Git Changelog Parser

Parse local git commit history into clean, structured JSON. Extracts conventional commit metadata, custom tags ([Why], [What], [Impact]), and returns a token-efficient flat structure ready for documentation workflows.

Quick Start

python3 scripts/get_commits.py 20

Returns JSON with last 20 commits:

[
  {
    "hash": "abc1234",
    "date": "2026-02-09",
    "type": "feat",
    "scope": "auth",
    "title": "Add JWT authentication",
    "what": "Implemented JWT tokens with refresh mechanism",
    "impact": "Breaking change: auth endpoints require tokens"
  }
]

Use in your workflow

1. Changelog: Run script, extract [What] fields, format as Markdown
2. PR Summary: Run script, extract [Impact] fields, create executive summary
3. Change Analysis: Run script, filter by type/scope, generate reports

Commit Message Format

The script expects commits following this structure:

feat(scope): Brief description

[Why] Reason for this change
[What] Technical implementation details
[Impact] Business impact or breaking changes

• First line: type(scope): title or type: title
• Tags on separate lines: [Why]: ..., [What]: ..., [Impact]: ...
• All tags are optional; missing tags return empty strings
• Merge commits are filtered out automatically

Script Parameters

python3 scripts/get_commits.py [limit]

• limit (optional): Number of commits to retrieve (default: 50)

JSON Output Structure

Flat, token-efficient structure (no nesting):

Field	Description
hash	Short commit hash (7 chars)
date	ISO date formatted as YYYY-MM-DD
type	Conventional commit type (feat, fix, etc.)
scope	Component/area affected (empty if missing)
title	Description with type/scope prefix removed
what	Technical details from [What] tag
impact	Business impact from [Impact] tag