BetaMIT + Pro

DerivativeSelf-hosted changelog and "What's new" widget, built from your Changesets, CHANGELOG.md or commits. No SaaS, no tracking.

pnpm add @sweberdev/derivative

Derivative turns the changelog you already keep into a "What's new" button for your app. It reads Changesets output, any CHANGELOG.md in the Keep a Changelog or conventional-changelog style, or conventional commits with version tags, and writes a static changelog.json, an Atom feed and a changelog page.

The widget is a single web component of about 6 kB gzipped with an unread badge, keyboard and screen reader support, dark mode and labels in English, German, French and Italian. The feed ships with your app and the read state stays in the browser, so there is no third-party service, no cookie and nothing to add to your privacy policy. A lean alternative to hosted tools such as Beamer or Headway.

Example

A short exampleCopy it into your project.

header.html

<!-- package.json: "build": "derivative build && vite build" -->
<header>
  <a href="/">Acme</a>
  <derivative-widget src="/changelog.json" lang="de"></derivative-widget>
</header>
<script type="module">
  import "@sweberdev/derivative/widget"
</script>

Features

What you getFree under MIT, with Pro on top.

Free, MIT

Reads Changesets (default and GitHub formats), Keep a Changelog, conventional-changelog and conventional commits with tags
derivative build writes changelog.json, an Atom feed and a standalone changelog page
<derivative-widget>: popover or inline, unread badge, about 6 kB gzipped, no dependencies
Accessible: labelled dialog, focus handling, Escape to close, reduced motion respected
Labels and dates in English, German, French and Italian; dark mode and CSS custom properties
Highlights: a title, summary and image for the releases that matter
React bindings: <WhatsNew>, useChangelog and an unstyled <ChangelogList>

Pro

Read statistics without cookies or visitor IDs: opens, reads and link clicks per release, with an HTML report
Audience segments: entries only for certain plans or roles, via rules or a [for: pro] marker, and scheduled releases
Announcements: an e-mail digest in your branding and posts to Slack, Teams, Discord, Mattermost and Google Chat

Compare

Free and ProSide by side.

Feature	Free	Pro
Changelog parsers, CLI and Atom feed	Included	Included
Widget, React bindings and highlights	Included	Included
Read statistics and report	Not included	Included
Audience segments and scheduled releases	Not included	Included
E-mail digest and chat announcements	Not included	Included
Licence	MIT	Per person
Support	GitHub issues	Agency and Lifetime

Pro

Pro packagesAdd-ons on top of the core.

@weber-development/derivative-insights
Counts opens, reads and link clicks per release on your own endpoint, without cookies or visitor IDs, and renders a report.
@weber-development/derivative-segments
Shows entries only to the plans or roles they are meant for and publishes releases on a schedule.
@weber-development/derivative-announce
Sends new releases as an e-mail digest and to Slack, Teams, Discord, Mattermost and Google Chat.

Pricing

PricingPrices are in CHF.

Freelancer

For one person working on client projects.

CHF 90

per year

2 months free

1 person
No support entitlement

Agency

Recommended

For teams of up to ten named people, one price.

CHF 290

per year

2 months free

Up to 10 people
Support included

Lifetime

Pay once for up to ten people and keep updates and repository access.

CHF 990

one-time

Up to 10 people
Support included

Buy lifetime licence

11 people or more: get in touch

After cancelling, every version you already received keeps working. Only updates and repository access end.
No licence key, no phone-home. The Pro packages never contact a server to check your licence.
Agency and Lifetime cover up to ten named people for one price: you choose the number of seats at checkout and assign them in Polar. Your clients and their websites need no licence of their own.
Checkout, invoices and VAT are handled by Polar as merchant of record.

Read the licence terms

FAQ

QuestionsShort answers.

Does Derivative send data to a server?

No. The feed is a static file you deploy with your app, and the widget stores the last release a reader has seen in their browser's local storage. Nothing else is stored or sent.

I don't use Changesets. Does it still work?

Yes. Derivative also reads Keep a Changelog and conventional-changelog files, or builds the feed from conventional commits and version tags. You can also write changelog.json by hand or from a CMS.

Can I write friendlier release notes than my commit messages?

Yes. Highlights in derivative.config.json add a title, a summary and an image to any release, while the generated entries stay as they are.

Does it work without React?

Yes. The widget is a standard web component that works in any framework or plain HTML. The React package is an optional wrapper.

Can I use the open-source part on its own?

Yes. @sweberdev/derivative and @sweberdev/derivative-react are MIT-licensed and complete without Pro. Pro adds statistics, segments and announcements on top of the same changelog.json.

Articles

ArticlesGuides and release notes.

2026-10-05
Derivative 0.1.0 released
A self-hosted changelog and "What's new" widget, built from the Changesets, CHANGELOG.md or commits you already have. No SaaS, no tracking, about 6 kB.