generated: '2026-09-05'
method: searched
source: >-
  https://keepachangelog.com/en/2.0.0/ and
  https://github.com/olivierlacan/keep-a-changelog/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md — each entry's
  evidence names the exact location that states the claim.
note: >-
  Keep a Changelog publishes NO API, so the API-shaped conformance families in this
  vocabulary (oauth2, oidc, rfc9457, json:api, odata, pagination, idempotency, fapi,
  scim, psd2, fhir) are not applicable rather than failed — there is no contract for
  them to apply to, and an n/a leaves the denominator. What the project DOES declare are
  the format standards its own convention composes with, recorded below.

subject: The Keep a Changelog specification, version 2.0.0 (2026-06-07)

conformance:
  - id: semver
    name: Semantic Versioning 2.0.0
    conforms: true
    relationship: recommends-and-adheres
    evidence: https://github.com/olivierlacan/keep-a-changelog/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md
    detail: >-
      The spec's own example changelog — which is the project's real CHANGELOG.md,
      rendered inline on the spec page — carries the line "this project adheres to
      [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html)". Every released version
      of the specification itself (0.0.1 through 2.0.0) is a SemVer triple, and the
      2.0.0 release is labelled a major revision precisely because it carries breaking
      changes to the guidance.

  - id: iso8601
    name: ISO 8601 calendar dates
    conforms: true
    relationship: mandates
    evidence: https://keepachangelog.com/en/2.0.0/
    detail: >-
      The format requires each release be dated YYYY-MM-DD. The 2.0.0 release notes
      confirm the requirement survived the major revision unchanged ("the six change
      types, `YYYY-MM-DD` dates, and the `Unreleased` and `[YANKED]` markers are all
      unchanged"). The project links the ISO 8601 reference from its own links.json.

  - id: markdown
    name: Markdown (GitHub Flavored / CommonMark superset)
    conforms: true
    relationship: assumes
    evidence: https://keepachangelog.com/en/2.0.0/
    detail: >-
      The convention is defined over a Markdown file named CHANGELOG.md at the root of a
      project — headings for versions, third-level headings for the six change types,
      bullet lists for entries, and reference links for version compare diffs. No
      Markdown flavor is named normatively; the reference-link and compare-diff guidance
      added in 2.0.0 assumes ordinary CommonMark reference-link syntax.

  - id: conventional-commits
    name: Conventional Commits
    conforms: partial
    relationship: discusses
    evidence: https://keepachangelog.com/en/2.0.0/
    detail: >-
      2.0.0 added automation guidance covering Conventional Commits alongside CI/CD and
      LLM-drafted changelogs. This is guidance on how a project may derive a changelog,
      not a requirement of the format — recorded as partial to avoid overstating it.

  - id: wcag-2.1-aa
    name: WCAG 2.1 Level AA
    conforms: true
    relationship: self-declared
    scope: the keepachangelog.com website, not the specification
    evidence: https://github.com/olivierlacan/keep-a-changelog/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md
    detail: >-
      The 2.0.0 entry records "A redesigned, accessible site (WCAG 2.1 AA) with light and
      dark themes." This is the project's own statement about its site; no third-party
      audit or VPAT is published, and none was found.

domain_standard:
  applicable: true
  role: is-the-standard
  id: keep-a-changelog
  name: Keep a Changelog
  detail: >-
    Keep a Changelog is not a consumer of a domain standard for software-release
    documentation — it IS that standard, and the dominant one. The signature this
    catalog would look for in someone else's contract is the string
    "https://keepachangelog.com/en/<version>/" in a project's CHANGELOG.md preamble;
    here the signature is the definition. Its six change types (Added, Changed,
    Deprecated, Removed, Fixed, Security), YYYY-MM-DD dates, Unreleased section and
    [YANKED] marker are the vocabulary other tools parse against, and the 2.0.0 release
    states explicitly that "why the six change types don't grow" is now documented — the
    vocabulary is deliberately closed.
  evidence: https://keepachangelog.com/en/2.0.0/
  adoption_signals:
    - 6692 GitHub stars on the reference repository (probed 2026-09-05)
    - 28 community-maintained language translations published on the site
    - Six independent parser implementations across npm, PyPI, RubyGems, crates.io and Go
  reward_only_note: >-
    Recorded under domain_standard because the check is reward-only and this is a real,
    contract-level signature. No compliance program, certification or audit is claimed
    for it, and none exists.

not_applicable:
  reason: no-api-surface
  detail: >-
    keepachangelog.com is a static Middleman site on GitHub Pages with, in the project's
    own words, "No backend." There is no request/response contract, so the following
    have no subject to be measured against.
  families:
    - oauth2
    - oidc
    - rfc9457
    - json:api
    - odata
    - pagination
    - idempotency
    - fapi
    - scim
    - psd2
    - fhir