Features

Devlog offers a comprehensive set of features designed for modern software development workflows while prioritizing privacy and security.

Core Features

Smart Commit Parsing

Conventional Commits Support

Fully compliant with Conventional Commits specification
Automatic detection of commit types: feat, fix, docs, style, refactor, perf, test, build, ci, chore, revert
Breaking change detection via ! suffix or BREAKING CHANGE: footer
Scope extraction and categorization

Heuristic Fallback

Intelligently parses non-standard commits
Extracts meaningful information from freeform commit messages
No strict format requirements - works with any Git repository

Unit-Based Processing

Devlog introduces a revolutionary approach by organizing commits into logical “units”:

Unit Types:

[PR] Pull Request Commits
- Groups consecutive commits with same PR reference
- Consolidates squash commits
- Shows PR links and numbers
- Example: Multiple commits in PR#123 → Single unit with combined analysis
[Merge] Merge Commits
- Analyzes incoming branch using M^1..M^2 range
- Consolidates all commits from feature branch
- Rolls up statistics and summaries
- Treats merge as atomic unit of work
[Direct] Direct Commits
- Groups related direct commits to main branch
- Uses temporal proximity and file overlap heuristics
- Segments by author and timeframe
- Filters noise while preserving context
[Tag] Tag Milestones
- Detects both annotated and lightweight tags
- Distinguishes release tags (v1.2.3) from general tags
- Generates release summaries
- Interleaves chronologically with commits

Multiple Output Formats

Markdown (Default)

Human-readable changelog format
Grouped by commit type or chronological order
Breaking changes prominently displayed
Author attribution optional

JSON

Structured data for programmatic access
Complete commit metadata
Integration-friendly format
Schema-based validation

Flexible Filtering Options

By Version Range

# Between two tags
devlog --from v1.0.0 --to v2.0.0

# From tag to HEAD
devlog --from v1.0.0 --to HEAD

By Commit Range

# Last N commits
devlog --limit 50

# Specific commit range
devlog --from abc1234 --to def5678

By Date Range

# Coming soon: date-based filtering

Minor Commit Filtering

Automatic detection of whitespace-only changes
Filters documentation-only commits
Identifies typo fixes and formatting changes
Configurable thresholds

AI-Powered Features

Multiple LLM Providers

Local LLMs (Recommended)

Ollama
- Easy installation and setup
- Multiple model support (llama3.2, mistral, etc.)
- Automatic model download
- No API keys required
llama.cpp
- Maximum performance
- Custom model support
- GGUF format compatibility
- Complete offline operation

Cloud LLMs (Optional)

OpenAI (GPT-4)
- Highest quality summaries
- Fast processing
- Requires API key
- Cost per request
Anthropic (Claude)
- Excellent code understanding
- Long context support
- Requires API key
- Cost per request

Privacy-First Architecture

Three Privacy Levels:

Strict Mode (Default for cloud)
- Removes all PII (emails, URLs, paths)
- Sanitizes ticket IDs
- Redacts sensitive patterns
- Maximum privacy protection
Moderate Mode
- Keeps file paths intact
- Removes emails and URLs
- Balances utility and privacy
- Suitable for internal tools
Relaxed Mode (Local only)
- No sanitization
- Full context for AI
- Only available with local LLMs
- Best analysis quality

Privacy Guarantees:

Local LLMs never send data over network
Cloud providers require explicit opt-in
Dry-run mode shows exactly what would be sent
Cost estimation before any API calls
Transparent data handling
Zero telemetry or tracking

Diff Analysis Mode

What It Does:

Analyzes actual code changes, not just commit messages
Extracts file changes, insertions, deletions
Identifies affected code areas
Assesses change impact (Major, Moderate, Patch, Minor)
Generates detailed summaries of modifications

How It Works:

Extracts diff for each commit vs. parent
Analyzes diff content with local LLM
Categorizes changes by area and impact
Consolidates unit-level summaries
Filters noise and minor changes

Output Structure:

- [PR] Feature name (date)
  PR: #123
  • What changed: High-level description
  • Summary:
    - Detailed bullet point 1
    - Detailed bullet point 2
    - Detailed bullet point 3
  • Impact: Moderate
  • Files: 5 files, +234/-67 lines

Requirements:

Only works with local LLMs (Ollama, llama.cpp)
No network access required
Analyzes full git history
Works with any repository

Feature Grouping

Automatic Feature Detection:

Groups related units by logical features
Identifies common themes across commits
Separates PRs from direct commits
Generates feature-level summaries

Output Format:

======================================================================
Feature Change Log: v1.0.0 → v1.1.0
======================================================================

### User Authentication
**Summary:**
- Implemented JWT-based authentication
- Added login and logout endpoints
- Middleware for protected routes

**PRs:**
- [#123](url) Add user authentication system

**Commits:**
- [abc1234](url) Refactor authentication middleware

### Dashboard Feature
**Summary:**
- Created dashboard layout components
- Integrated analytics API

**PRs:**
- [#125](url), [#126](url) Feature/dashboard integration
======================================================================

Use Cases:

Release notes generation
Feature tracking
High-level project overview
Stakeholder communication

Developer Experience

Progress Indicators

8-Stage Processing Pipeline:

Stage 0: Preflight - Privacy checks, LLM availability
Stage 1: Collection - Gathering commits and tags
Stage 2: Unit Formation - Classifying and grouping
Stage 3: Diff Extraction - Extracting code changes
Stage 4: Analysis - AI analyzing each unit
Stage 5: Feature Grouping - Organizing by features
Stage 6: Filtering - Applying noise filters
Stage 7: Rendering - Generating output

Visual Feedback:

Spinners for indeterminate operations
Progress bars with counters for analysis
Stage completion checkmarks
Clear error messages with remediation steps

Conventional Commits Integration

Supported Types:

feat - New features
fix - Bug fixes
docs - Documentation changes
style - Code style changes (formatting, etc.)
refactor - Code refactoring
perf - Performance improvements
test - Test changes
build - Build system changes
ci - CI/CD configuration changes
chore - Maintenance tasks
revert - Reverted changes

Breaking Changes:

feat!: remove deprecated API endpoint
feat(api)!: change response format

fix: correct token validation

BREAKING CHANGE: API v1 endpoints removed

Grouping & Organization

By Commit Type:

devlog --group

Groups commits into sections: Features, Bug Fixes, Documentation, etc.

Chronological:

devlog

Lists commits in time order with unit badges.

By Feature:

devlog --diff-analysis --group-features --llm ollama

Groups related work into logical features.

Author Attribution

devlog --authors

Includes commit author information in output:

- feat(auth): add JWT support [abc1234] (John Doe)

Security Features

Secret Detection Prevention

Never logs API keys or tokens
Sanitizes sensitive environment variables
Redacts credentials from output
Secure token handling

Data Sanitization

Automatic Redaction:

Email addresses → [EMAIL]
URLs → [URL]
File paths → [PATH] (strict mode)
Ticket IDs → [TICKET] (strict mode)

Pattern Detection:

API keys and tokens
Credit card numbers
Social security numbers
Private keys

Audit Trail

Transparent operation logging
No hidden network calls
Dry-run mode for verification
Cost estimation before spending

Integration Features

Git Hosting Support

GitHub Integration:

Pull request link generation
Issue reference resolution
GitHub-flavored markdown
Actions workflow compatible

GitLab Integration:

Merge request links
Issue tracking integration
GitLab CI/CD compatible
GitLab Pages deployment

CI/CD Compatibility

Automated Changelog Generation:

# In GitHub Actions or GitLab CI
- name: Generate changelog
  run: |
    devlog --from $ --to HEAD \
           --output CHANGELOG.md \
           --no-consent-prompt

No Interactive Prompts:

devlog --no-consent-prompt

Skip user confirmation for CI/CD environments.

Exit Codes:

0 - Success
1 - General error
2 - Configuration error
3 - Git repository error

Configuration

Environment Variables

# LLM API Keys
export OPENAI_API_KEY="sk-..."
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="sk-ant-..."

# Logging
export DEVLOG_LOG_LEVEL="info"  # trace, debug, info, warn, error
export RUST_LOG="devlog=debug"

# Privacy enforcement
export DEVLOG_PRIVACY_MODE="strict"

Configuration File Support

Coming soon: .devlogrc or devlog.toml for project-specific settings.

Performance

Optimization Features

Parallel commit processing
Efficient git operations via libgit2
Streaming diff analysis
Memory-efficient large repository handling

Benchmarks

1000 commits: ~30 seconds (local LLM)
100 commits with diff analysis: ~2-3 minutes (Ollama)
Feature grouping: +10-15 seconds overhead

Roadmap

Planned features (see GitHub Issues):

Configuration file support (.devlogrc.toml)
Date-based filtering
Interactive mode for commit selection
Plugin system for custom formatters
Web UI for repository visualization
Git hosting API integration (automatic PR/MR fetching)
Multi-repository changelog aggregation
Custom LLM provider support
Template-based output generation

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