#molt add

Record a changeset -- which packages a change affects, how much each should bump, and what the changelog should say.

molt add is also the default command: running molt with no command word runs add (see CLI reference).

#Synopsis

molt add [OPTIONS]
molt                       # same as: molt add

#Description

molt add writes one changeset file into .changeset/, named with a random three-word slug (for example .changeset/tidy-eels-return.md). The file records a bump type per affected package plus a human-written summary. You commit it alongside your code. See Changesets and Adding a changeset for the full walkthrough, and Changeset file format for the grammar.

There are three ways to drive it.

#Interactive

With no selection flags, molt add prompts:

1. Which packages changed. In a workspace, packages you have changed since the base branch are listed first. In a single-package project this step is skipped.
2. How much each bumps -- a major, minor, or patch. Anything not chosen as major or minor is patched.
3. A summary for the changelog. Submitting an empty summary opens $EDITOR. Markdown headings you type there are preserved.

Cancelling any prompt with Ctrl-C exits 0 and writes nothing.

#The first-major confirmation

Choosing a major bump for a package still below 1.0.0 asks one extra yes/no question before the changeset is written. Below 1.0.0 a major release is the package's first major: it takes the version to 1.0.0 and declares the API stable, which is not something to do by accident during a repo-wide sweep. At or above 1.0.0 the question is not asked.

Declining does not abort -- in the interactive flow. The package simply falls back into the next prompt, so you can pick minor instead and keep the changeset you were writing.

The confirmation is not limited to the interactive flow: --major triggers it too. molt add --major pkg-a -m "..." asks it, even though every other part of that run is non-interactive. But on the flag path there is no next prompt to fall back into, so declining there aborts the whole run: nothing is written, the command exits 0, and one line reports that nothing was written for that package.

To take a first major with no question -- from CI, a bot, or a script -- add --non-interactive:

molt add --major pkg-a -m "Stable API." --non-interactive

#Non-interactive (flags)

Select packages and bumps entirely on the command line -- the path for Dependabot, Renovate, and code generation, none of which can answer prompts.

• --package pkg-a --bump minor selects packages and applies one bump type to all of them.
• --major pkg-a --minor pkg-b --patch pkg-c selects per bump type, changesets-style. Both --package/--bump and the per-type flags are repeatable.

Pair either with --message for a fully non-interactive run. Without --message, molt still prompts for the summary. If any selected package would take its first major, add --non-interactive as well -- see the first-major confirmation.

This form does no "changed packages" detection: you named the packages, so molt does not run git to guess at them.

#Non-interactive (stdin)

molt add --stdin reads a JSON payload from standard input and writes the changeset with no TTY:

{ "releases": [ { "name": "acme-core", "bump": "minor" } ], "summary": "Add streaming export." }

#Options

Repeatable flags always yield a list, and repeated scalars keep the last value (see Option-normalization rules).

#Validation

molt add rejects an invalid selection before writing anything:

• A package named in --major/--minor/--patch/--package that is not in the project produces The package <name> is passed to the --<type> option but it is not found in the project.
• The same package under two bump types produces The package <name> is passed to multiple release type options ... Please select only one release type for this package.
• A project with no versionable packages exits 1 with guidance to check ignore and that manifests carry a version.

#Running without a terminal

molt add needs a terminal to ask a question on. When there is none -- a cron job, a docker run with no tty, a CI step -- it stops immediately and names the question it could not ask, instead of blocking forever the way changeset add does:

error molt cannot prompt: standard input is not a terminal, and this run needs an answer to:
Which packages would you like to include?. Supply it as a command-line flag, or run molt from a
terminal.

That is the fallback, not the fix. From a script, pass --non-interactive (or --yes) together with a complete selection, and molt never builds a prompt at all. The two situations report differently on purpose: a run that passed --non-interactive is told about the flag, and a run that did not is told about the terminal -- naming a flag the user never passed just sends them looking through their own script for it.

#Exit codes

#Examples

Interactive (or just molt):

molt add

Fully non-interactive, one package:

molt add --package acme-core --bump minor -m "Add streaming export."

changesets-style per-type selection, several packages:

molt add --minor acme-core --patch acme-cli -m "Streaming export plus CLI progress bar."

An empty changeset for a change that needs no release:

molt add --empty -m "Docs-only change."

From a machine, over stdin:

echo '{"releases":[{"name":"acme-core","bump":"patch"}],"summary":"Fix off-by-one."}' | molt add --stdin

#See also

• Adding a changeset -- the hands-on guide.
• Changesets and Changeset file format.
• molt version -- consume the changesets add writes.