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

A contributor adds a changeset file declaring affected packages, bump types, and a summary
The changeset file is committed alongside the code change in the PR
When ready to release, changeset version consumes all pending changesets and updates versions and changelogs
changeset publish publishes the updated packages to npm and creates git tags
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.

changesets