towncrier
Building newsfiles for your project.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. Towncrier solves a real problem—changelog merge conflicts and scattered release-note authorship—with a lightweight, well-maintained tool. Low install friction, no known vulnerabilities, active development, and proven adoption make it a safe choice for any team managing releases.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.9 or later; auto-detection of project version may require additional configuration depending on your project setup.
- Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel and five common dependencies (click, jinja2, importlib-metadata, importlib-resources, tomli).
- Actively maintained with recent commits and no known vulnerabilities.
License · maintenance · safety
MIT (permissive) — MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; you may use, modify, and distribute towncrier freely provided you retain the license notice.
last release 2025-08-30 (349 days) · last repo commit 2026-08-04 · 914 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 4,555,801 downloads/mo, #2,282 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install towncrier
towncrier build --version 25.8.0- Whether the tool's auto-detection of project version works reliably across all project types and build systems.
- Performance characteristics when handling large numbers of news fragments or complex fragment templates.
What it is and what it does
Towncrier is a changelog generator that collects small, issue-specific "news fragments" from developers and synthesizes them into a polished changelog for end users. Rather than having all developers edit a single changelog file (which causes merge conflicts) or mining the Git history (which mixes implementation details with user-facing changes), towncrier asks each contributor to create a small fragment file describing their change from a user perspective. The tool then combines these fragments into a structured, readable release note.
It works as a command-line tool and integrates with any project type and platform. The core dependencies are minimal: click for CLI handling, jinja2 for templating the output, and importlib utilities for metadata. It supports Python 3.9 through 3.13 and is used by major projects.
Use it for
- Generate a changelog for a release by collecting pre-written fragments from each merged pull request or closed issue.
- Avoid merge conflicts on a shared changelog file by having each contributor write a separate fragment instead.
- Produce user-focused release notes that omit implementation details and focus on what end users need to know.
- Automate changelog creation as part of a release workflow or CI/CD pipeline.
- Maintain a consistent changelog format and structure across multiple releases.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
Towncrier solves a real problem—changelog merge conflicts and scattered release-note authorship—with a lightweight, well-maintained tool. Low install friction, no known vulnerabilities, active development, and proven adoption make it a safe choice for any team managing releases.
Install
towncrier on PyPI
Before you install
Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel and five common dependencies (click, jinja2, importlib-metadata, importlib-resources, tomli). Actively maintained with recent commits and no known vulnerabilities.
Requires Python 3.9 or later; auto-detection of project version may require additional configuration depending on your project setup.
License in practice
MIT license permits commercial and private use with minimal restrictions; you may use, modify, and distribute towncrier freely provided you retain the license notice.
Quickstart
pip install towncrier
towncrier build --version 25.8.0Verify before relying
- Whether the tool's auto-detection of project version works reliably across all project types and build systems.
- Performance characteristics when handling large numbers of news fragments or complex fragment templates.
Package facts
| License | MIT permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.9 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 5 packagesclickimportlib-metadataimportlib-resourcesjinja2tomli |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 349 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 4,555,801 / month, #2,282 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Intended Audience :: DevelopersLicense :: OSI Approved :: MIT LicenseOperating System :: MacOS :: MacOS XOperating System :: Microsoft :: WindowsOperating System :: POSIX :: LinuxProgramming Language :: Python :: 3.10Programming Language :: Python :: 3.11Programming Language :: Python :: 3.12Programming Language :: Python :: 3.13Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9Programming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPythonProgramming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPy |
Evidence: towncrier-25.8.0-py3-none-any.whl
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See also blurb · sphinxcontrib-towncrier · antsibull-changelog · versioneer · hatch-fancy-pypi-readme · git-cliff · versioneer-518 · codecov · sphinxcontrib-log-cabinet · pytest-html-merger