Command Line Reference

The following options can be passed to all of the commands that explained below:

--config FILE_PATH

Pass a custom config file at FILE_PATH.

Default: towncrier.toml or pyproject.toml file. If both files exist, the first will take precedence

--dir PATH

The command is executed relative to PATH. For instance with the default config news fragments are checked and added in PATH/newsfragments and the news file is built in PATH/NEWS.rst.

Default: current directory.

towncrier build

Build the combined news file from news fragments. build is also assumed if no command is passed.

If there are no news fragments (including an empty fragments directory or a non-existent directory), a notice of “no significant changes” will be added to the news file.

By default, the processed news fragments are removed. For any fragments committed in your git repository, git rm will be used (which will also remove the fragments directory if now empty).

--draft

Only render news fragments to standard output. Don’t write to files, don’t check versions. Only renders the news fragments without the surrounding template.

--name NAME

Use NAME as project name in the news file. Can be configured.

--version VERSION

Use VERSION in the rendered news file. Can be configured or guessed (default).

This option requires the build command to be explicitly passed.

--date DATE

The date in ISO format to use in the news file.

Default: today’s date

--yes

Do not ask for confirmations. Useful for automated tasks.

--keep

Don’t delete news fragments after the build and don’t ask for confirmation whether to delete or keep the fragments.

towncrier create

Create a news fragment in the directory that towncrier is configured to look for fragments:

$ towncrier create 123.bugfix.rst

If you don’t provide a file name, towncrier will prompt you for one.

towncrier create will enforce that the passed type (e.g. bugfix) is valid.

If the fragments directory does not exist, it will be created.

If the filename exists already, towncrier create will add (and then increment) a number after the fragment type until it finds a filename that does not exist yet. In the above example, it will generate 123.bugfix.1.rst if 123.bugfix.rst already exists.

To create a news fragment not tied to a specific issue (which towncrier calls an “orphan fragment”), start the fragment name with a +. If that is the entire fragment name, a random hash will be added for you:

$ towncrier create +.feature.rst
$ ls newsfragments/
+fcc4dc7b.feature.rst

--content, -c CONTENT

A string to use for content. Default: an instructive placeholder.

--edit / --no-edit

Whether to start $EDITOR to edit the news fragment right away. Default: $EDITOR will be started unless you also provided content.

--section SECTION

The section to use for the news fragment. Default: the section with no path, or if all sections have a path then the first defined section.

towncrier check

To check if a feature branch adds at least one news fragment, run:

$ towncrier check

The check is automatically skipped when the main news file is modified inside the branch as this signals a release branch that is expected to not have news fragments.

By default, towncrier compares the current branch against origin/main (and falls back to origin/master with a warning if it exists, for now).

--compare-with REMOTE-BRANCH

Use REMOTE-BRANCH instead of origin/main:

$ towncrier check --compare-with origin/trunk

--staged

Include files that have been staged for commit when checking for news fragments:

$ towncrier check --staged
$ towncrier check --staged --compare-with origin/trunk