aid: changelog-md
url: >-
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/changelog-md/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
name: CHANGELOG.md (Keep a Changelog)
kind: standard
tags:
  - Change Log
  - Change Tracking
  - Documentation
  - Markdown
  - Open Source
  - Release Management
  - Semantic Versioning
  - Software Releases
  - Versioning
type: Index
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
access: Open Source
created: '2025-01-01'
modified: '2026-04-23'
position: Producer
description: >-
  CHANGELOG.md is a community convention for a human-readable, Markdown-
  formatted file at the root of a project that records notable changes
  between versions. The leading specification is "Keep a Changelog" by
  Olivier Lacan, which defines a stable, opinionated set of section
  headings (Added, Changed, Deprecated, Removed, Fixed, Security) and
  recommends pairing with Semantic Versioning (SemVer). The format is
  widely adopted across open source and enterprise projects as the de
  facto way to document API and software releases in a way that is
  readable by humans and parseable by tooling.
apis: []
common:
  - type: DomainSecurity
    url: security/changelog-md-domain-security.yml
  - type: Website
    url: https://keepachangelog.com/
  - type: Specification
    url: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/
  - type: LegacySpecification
    url: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/olivierlacan/keep-a-changelog
  - type: RelatedSpecification
    url: https://semver.org/
  - type: TermsOfService
    url: https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/
  - type: License
    url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
  - name: Features
    type: Features
    data:
      - name: Markdown-Formatted
      - name: Human-Readable
      - name: Machine-Parseable
      - name: Semantic Sections
      - name: Semantic Versioning Alignment
      - name: Date-Stamped Releases
      - name: Unreleased Section
      - name: Added Section
      - name: Changed Section
      - name: Deprecated Section
      - name: Removed Section
      - name: Fixed Section
      - name: Security Section
      - name: Reverse Chronological Order
      - name: Release Comparison Links
  - name: UseCases
    type: UseCases
    data:
      - name: Open Source Project Release Notes
      - name: API Change Documentation
      - name: SDK Release Notes
      - name: Package Manager Metadata
      - name: Library Deprecation Tracking
      - name: Security Disclosure
      - name: Automated Release Tooling
      - name: Monorepo Component Changelogs
      - name: Regulatory / Compliance Change Records
  - name: Tools
    type: Tools
    data:
      - name: keep-a-changelog gem
      - name: changelog-from-commits
      - name: changelog-parser (npm)
      - name: git-changelog
      - name: conventional-changelog
      - name: release-please
      - name: changesets
      - name: towncrier
  - name: RelatedStandards
    type: Standards
    data:
      - name: Semantic Versioning (SemVer)
      - name: Conventional Commits
      - name: CommonMark
      - name: GitHub Flavored Markdown
      - name: SPDX
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com
specificationVersion: '0.19'