vectordotdev/vector · error

No changelog fragments detected. If no changes necessitate…

Error message

No changelog fragments detected. If no changes necessitate user-facing explanations, add the 'no-changelog' label. Otherwise, add fragments to {CHANGELOG_DIR}/ (see {CHANGELOG_DIR}/README.md).

What it means

The checker's primary gate is 'did this PR add at least one new changelog fragment?'. It diffs against the merge base filtering status 'A', excludes README.md, and bails when the resulting list is empty, pointing PR authors at the 'no-changelog' label or the fragments directory.

Solutions

  1. If the change needs no user-facing note, ensure the PR has the 'no-changelog' label in CI config/merge requirements
  2. Add a fragment: `vdev changelog new <type> <slug>` (it auto-stages) or create one in changelog.d/ and `git add` it
  3. Verify the fragment is staged and included in the diff: `git diff --name-only --diff-filter=A $(git merge-base HEAD main)`

Example fix

# before
$ vdev check changelog-fragments  # fails: no fragments added
# after
vdev changelog new enhancement add-retry-logic
vdev check changelog-fragments
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const added = execSync(`git diff --name-only --diff-filter=A ${mergeBase} -- changelog.d`).toString().trim().split("\n").filter(f => f && path.basename(f) !== "README.md");
if (added.length === 0 && !hasNoChangelogLabel) addFragmentOrLabel();

Try / catch

try { runCheck(); } catch (e) { if (/No changelog fragments detected/.test(e.message)) { applyNoChangelogLabel(); } else throw e; }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: Running `vdev check changelog-fragments` on a branch whose diff vs. merge base adds no fragment files under changelog.d/ (or only adds README.md, which is filtered out).

Common situations: Opening a PR with user-facing changes but no fragment; fragments only modified (status M), not added; fragments created but never `git add`-ed so they don't appear in `git diff --diff-filter=A`; wrong merge base (e.g. based on an outdated main).

Understand the failure class

Background: EmptyResultError / "no results found": when an API or scraper succeeds but returns zero rows — this error's family across 9 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of vectordotdev/vector@bdb87aeaa4 (2026-09-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b257f7f9bce5580e. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at vdev/src/commands/check/changelog_fragments.rs:52

        let changelog_dir = repo_root.join(CHANGELOG_DIR);
        if !changelog_dir.is_dir() {
            bail!(
                "No {CHANGELOG_DIR}/ directory at {}. Run this from the Vector repo root.",
                repo_root.display()
            );
        }

        // The gate "did the PR add a new fragment?" uses A (added) only — modifying an
        // existing on-master fragment doesn't count toward the required changelog entry.
        // Schema validation, on the other hand, must see M (modified) fragments too.
        let is_real_fragment =
            |p: &PathBuf| p.file_name().and_then(|s| s.to_str()) != Some("README.md");
        let added_real: Vec<PathBuf> = diff_fragments(&self.merge_base, "A")?
            .into_iter()
            .filter(is_real_fragment)
            .collect();
        if added_real.is_empty() {
            bail!(
                "No changelog fragments detected. \
                 If no changes necessitate user-facing explanations, add the 'no-changelog' label. \
                 Otherwise, add fragments to {CHANGELOG_DIR}/ (see {CHANGELOG_DIR}/README.md)."
            );
        }
        if added_real.len() > self.max_fragments {
            bail!(
                "Too many changelog fragments ({} > {}).",
                added_real.len(),
                self.max_fragments
            );
        }

        // Every touched fragment (added or modified) must pass the schema check.
        let modified: Vec<PathBuf> = diff_fragments(&self.merge_base, "M")?
            .into_iter()
            .filter(is_real_fragment)
            .collect();

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