I built a changelog generator that works on any repo — no conventional commits needed

#cli #devtools #ai #opensource

Every changelog tool I tried had the same problem: they only work if your team writes perfect conventional commits. Most teams don't.

So I built changelogai — a CLI that generates professional changelogs from any git history.

What makes it different

It works on messy repos. The parser detects commit types from 24 keyword patterns, not just type(scope): prefixes. Commits like "fixed the auth bug" or "Updated dashboard layout" get classified correctly.

Clickable commit links. Auto-detects your GitHub/GitLab remote and generates linked hashes. No config needed.

AI mode (optional). Pass --ai and it rewrites technical commit messages into user-facing release notes using Claude. Costs ~$0.001 per changelog.

MCP server included. Other AI agents can call changelogai_generate and changelogai_version_bump as tools. Add it to your Claude Code or Cursor config in one line.

Quick start

npm install -g @ura-dev/changelogai

# Grouped changelog since last tag
changelogai --group

# AI-enhanced
changelogai --ai --group --output CHANGELOG.md

# JSON for CI/CD
changelogai --format json

# Suggest next version
changelogai --version-bump

Use as a library

const { generateChangelog, getGitLog, getLatestTag } = require('changelogai');

const commits = getGitLog('.', 'v1.0.0', 'HEAD', 500);
const md = await generateChangelog(commits, {
  format: 'markdown',
  group: true
});

MCP server (for AI agents)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "changelogai": { "command": "changelogai-mcp" }
  }
}

Any MCP client (Claude Code, Cursor, Dapr Agents) can now generate changelogs autonomously.

Sample output

## [v1.1.0](https://github.com/you/repo/compare/v1.0.0...v1.1.0) — 2026-03-28

### Features
- Add dark mode toggle (abc123)
- Support custom themes (def456)

### Bug Fixes
- Fix login redirect on mobile (789abc)