Configuration