Write the changelog in the pull requests, and let the release bot assemble it

• Status: accepted
• Date: 2026-10-07

Context

release-please writes a changelog from the titles of the commits. Titles are written for developers; users want to read what changed for them. Choosing patch, minor or major by hand at every release is error-prone.

Options

1. The changelog of release-please alone.
2. A changelog written by hand at every release.
3. Every pull request describes its change under ## Unreleased; the release bot moves that text into the section of the next release and keeps the version that the titles decide.

Decision

Option 3. The version follows from the Conventional Commit titles (fix a patch, feat a minor, ! a major) and is decided anew with every merge. The text under Unreleased becomes the notes, followed by every pull request. The check changelog asks every feat, fix and perf pull request for its entry.

Consequences

There is one release action: merging the release pull request. The release bot has to rebuild its pull request on every merge, which release.yml does. Decision 0018 lets each pull request write its entry into a file of its own in changelog.d/, which conflicts with no other.