Automate GitHub Releases and Changelog Updates with GitHub Actions

Introduction

Keeping track of changes in a project is essential, but manually updating the changelog and creating releases can be tedious. In this blog, we'll automate the process using GitHub Actions to:

• Run a workflow on the 1st of every month (or manually).
• Extract the latest commit messages.
• Update CHANGELOG.md automatically.
• Create a new GitHub release using the updated CHANGELOG.md.

By the end, you'll have a fully automated workflow that keeps your releases up to date without manual effort.

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Step 1: Create the GitHub Actions Workflow

To get started, create the following workflow file in your GitHub repository:

📂 .github/workflows/auto-release.yml

name: Auto Release

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 0 1 * *' # Runs on the 1st of every month
  workflow_dispatch: # Allows manual triggering

jobs:
  release:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Get current date
        id: date
        run: echo "date=$(date +'%Y-%m-%d')" >> $GITHUB_ENV

      - name: Get latest commit messages
        id: commits
        run: echo "commits=$(git log --pretty=format:'- %s' -n 10)" >> $GITHUB_ENV

      - name: Update CHANGELOG.md
        run: |
          echo "## Release ${{ env.date }}" > tmpfile
          echo "" >> tmpfile
          echo "${{ env.commits }}" >> tmpfile
          echo "" >> tmpfile
          cat CHANGELOG.md >> tmpfile || true
          mv tmpfile CHANGELOG.md

      - name: Commit and push CHANGELOG.md
        run: |
          git config --global user.name "github-actions[bot]"
          git config --global user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
          git add CHANGELOG.md
          git commit -m "chore(release): update CHANGELOG for ${{ env.date }}"
          git push

      - name: Create GitHub release
        uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v2
        with:
          tag_name: 'release-${{ env.date }}'
          name: 'Release ${{ env.date }}'
          body_path: 'CHANGELOG.md'
          draft: false
          prerelease: false

---

Step 2: How the Workflow Works

This workflow does the following:

1. Runs automatically on the 1st of each month (or manually via workflow_dispatch).
2. Extracts the last 10 commit messages.
3. Updates CHANGELOG.md, appending the new release.
4. Commits & pushes the updated CHANGELOG.md.
5. Creates a GitHub release, using CHANGELOG.md as the release notes.

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Step 3: Example CHANGELOG.md Output

After the workflow runs, CHANGELOG.md will look something like this:

## Release 2025-03-01

- Added auto-release workflow
- Improved error handling

## Release 2025-02-01

- Fixed login bug
- Updated UI design

Each new release will automatically prepend a section with the latest commit messages.

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Step 4: Customizing the Workflow

You can modify this workflow to fit your needs:

• Change the cron schedule (0 0 1 * *) to run on a different day.
• Adjust the number of commits extracted (-n 10 in git log).
• Modify the commit message format.

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Conclusion

With this GitHub Actions workflow, your releases and changelog updates are fully automated! No more manual tracking—your project stays updated with minimal effort.

Give it a try and let me know if you have any questions! 🚀