beachball

# change

This command walks you through a couple of questions and will generate the appropriate change file in the /change directory. The generated file will be committed automatically.

One of the niceties of using this utility to generate change files is that it will check whether or not you even need a change file. Also, it will load recent commit messages to ease change file generation.

$ beachball change

# Options

Some general options including --branch and --scope also apply for this command.

Option Alias Default Description
--all false Generate change files for all packages
--message -m (interactive prompt) Description for all change files
--no-commit false Stage the change files rather than committing
--package (changed packages) Generate change files for these packages (option can be specified multiple times)
--type (interactive prompt) Type for all the change files (must be valid for each package)

# Examples

Basic interactive prompt (see walkthrough for details):

beachball change

Skip the interactive prompt by specifying a message and type for all changed packages:

beachball change --type patch --message 'some message'

Generate change file for specific package(s), regardless of changes, and even if a change file already exists for the package in this branch. Each package must be specified with a separate --package option. (You can also use the --message and --type options here.)

beachball change --package foo --package bar

Generate change files for all packages, regardless of changes. This would most often be used for build config updates which only touch a shared config file, but actually impact the output of all packages.

beachball change --all --type patch --message 'update build output settings'

# Prompt walkthrough

If you have changes that are not committed yet (i.e. git status reports changes), then beachball change will warn you about these:

$ beachball change
Defaults to "origin/master"
There are uncommitted changes in your repository. Please commit these files first:
- a-new-file

Make sure to commit all changes before proceeding with the change command.

After committing, run beachball change:

$ beachball change

Validating options and change files...
Checking for changes against "origin/main"
Found changes in the following packages:
  some-pkg

For each package, the prompt will start by asking for a change type. This should be chosen based on semantic versioning rules (opens new window) because it determines how to update the package version. If the change doesn't affect the published package at all (e.g. you just updated some comments), choose none.

Please describe the changes for: some-pkg
? Change type › - Use arrow-keys. Return to submit.
❯ Patch - bug fixes; no backwards incompatible changes.
  Minor - small feature; backwards compatible changes.
  None - this change does not affect the published package in any way.
  Major - major feature; breaking changes.

Next, it asks for a description of the change. You can type any text or choose from a list of recent commit messages.

Tip: These descriptions will be collated into a changelog when the change is published by beachball publish, so think about how to describe your change in a way that's helpful and relevant for consumers of the package.

Please describe the changes for: some-pkg
? Describe changes (type or choose one) ›
adding a new file

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