What is Towncrier used for?

Towncrier is a Python command-line utility that builds changelogs from small news fragment files instead of Git history, usable with any project type. It is a good fit for release notes for open-source libraries and monorepos with many packages.

Is Towncrier open source?

Yes. Towncrier is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at twisted/towncrier and is written mainly in Python.

Yes. Towncrier is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

What are some alternatives to Towncrier?

Similar open-source tools in the CI/CD & DevOps category include Changie, Release Changelog Builder Action and semantic-release. SaaS products in the same category include Appcircle, Apptio Cloudability and AppVeyor.

Is Towncrier actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Towncrier was on 8 September 2026, and the latest release is 26.9.0, published on 4 September 2026. The project has 922 stars on GitHub.

Towncrier: open-source CI/CD & DevOps

About Towncrier

Towncrier produces summarized news files, also known as changelogs, for software projects. Instead of reading the Git history or having every developer edit one shared file and hit merge conflicts, it collects small news fragments that describe each change in terms useful to end users.

Each fragment is a short file written alongside the change, so release notes are drafted while the details are fresh and compiled into the news file at release time. The documentation covers a tutorial for keeping a Markdown changelog, sharing one configuration across a monorepo, a command-line and configuration reference, pre-commit integration, and ways to customize the output format.

The tool is written in Python and requires it to run, but it can be used with projects in any language on any platform as long as Python-specific conveniences such as automatic version detection are avoided. It is MIT licensed and is used by several well-known Python projects.

Key features

Changelog built from news fragment files
Avoids merge conflicts on shared news files
Customizable news file output
Monorepo support with shared configuration
pre-commit integration
Works with any language or platform

Good fit for

→Release notes for open-source libraries
→Monorepos with many packages

Built with: Python
Tags: changelog; release-notes; python; release-automation; cli; newsfile

Towncrier: questions and answers

What is Towncrier used for?: Towncrier is a Python command-line utility that builds changelogs from small news fragment files instead of Git history, usable with any project type. It is a good fit for release notes for open-source libraries and monorepos with many packages.
Is Towncrier open source?: Yes. Towncrier is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at twisted/towncrier and is written mainly in Python.
Is Towncrier free?: Yes. Towncrier is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
What are some alternatives to Towncrier?: Similar open-source tools in the CI/CD & DevOps category include Changie, Release Changelog Builder Action and semantic-release. SaaS products in the same category include Appcircle, Apptio Cloudability and AppVeyor.
Is Towncrier actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Towncrier was on 8 September 2026, and the latest release is 26.9.0, published on 4 September 2026. The project has 922 stars on GitHub.