feat: add Changelog / Release Notes Agent for automated changelog generation

[pratik-mahalle]

User description

Description of Changes

• Introduced a new changelog_generator agent that automatically generates human-readable changelogs based on commits, PRs, and issues.

• Added MCP server configuration for:

  • GitHub – fetch PRs/issues using GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN.
  • Filesystem – write changelog to JSON/Markdown file.

• Defined output schema with proper descriptions for:

  • success
  • changelog
  • commit_count
  • pr_count
  • issue_count

• Updated documentation with setup instructions for GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN and uvx installation.

Why This Change Is Needed

Manually creating release notes is repetitive and time-consuming.
This agent automates changelog generation for every sprint or release, making it:

• Consistent – Always follows the same format.

• Time-saving – No need to manually collect commit/PR/issue data.

• Developer-friendly – Can be triggered via CLI:

  qodo changelog_generator --set repo=owner/repo --set since=v1.0.0

Testing Performed

• Ran the agent locally with a sample repository.
• Validated that MCP servers (filesystem, github) initialize correctly.
• Generated a sample Markdown changelog and confirmed counts match repo history.

Additional Notes

This is a foundation for automating release notes.
Future improvements could include:

• Automatic tagging & GitHub release creation.
• Integration with JIRA for issue linking.
• Auto-committing generated changelogs in CI/CD pipelines.

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PR Type

Enhancement

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Description

• Add automated changelog generator agent for GitHub repositories

• Include CI/CD integration examples for GitHub Actions and GitLab CI

• Support conventional commits grouping and customizable output formats

• Provide comprehensive documentation and configuration files

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Diagram Walkthrough

flowchart LR
  A["GitHub Repository"] --> B["Qodo Agent"]
  B --> C["GitHub API"]
  B --> D["Generated CHANGELOG.md"]
  E["CI/CD Pipeline"] --> B
  F["Configuration Files"] --> B

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File Walkthrough

	Relevant files
Documentation	AGENTS.md Repository guidelines and architecture documentation          agents/changelog-generator/AGENTS.md Add comprehensive repository guidelines and architecture documentation Include project structure overview and technology stack details Document common workflows and security considerations Provide performance guidelines and external dependencies +199/-0  README.md Main documentation and usage guide                                              agents/changelog-generator/README.md Add main documentation with features and usage examples Include command-line arguments and configuration options Provide sample output format and build validation instructions Document prerequisites and installation steps +111/-0
Configuration changes	agent.toml TOML agent configuration file                                                        agents/changelog-generator/agent.toml Define TOML configuration for changelog generator command Configure GitHub and shell MCP servers with authentication Specify command arguments and output schema Set execution strategy and tool dependencies +55/-0    agent.yaml YAML agent configuration file                                                        agents/changelog-generator/agent.yaml Define YAML configuration as alternative to TOML format Mirror TOML configuration with identical functionality Include MCP server setup and command definitions Specify output schema and execution parameters +78/-0    github-actions.yml GitHub Actions CI/CD integration                                                  agents/changelog-generator/examples/ci-configs/github-actions.yml Add GitHub Actions workflow for automated changelog generation Include tag-based and manual workflow triggers Configure Node.js setup and Qodo CLI installation Implement automatic commit and push of generated changelog +70/-0    gitlab-ci.yml GitLab CI/CD integration                                                                  agents/changelog-generator/examples/ci-configs/gitlab-ci.yml Add GitLab CI pipeline for changelog automation Configure tag-based and scheduled pipeline triggers Include Git configuration and automatic pushing Set up Node.js environment and Qodo CLI installation +36/-0

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[qodo-merge-for-open-source]

PR Reviewer Guide 🔍

Here are some key observations to aid the review process:

⏱️ Estimated effort to review: 2 🔵🔵⚪⚪⚪

🧪 No relevant tests

🔒 Security concerns Credential leakage in CI push URLs: The GitLab CI config pushes via an HTTPS URL embedding ${GITLAB_TOKEN}. Although common, this risks token exposure in logs or remote refs if echoed; prefer using CI-provided authenticated remotes/variables with masked outputs or GitLab-provided CI_JOB_TOKEN and deploy tokens. Additionally, ensure secrets are masked and that git output does not print the full URL.

⚡ Recommended focus areas for review Possible Misconfiguration The GitHub MCP server URL points to api.githubcopilot.com, which may be unintended for standard GitHub API access and could break data fetching; verify the correct MCP endpoint is used. mcpServers = """ { "github": { "url": "https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN}" } }, "external_shell": { "command": "uvx", "args": ["mcp-shell-server"] } } """ Token Handling The workflow sets Authorization to use GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN; ensure this aligns with CI usage where GITHUB_TOKEN is provided and confirm scopes and naming consistency across docs and pipelines. mcpServers: github: url: "https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/" headers: Authorization: "Bearer ${GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN}" external_shell: command: "uvx" args: ["mcp-shell-server"] Range Resolution When no previous tag exists, the workflow falls back to the last 14 days; confirm this default is acceptable and won’t omit important history for first releases or long gaps. - name: Determine range id: range shell: bash run: | if [ -n "${{ github.event.inputs.since }}" ]; then echo "since=${{ github.event.inputs.since }}" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT else prev=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 HEAD^ 2>/dev/null || true) if [ -z "$prev" ]; then # Fallback to last 14 days echo "since=$(date -u -d '14 days ago' +%Y-%m-%d)" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT else echo "since=$prev" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT fi fi

[qodo-merge-for-open-source]

PR Code Suggestions ✨

Explore these optional code suggestions:

Category	Suggestion	Impact
High-level	Use existing deterministic changelog tools The suggestion recommends replacing the new LLM-based agent with an existing deterministic tool like conventional-changelog-cli. This is because changelog generation is a structured task where an LLM adds unnecessary complexity and unreliability. Examples: agents/changelog-generator/agent.toml [6-12] instructions = """ You are a changelog generator. Fetch PRs, issues, and commits from the specified repository and release tag or date range. Group them into categories (Features, Fixes, Documentation, Chores, Others). Generate a human-readable changelog in Markdown format that can be directly used in a RELEASE.md file. Include PR numbers and authors. Optionally group using Conventional Commit types (feat, fix, docs, chore, refactor). If disabled, fall back to heuristic grouping. """ Solution Walkthrough: Before: // agent.toml [commands.changelog_generator] description = "Generates release notes by analyzing commits, PRs, and issues..." instructions = """ You are a changelog generator. Fetch PRs, issues, and commits... Group them into categories (Features, Fixes, Documentation, Chores, Others). Generate a human-readable changelog in Markdown format... """ tools = ["github", "filesystem", "external_shell"] execution_strategy = "plan" // ci-configs/github-actions.yml - name: Generate CHANGELOG run: | qodo changelog_generator --set repo=${{ github.repository }} ... After: // (The agent.toml, agent.yaml, and other agent-specific files are removed) // ci-configs/github-actions.yml - name: Install Changelog Tool run: npm install -g conventional-changelog-cli - name: Generate CHANGELOG run: conventional-changelog -p angular -i CHANGELOG.md -s - name: Commit and push run: | git add CHANGELOG.md if ! git diff --staged --quiet; then git commit -m "docs(changelog): update changelog" git push fi Suggestion importance[1-10]: 9 __ Why: The suggestion correctly identifies a fundamental architectural flaw in using a non-deterministic LLM for a structured, rule-based task, for which mature and reliable deterministic tools already exist.	High
Possible issue	Prevent CI workflow recursive loops To prevent a recursive CI loop, add [skip ci] to the commit message in the Commit and push step of the GitHub Actions workflow. agents/changelog-generator/examples/ci-configs/github-actions.yml [60-68] - name: Commit and push run: | git config user.name "github-actions[bot]" git config user.email "41898282+github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com" git add CHANGELOG.md if ! git diff --staged --quiet; then - git commit -m "docs(changelog): update for ${{ github.ref_name }}" + git commit -m "docs(changelog): update for ${{ github.ref_name }} [skip ci]" git push fi Apply / Chat Suggestion importance[1-10]: 9 __ Why: The suggestion correctly identifies a critical bug in the CI workflow that would cause an infinite loop and provides the standard, correct fix.	High
	Add missing GitHub authentication token In the GitLab CI job, export the GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN for API authentication and add [skip ci] to the commit message to prevent CI loops. agents/changelog-generator/examples/ci-configs/gitlab-ci.yml [4-34] generate_changelog: stage: docs image: node:20 variables: GIT_STRATEGY: fetch script: - npm install -g @qodo/command + - export GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=$GITHUB_TOKEN - | PREV_TAG=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 HEAD^ 2>/dev/null || true) if [ -z "$PREV_TAG" ]; then SINCE=$(date -u -d '14 days ago' +%Y-%m-%d) else SINCE=$PREV_TAG fi qodo changelog_generator \ --set repo=${CI_PROJECT_PATH} \ --set since=${SINCE} \ --set until=${CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME} \ --set group_conventional=true \ --set output_file=CHANGELOG.md - | git config user.name "gitlab-ci[bot]" git config user.email "gitlab-ci-bot@noreply" git add CHANGELOG.md if ! git diff --staged --quiet; then - git commit -m "docs(changelog): update for ${CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME}" + git commit -m "docs(changelog): update for ${CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME} [skip ci]" git push "https://oauth2:${GITLAB_TOKEN}@${CI_SERVER_HOST}/${CI_PROJECT_PATH}.git" HEAD:${CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME} fi only: - tags - schedules Apply / Chat Suggestion importance[1-10]: 9 __ Why: The suggestion identifies a critical missing authentication token that would cause the GitLab CI job to fail, and also proposes a valid improvement to prevent potential CI loops.	High
	Fix incorrect changelog generation command In the README.md usage example, change the git describe command to git describe --tags --abbrev=0 HEAD^ to correctly find the previous tag and generate a non-empty changelog. agents/changelog-generator/README.md [69-73] Generate changelog since previous tag to HEAD and group by Conventional Commits: -LAST_TAG=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0) +LAST_TAG=$(git describe --tags --abbrev=0 HEAD^) qodo changelog_generator --set repo=owner/repo --set since=$LAST_TAG --set group_conventional=true Apply / Chat Suggestion importance[1-10]: 7 __ Why: The suggestion correctly identifies a logical flaw in the documentation's example command that would lead to an empty changelog, and provides a correct command.	Medium
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