long36708/changesets

Changesets

Overview

Changesets is a versioning and changelog management tool focused on multi-package repositories. Contributors declare the semver impact of each change (major/minor/patch) via changeset files, then Changesets aggregates them to bump versions, update changelogs, and publish packages in a single coordinated release.

When to use: Monorepo versioning, automated changelog generation, coordinated multi-package releases, CI-driven publishing, prerelease/snapshot workflows.

When NOT to use: Single-file projects with no npm publishing, projects using commit-message-based versioning (semantic-release), manual version management without an npm registry, projects where a single maintainer controls all releases without PR collaboration.

How It Works

1. A contributor adds a changeset file declaring affected packages, bump types, and a summary
2. The changeset file is committed alongside the code change in the PR
3. When ready to release, changeset version consumes all pending changesets and updates versions and changelogs
4. changeset publish publishes the updated packages to npm and creates git tags
5. In CI, the official GitHub Action automates steps 3-4 via an auto-maintained "Version Packages" PR

Key Concepts

• Changeset file — A markdown file in .changeset/ declaring which packages are affected, their bump type (major/minor/patch), and a human-readable summary that appears in the changelog
• Version command — Consumes all pending changeset files, calculates final version bumps, updates package.json versions, generates CHANGELOG.md entries, and bumps internal dependency ranges
• Publish command — Publishes updated packages to npm and creates git tags; must run immediately after version with no commits in between
• Linked packages — Packages that share the highest bump type within a release but maintain independent version numbers
• Fixed packages — Packages that always share the exact same version number across the group
• Prerelease mode — A mode where version produces prerelease versions (e.g., 1.0.0-beta.0) for testing before stable release
• Snapshot releases — Temporary 0.0.0-timestamp versions for ad-hoc testing without affecting the main release line

Configuration Quick Reference

| Option | Default | Description | | ---------------------------- | ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- | | changelog | "@changesets/cli/changelog" | Changelog generator package or false to disable | | commit | false | Auto-commit on version and add commands | | access | "restricted" | npm publish access; set "public" for public scoped packages | | baseBranch | "main" | Branch used for change detection | | linked | [] | Groups of packages that share highest bump type | | fixed | [] | Groups of packages that share exact version | | ignore | [] | Packages excluded from changeset versioning | | updateInternalDependencies | "patch" | When to bump dependents: "patch" or "minor" | | privatePackages | { version: true, tag: false } | Version/tag behavior for "private": true packages |

Quick Reference

| Pattern | Command / Config | Key Points | | ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | Initialize | npx @changesets/cli init | Creates .changeset/ folder with config | | Add changeset | npx @changesets/cli add | Interactive prompt for packages and bump type | | Add empty changeset | npx @changesets/cli add --empty | Declares no packages need versioning (satisfies CI) | | Version packages | npx @changesets/cli version | Consumes changesets, bumps versions, updates changelogs | | Publish packages | npx @changesets/cli publish | Publishes to npm, creates git tags | | Check status | npx @changesets/cli status | Lists pending changesets; exits 1 if changes lack changesets | | Status since branch | npx @changesets/cli status --since=main | Only checks changes since diverging from main | | Enter prerelease | npx @changesets/cli pre enter <tag> | Enables prerelease mode (beta, alpha, rc, next) | | Exit prerelease | npx @changesets/cli pre exit | Returns to normal versioning mode | | Snapshot version | npx @changesets/cli version --snapshot | Creates 0.0.0-timestamp versions for testing | | Snapshot publish | npx @changesets/cli publish --tag canary --no-git-tag | Publishes snapshot without overwriting latest dist-tag | | Link packages | "linked": [["pkg-a", "pkg-b"]] in config | Packages share the highest version bump type | | Fix packages | "fixed": [["pkg-*"]] in config | Packages share the exact same version number | | Ignore packages | "ignore": ["pkg-internal"] in config | Excludes packages from changeset versioning | | Public access | "access": "public" in config | Required for publishing public scoped packages | | GitHub changelog | "changelog": ["@changesets/changelog-github", ...] | Adds PR links and contributor attribution | | Auto-commit | "commit": true in config | Version and add commands auto-commit changes | | Internal deps | "updateInternalDependencies": "patch" in config | Controls when internal dependents get bumped |

Common Mistakes

| Mistake | Correct Pattern | | ------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Committing between version and publish | Run publish immediately after version with no commits in between | | Forgetting --empty for PRs with no package changes | Use npx @changesets/cli add --empty to satisfy CI checks | | Using linked when packages must share exact versions | Use fixed for identical versions; linked only shares bump magnitude | | Setting access: "restricted" for public packages | Set access: "public" in config for public npm packages | | Not including fetch-depth: 0 in CI checkout | Full git history is needed for changeset detection | | Running publish without building first | Always run build step before changeset publish | | Entering prerelease mode on main branch | Use a dedicated branch for prereleases to avoid blocking normal releases | | Ignoring packages that others depend on | Ignored packages skip bumps, breaking dependents — use sparingly | | Publishing snapshots with default tag | Always use --tag flag to avoid overwriting latest dist-tag | | Not setting NPM_TOKEN in CI environment | Both GITHUB_TOKEN and NPM_TOKEN are required for automated publishing | | Using changeset publish in CI without the action | The official changesets/action handles the two-mode workflow correctly | | Manually editing generated CHANGELOG.md | Edit changeset files instead; changelogs are regenerated on version |

Delegation

• CI pipeline debugging: Use Explore agent for repository-specific workflow discovery
• npm publishing issues: Use Task agent for debugging publish and registry authentication failures

If the turborepo skill is available, delegate build orchestration, task caching, and CI optimization to it. If the pnpm-workspace skill is available, delegate workspace setup, dependency linking, catalogs, and Docker deployment to it. See its monorepo integration reference for the end-to-end release pipeline.

References

• Basic workflow: adding changesets, versioning, publishing, CI integration
• Monorepo setup: configuration, linked packages, fixed versioning, ignore patterns
• CI automation: GitHub Actions, automated PRs, snapshot releases, prerelease channels