If teams juggle multiple systems, they might not notice small adjustments to properties in HubSpot, Zendesk, or other platforms they use. And while changelogs help avoid potentially significant problems down the line, making manual changes is inefficient.
That’s why we built an automated changelog template. It helps teams maintain a clear record of all relevant changes in one central location. That way, no one needs to worry about adding tasks to their workload—or overlooking critical updates.
To use this template, you must have:
- A paid Zapier account or an active trial
- Two tables available in your Tables plan
Learn more about Zapier plans.
Why build an automated changelog?
- Gain a comprehensive view of all the changes made across your systems.
- Eliminate manual documentation and time-consuming searches through chat logs.
- Keep all your team members informed of recent updates, reducing misunderstandings.
What key features come with the automated changelog template?
- Smart change recording — Ensure that changes made only by your team are included in the changelog, maintaining relevance and reducing noise.
- Centralized change repository — Automatically log all relevant changes in a single, easily accessible location.
- AI-powered summarization — Use AI by Zapier (powered by OpenAI) to generate concise summaries and titles for each change.
- Slack-triggered updates — Team members can effortlessly initiate change logging by reacting to a Slack message with a designated emoji.
- Modular design — Easily build onto, modify, or customize this workflow to suit your needs.
Who should use the automated changelog template?
An automated changelog is ideal for:
- Marketing teams — Track changes in customer relationship manager (CRM) properties and automation workflows.
- RevOps teams — Keep tabs on updates to your CRM and customer data platform.
- IT departments — Monitor infrastructure and software changes.
- Project managers — Coordinate cross-functional changes and updates.
How does this template work?
This template lets you easily track process modifications. Here's how:
- Someone on your team shares a process change in Slack that you'd like to record.
- To kick off the system, you react to the message with whatever you set as your changelog emoji.
- The system checks whether the emoji was used by you or someone on your team.
- The entry gets summarized using AI.
- To avoid duplicates, the system checks whether the entry already exists in the changelog.
- If it doesn't, the item gets added, and your team receives a notification in a Slack thread.
You'll find detailed setup instructions inside the template. Scroll down for a preview.
Preview the automated changelog template
Setup instructions are in the canvas that comes with your template, which you can preview right here. Just click and drag to move around the canvas and pinch to zoom.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I customize the trigger for logging changes?
Yes—instead of using a Slack reaction, you can modify the template to initiate logging based on other events, like incoming emails or form submissions.
How detailed are the change summaries?
The AI-generated summaries are concise by default. But you can customize the AI prompt to generate more detailed or structured summaries based on your team's preferences.
Can I integrate this with my project management tools?
Absolutely. You can modify the template to connect the changelog with any project management platform that integrates with Zapier—and using webhooks, any others that have an API.
Is this template suitable for teams with strict compliance requirements?
Yes, our automated changelog helps maintain accurate records of system modifications, which can be valuable for industries with strict regulatory requirements. Still, we recommend you check that your use of the template aligns with your specific compliance needs.
