changelog-digest

Generate plain-English changelogs from git history using Claude AI.

Bridge the gap between engineering and business stakeholders. Transform cryptic commit messages into clear, readable updates that anyone on your team can understand.

---

The Problem

Non-technical teams (Sales, Marketing, Ops, Customer Success) often miss important product updates because:

• Git commits are written for developers, not business stakeholders
• Remote teams across timezones miss standups and lose context
• There's never enough time for engineering to write release notes

The Solution

changelog-digest reads your git history and uses Claude AI to translate technical commits into plain English summaries that anyone can understand.

---

Quick Start

# Set your Anthropic API key
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-api-key

# Run in any git repository
npx changelog-digest

---

Installation

Global Installation

npm install -g changelog-digest

Local Installation

npm install changelog-digest

---

Usage

Basic Usage

# Generate digest for the last 7 days (default)
changelog-digest

# Custom date range
changelog-digest --since "2025-01-01"
changelog-digest --since "2 weeks ago"
changelog-digest --since "1 month ago"

Options

# Specify a different repository
changelog-digest --repo /path/to/repo

# Output as HTML instead of Markdown
changelog-digest --format html

# Save to a file
changelog-digest --output changelog.md

# Target a specific audience
changelog-digest --audience sales
changelog-digest --audience ops
changelog-digest --audience cx

Example Output

# Changelog Digest

**Period:** 2026-01-01 → 2026-01-10
**Generated:** 2026-01-10T17:59:01.331Z

---

## 🚀 New Features

- Users can now export their data to CSV format with a single click
- Added dark mode support for improved accessibility

## 🐛 Bug Fixes

- Fixed an issue where duplicate items were appearing in the system

## ⚡ Improvements

- Dashboard now loads 40% faster
- Search results are more accurate and relevant

## 🔧 Other Changes

- Added documentation to help users understand how to use the system
- Created initial version of the application

---

*Generated by [changelog-digest](https://github.com/yourusername/changelog-digest)*

---

Configuration

Option	Short	Description	Default
--since	-s	Start date for commits	7 days ago
--repo	-r	Path to git repository	. (current directory)
--format	-f	Output format (markdown or html)	markdown
--output	-o	Save output to file	stdout
--audience	-a	Target audience (general, sales, ops, cx)	general

Environment Variables

# Required
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

Create a .env file in your project root or export the variable in your shell.

---

How It Works

┌─────────────┐                                   ┌──────────────┐
│ Git History │                                   │  Claude API  │
└──────┬──────┘                                   └──────▲───────┘
       │                                                 │
       │ 1. Read commits                                 │ 2. Analyze
       ▼                                                 │
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        changelog-digest                        │
│                                                                │
│  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │                     CATEGORIZATION                       │  │
│  ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤  │
│  │  [+] New Features       (Identified by context)          │  │
│  │  [*] Bug Fixes          (Grouped logically)              │  │
│  │  [^] Improvements       (Performance & Refactors)        │  │
│  │  [#] Other Changes      (Docs & Config)                  │  │
│  └─────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┘  │
└────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────┘
                                 │
                                 │ 3. Generate
                                 ▼
                         ┌───────────────┐
                         │  MD / HTML    │
                         │    OUTPUT     │
                         └───────────────┘

1. Reads Git History - Fetches commits from your repository within the specified date range
2. Analyzes with Claude - Sends commit messages to Claude AI for intelligent summarization
3. Categorizes Changes - Groups updates into New Features, Bug Fixes, Improvements, and Other Changes
4. Generates Output - Produces a clean, readable Markdown or HTML digest

---

Requirements

• Node.js >= 18
• Git installed and accessible
• Anthropic API key (Get one here)

---

Development

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/changelog-digest.git
cd changelog-digest

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode
npm run dev

# Build
npm run build

# Link locally for testing
npm link
changelog-digest --help

---

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

---

License

MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

---

Acknowledgments

• Powered by Claude AI from Anthropic
• Built with simple-git and Commander.js