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Add changelog entries

The docs-builder changelog add command creates a new changelog file from command-line input. By adding a file for each notable change, you can ultimately generate release documention with a consistent layout for all your products.

Note

This command is associated with an ongoing release docs initiative. Additional workflows are still to come for managing the list of changelogs in each release.

The command generates a YAML file that uses the following schema:

The command supports all of the following options, which generally align with fields in the changelog schema:

Usage: changelog add [options...] [-h|--help] [--version]

Add a new changelog fragment from command-line input

Options:
  --title <string>                  Required: A short, user-facing title (max 80 characters) (Required)
  --type <string>                   Required: Type of change (feature, enhancement, bug-fix, breaking-change, etc.) (Required)
  --products <List<ProductInfo>>    Required: Products affected in format "product target lifecycle, ..." (e.g., "elasticsearch 9.2.0 ga, cloud-serverless 2025-08-05") (Required)
  --subtype <string?>               Optional: Subtype for breaking changes (api, behavioral, configuration, etc.) (Default: null)
  --areas <string[]?>               Optional: Area(s) affected (comma-separated or specify multiple times) (Default: null)
  --pr <string?>                    Optional: Pull request URL (Default: null)
  --issues <string[]?>              Optional: Issue URL(s) (comma-separated or specify multiple times) (Default: null)
  --description <string?>           Optional: Additional information about the change (max 600 characters) (Default: null)
  --impact <string?>                Optional: How the user's environment is affected (Default: null)
  --action <string?>                Optional: What users must do to mitigate (Default: null)
  --feature-id <string?>            Optional: Feature flag ID (Default: null)
  --highlight <bool?>               Optional: Include in release highlights (Default: null)
  --output <string?>                Optional: Output directory for the changelog fragment. Defaults to current directory (Default: null)
  --config <string?>                Optional: Path to the changelog.yml configuration file. Defaults to 'docs/changelog.yml' (Default: null)
		

The --products parameter accepts products in the format "product target lifecycle, ..." where:

  • product is the product ID from products.yml (required)
  • target is the target version or date (optional)
  • lifecycle is one of: preview, beta, or ga (optional)

Examples:

  • "kibana 9.2.0 ga"
  • "cloud-serverless 2025-08-05"
  • "cloud-enterprise 4.0.3, cloud-hosted 2025-10-31"

Some of the fields in the changelog accept only a specific set of values.

Important
  • Product values must exist in products.yml. Invalid products will cause the command to fail.
  • Type, subtype, and lifecycle values must match the available values defined in ChangelogConfiguration.cs. Invalid values will cause the command to fail.

If you want to further limit the list of values, you can optionally create a configuration file. Refer to changelog.yml.example.

By default, the command checks the following path: docs/changelog.yml. You can specify a different path with the --config command option.

If a configuration file exists, the command validates all its values before generating the changelog file:

  • If the configuration file contains lifecycle, product, subtype, or type values that don't match the values in products.yml and ChangelogConfiguration.cs, validation fails. The changelog file is not created.
  • If the configuration file contains areas values and they don't match what you specify in the --areas command option, validation fails. The changelog file is not created.

The following command creates a changelog for a bug fix that applies to two products:

docs-builder changelog add \
  --title "Fixes enrich and lookup join resolution based on minimum transport version" \
  --type bug-fix \
  --products "elasticsearch 9.2.3, cloud-serverless 2025-12-02" \
  --areas "ES|QL"
  --pr "https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/pull/137431"
		
  1. The type values are defined in ChangelogConfiguration.cs.
  2. The product values are defined in products.yml.
  3. At this time, the PR value can be a number or a URL; it is not validated.

The output file has the following format:

pr: https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/pull/137431
type: bug-fix
products:
- product: elasticsearch
  target: 9.2.3
- product: cloud-serverless
  target: 2025-12-02
title: Fixes enrich and lookup join resolution based on minimum transport version
areas:
- ES|QL