GlossaryLaunching
What is a changelog?
Also called: release notes, product updates page, what's new
Definition
A changelog is a curated, chronologically ordered list of notable changes in each version of a product, such as new features, fixes and removals, written for the people who use it.
Changelog, explained
Keep a Changelog, a widely used convention, defines a changelog as a file containing a curated, chronologically ordered list of notable changes for each version of a project. Its guiding principles are practical: changelogs are for humans, not machines; every version gets an entry; the latest version comes first; each release shows its date; and changes are grouped by type as Added, Changed, Deprecated, Removed, Fixed and Security.
For a product company, the public changelog does more than document releases. It shows the product is alive, which matters to anyone evaluating a young startup. It gives existing users a reason to come back. It feeds your social posts, newsletters and relaunches with real material. And it gives support a link to send when someone asks "does it do X yet?"
Write entries for users, not engineers. "You can now export reports as PDF" beats "Added PDF renderer to export service". Link each significant entry to docs or a short post that explains it, with a screenshot. Skip internal refactors unless they change something people notice.
There's an SEO angle. Substantial feature releases deserve their own page, not only a changelog line, because they can rank for searches about that capability and give AI assistants a clear, dated source for what your product can do now. A changelog with linkable entries also helps assistants avoid describing features you've since shipped as missing.
Keep dates honest and entries permanent. Quietly editing history undermines the one thing a changelog is for.
Why it matters for founders
A visible, regular changelog is proof of momentum for buyers and a steady source of launch and content material. It also keeps the public record of what your product does current.
Example
A startup's /changelog lists releases newest first, each dated and grouped by Added and Fixed. Its biggest feature gets its own page, which ranks for "[category] with Slack approvals" within a few weeks.
Common mistakes
- Writing entries in internal engineering language.
- Letting the changelog go silent for months.
- Burying major features in one-line entries with no page of their own.
Sources
Checked
Related terms
- RelaunchA relaunch is presenting an existing product publicly again, usually after a major new version, pivot or rebrand, to reach people who missed it or who dismissed an earlier version.
- Launch weekA launch week is either a week-long cycle on a weekly launch platform, where products compete on one leaderboard for seven days, or a company's own week of announcing a new feature every day.
- Evergreen contentEvergreen content is content that stays useful and searched for over a long period, like guides, definitions and how-tos, as opposed to news or announcements whose interest fades within days or weeks.
- AI hallucinationAn AI hallucination is a plausible-sounding statement from a language model that is false, such as an invented feature, price, quote or source, delivered with the same confidence as a correct answer.