How Top Open Source Projects Write Changelogs (And How to Automate Yours)

Nobody reads changelogs. Until something breaks. Then suddenly your changelog is the most important document in the repository. Users need to know what changed, when, and why. Contributors need to understand the project's direction. And you — the maintainer — need a historical record that doesn't require archaeological dig through git log. I maintain three open source projects. The one with a good changelog gets 70% fewer "what changed?" issues. Here's what I've learned about writing changelogs that actually serve their purpose. What Makes a Good Changelog The Keep a Changelog project nailed the definition: "A changelog is a file which contains a curated, chronologically ordered list of notable changes for each version of a project." The key word is curated . A changelog is not a git log dump. It's a human-readable summary of what matters to users. The Gold Standard: React's Changelog React's changelog is widely regarded as one of the best in open source. Here's why: ## 18.3.0 (April 2