HelixCommit

HelixCommit turns Git history into polished, publish-ready release notes. It understands Conventional Commits, enriches entries with GitHub pull requests, and can summarize changes with OpenAI-compatible LLMs.

Features

• Automated change log -> Build structured release notes from commits and tags.
• AI summarization -> Optional OpenAI/OpenRouter support with caching to minimize costs.
• AI Commit Generation -> Generate commit messages from staged changes with a free AI model.
• Conventional Commits friendly -> Detects types, scopes, and breaking changes automatically.
• GitHub enrichment -> Resolves pull requests and links commits for richer context.
• Multiple outputs -> Render Markdown, HTML, or plain text.
• Fast + resilient -> Uses GitPython when available with CLI fallback.

Zero-config Quickstart

pip install helixcommit

# Generate release notes with no external services
# - works offline
# - skips GitHub API calls
helixcommit generate --unreleased --no-prs --format markdown > RELEASE_NOTES.md

# Or for a specific tag range
helixcommit generate --since-tag v1.2.0 --until-tag v1.2.1 --format html --out dist/release.html

# Generate a commit message from staged changes (uses free AI model)
helixcommit generate-commit

From source (development)

git clone https://github.com/bjornefisk/helixcommit.git
cd helixcommit
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Smoke test
helixcommit --help
pytest -q

Common options

• --repo PATH – Point to a different repository (defaults to the current directory).
• --since / --until – Limit the commit range to specific refs or SHAs.
• --no-prs – Skip GitHub API lookups.
• --no-include-scopes – Hide commit scopes in output.

Optional environment variables

• OPENAI_API_KEY – Required only when using --use-llm with the OpenAI provider.
• OPENROUTER_API_KEY – Required only when using --use-llm --llm-provider openrouter.
• GITHUB_TOKEN – Optional; improves GitHub API rate limits when fetching PR data. Not required when using --no-prs.

Community & Support

Join the HelixCommit community on Discord: https://discord.gg/UewHHrxNRE

• Welcome: #rules, #announcements (release notes), #roadmap
• Community: #general, #showcase, #introductions
• Support: #help-installation, #help-usage, #help-errors, #faq (read-only)
• Development: #dev-general, #issues, #pull-requests, #architecture, #ai-summarization
• Testing: #alpha-builds, #bug-reports, #perf-testing
• Documentation: #docs-feedback, #examples, #tutorials

Development

git clone https://github.com/bjornefisk/gitreleasegen.git
cd gitreleasegen
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"

# Lint and format
ruff check .
ruff format .

# Run tests with coverage
pytest --cov=gitreleasegen

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue to discuss major changes first. Make sure pre-commit hooks pass before submitting a pull request.

License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.