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Keep a Changelog

Source identity:

ddx:
  id: resource.keep-a-changelog

Keep a Changelog

Source

Summary

Keep a Changelog provides a structured format for communicating software changes in a human-readable way. It recommends grouping notable changes under clear categories such as added, changed, deprecated, removed, fixed, and security, and emphasizes writing for people rather than only machines or commit history.

Relevant Findings

  • Release communication should summarize notable user-impacting changes rather than dump raw commit history.
  • Categories help readers quickly identify new features, fixes, removals, security items, and required attention.
  • Human-readable change summaries remain valuable even when automation can collect underlying issues or commits.
  • Version and date context help readers understand what shipped and when.

HELIX Usage

This resource informs the Release Notes artifact. HELIX uses it to keep release notes scoped to shipped change, user/operator impact, required actions, known issues, and references to deeper evidence.

Authority Boundary

This resource is a changelog format, not a deployment checklist or launch plan. HELIX Release Notes may borrow its reader-centered categories without becoming a repository changelog.