changesette

A version and changelog manager for single-package applications, using the same changeset file format as changesets and shipped as a single dependency-free Rust binary. The name is changeset + the diminutive suffix -ette (as in diskette).

changesette reads changeset files, bumps the version in package.json, and generates CHANGELOG.md. It never touches lockfiles; regenerating a lockfile such as package-lock.json is your package manager's job. changesette performs no git operations and no network access; commits, pull requests, tags, and releases belong to your workflows.

Install

GitHub Actions (verifies the build provenance of the downloaded archive; GitHub-hosted runners are assumed):

uses: iorate/changesette/setup@v1

Shell script (macOS / Linux):

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -LsSf https://github.com/iorate/changesette/releases/latest/download/changesette-installer.sh | sh

PowerShell (Windows):

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -c "irm https://github.com/iorate/changesette/releases/latest/download/changesette-installer.ps1 | iex"

Homebrew:

brew install iorate/tap/changesette

npm:

npm install -g @iorate/changesette

Cargo (requires Rust 1.85+):

cargo install changesette

Example workflow

On every push to main, maintains a Version PR that applies the pending changesets; merging it creates a GitHub Release (and its tag) with the changelog section as the notes.

name: Version

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main

concurrency: version

jobs:
  version:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    permissions:
      contents: write
      pull-requests: write

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v7
        with:
          persist-credentials: false

      - uses: iorate/changesette/setup@v1

      - id: version
        run: |
          next="$(changesette version)"
          echo "next=$next" >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
          if [[ -n "$next" ]]; then
            delim="$(openssl rand -hex 16)"
            {
              echo "changelog<<$delim"
              changesette changelog "$next"
              echo "$delim"
            } >> "$GITHUB_OUTPUT"
            npm install --package-lock-only # if you use npm
          fi

      - uses: peter-evans/create-pull-request@v8
        with:
          branch: changesette/release
          commit-message: Release v${{ steps.version.outputs.next }}
          title: Release v${{ steps.version.outputs.next }}
          body: ${{ steps.version.outputs.changelog }}
          delete-branch: true

      - if: steps.version.outputs.next == ''
        run: |
          version="$(changesette current)"
          if ! gh release view "v$version" > /dev/null 2>&1; then
            gh release create "v$version" \
              --target "$GITHUB_SHA" \
              --notes "$(changesette changelog "$version")"
          fi
        env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}

CLI

changesette init

Creates the .changeset/ directory with a README.md. Does nothing if the directory already exists.

changesette [add] [--bump <major|minor|patch>] [--message <text>]

Creates a changeset file in .changeset/ and prints its path. --bump and --message have the short forms -b and -m. When run in a terminal, missing flags are prompted for interactively; submitting an empty summary opens your editor for a multi-line one.

changesette version [--dry-run]

Applies all pending changesets: bumps package.json, inserts the new section into CHANGELOG.md, and deletes the consumed changesets. Prints the next version, or nothing when there were no changesets and nothing was changed. --dry-run (short form -n) prints the plan to stderr without changing any files. Lockfiles are not updated; if you use npm, run npm install --package-lock-only afterwards.

changesette current

Prints the current version from package.json.

changesette changelog <version>

Prints the ## <version> section of CHANGELOG.md.

Differences from changesets

changesette shares the changeset file format with changesets, but is deliberately much smaller. Coming from changesets, expect the following:

• Single package only: no monorepo / workspace support.
• No configuration: .changeset/config.json is not read, and there is nothing to configure.
• No pre-release mode (pre.json).
• No none bump type and no empty changesets; both are errors.
• Changelog entries are plain summaries: no auto-generated PR / commit / author links and no changelog plugins.
• No lockfile syncing, by design: changesette writes only package.json, CHANGELOG.md, and the changeset files; updating derived files is the package manager's responsibility. If you use npm, run npm install --package-lock-only after changesette version.
• The CLI is not command-compatible with changeset; only the changeset files are interchangeable.

License

MIT