GitReleaseNoteGenerator

A .NET global tool that generates categorized release notes from git commit history using the GitHub API.

Installation

dotnet tool install -g GitReleaseNoteGenerator

Quick Start

# Generate release notes for the latest release
git-release-notes --token <GITHUB_PAT> --owner myorg --repo myrepo --release-version v2.0.0

# Auto-detect version via NBGV, write to file
git-release-notes --token <GITHUB_PAT> --owner myorg --repo myrepo --output-file release-notes.md

# Use with GITHUB_OUTPUT in CI
git-release-notes --github-output --output-name changelog

CLI Reference

Option	Type	Default	Description
--token	string	GITHUB_TOKEN env var	GitHub personal access token
--owner	string	From GITHUB_REPOSITORY env	Repository owner
--repo	string	From GITHUB_REPOSITORY env	Repository name
--base-ref	string	Latest release tag	Base ref to compare from
--head-ref	string	Default branch	Head ref to compare to
--release-version	string	Auto-detect via NBGV	Version string for the heading
--output-file	path	(none)	Write release notes to a file
--github-output	flag	false	Write to GITHUB_OUTPUT
--output-name	string	changelog	Variable name for GITHUB_OUTPUT

Commit Prefix Categories

Commits are categorized by their conventional-commit-style prefix:

Prefix	Category	Emoji
break	Breaking Changes	💥
feat	Features	✨
refactor	Refactoring	♻️
fix, bug	Fixes	🐛
perf	Performance	⚡
housekeeping, chore, update	General Changes	🧹
test	Tests	✅
doc	Documentation	📝
style	Style Changes	💅
dep	Dependencies	📦

Commits from dependabot[bot] and renovate[bot] are automatically categorized as Dependencies.

GitHub Actions Usage

name: Create Release
on:
  push:
    tags: ['v*']
jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    permissions:
      contents: write
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - uses: actions/setup-dotnet@v4
        with:
          dotnet-version: '8.0.x'
      - run: dotnet tool install -g GitReleaseNoteGenerator
      - name: Generate Release Notes
        env:
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
        run: git-release-notes --release-version ${{ github.ref_name }} --output-file release-notes.md
      - name: Create GitHub Release
        env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
        run: gh release create "${{ github.ref_name }}" --title "${{ github.ref_name }}" --notes-file release-notes.md

Migration from ChangeLog Action

If you are migrating from the ChangeLog GitHub Action:

1. Replace the glennawatson/ChangeLog@... step with the dotnet tool install and run steps shown above.
2. The commit prefix categories and emoji mappings are the same.
3. Use --output-file with gh release create --notes-file instead of action outputs.
4. The GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable is read automatically when --token is not specified.

License

MIT