diff --git a/scripts/changelog.js b/scripts/changelog.js
index 30e1ca017d..7edb1d423a 100644
--- a/scripts/changelog.js
+++ b/scripts/changelog.js
@@ -2,6 +2,12 @@ import { execFileSync } from "node:child_process";
 import fs from "node:fs/promises";
 import path from "node:path";
 import { fileURLToPath } from "node:url";
+import {
+  categories,
+  parseFragment,
+  placeholderLink,
+  trailingPrLinks,
+} from "./changelogFragments.js";
 import {
   checkMagicNumbers,
   configPath,
@@ -9,61 +15,10 @@ import {
   showAt,
 } from "./magicNumbers.js";
 
-export const categories = {
-  breaking: "#### :boom: Breaking Change",
-  feature: "#### :rocket: New Feature",
-  fix: "#### :bug: Bug fix",
-  docs: "#### :memo: Documentation",
-  polish: "#### :nail_care: Polish",
-  internal: "#### :house: Internal",
-};
+export { categories, parseFragment, placeholderLink };
 
-const prLink =
-  /https:\/\/github\.com\/rescript-lang\/rescript(?:-compiler)?\/pull\/([1-9]\d*)/;
-export const placeholderLink =
-  "https://github.com/rescript-lang/rescript/pull/XXXX";
-const trailingPrLinks = new RegExp(
-  `${prLink.source}(?:\\s+${prLink.source})*$`,
-);
 const repositoryUrl = "https://github.com/rescript-lang/rescript";
 
-export function parseFragment(name, content) {
-  const match = /^([a-z0-9][a-z0-9-]*)\.([a-z]+)\.md$/.exec(name);
-  if (!match || !Object.hasOwn(categories, match[2])) {
-    throw new Error(
-      `${name}: expected <description>.<category>.md; allowed categories: ${Object.keys(categories).join(", ")}`,
-    );
-  }
-  const text = content.trim();
-  if (text.includes(placeholderLink)) {
-    throw new Error(
-      `${name}: replace the placeholder ${placeholderLink} with the PR link`,
-    );
-  }
-  const bullets = text.split(/\n(?=- )/);
-  const invalid = bullets.some(
-    bullet =>
-      !/^- \S/.test(bullet) ||
-      bullet
-        .split("\n")
-        .slice(1)
-        .some(line => line && !/^ {2}\S/.test(line)),
-  );
-  if (!text || invalid) {
-    throw new Error(
-      `${name}: expected Markdown bullets (indent continuation lines by two spaces)`,
-    );
-  }
-  const links = [...text.matchAll(new RegExp(prLink, "g"))].map(link =>
-    Number(link[1]),
-  );
-  // A bullet without a link gets the link of the pull request that added the
-  // fragment when the release is prepared.
-  const unlinked = bullets.some(bullet => !trailingPrLinks.test(bullet));
-  const pr = links.length ? Math.max(...links) : null;
-  return { name, category: match[2], text, pr, unlinked };
-}
-
 // The pull request that added a fragment, from the subject of the squash
 // commit that added it ("... (#1234)"). Rebase merges and merge commits carry
 // no such subject, which is why pull requests are squash-merged.
diff --git a/scripts/changelogFragments.js b/scripts/changelogFragments.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d46ebdd494
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/changelogFragments.js
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+// Changelog fragments (changes/<description>.<category>.md): their
+// categories and their parsing. This file imports nothing, so that scripts
+// run without node_modules can use it, such as the Semantic Diff workflow's
+// scripts/commitRecords.js.
+
+export const categories = {
+  breaking: "#### :boom: Breaking Change",
+  feature: "#### :rocket: New Feature",
+  fix: "#### :bug: Bug fix",
+  docs: "#### :memo: Documentation",
+  polish: "#### :nail_care: Polish",
+  internal: "#### :house: Internal",
+};
+
+const prLink =
+  /https:\/\/github\.com\/rescript-lang\/rescript(?:-compiler)?\/pull\/([1-9]\d*)/;
+export const placeholderLink =
+  "https://github.com/rescript-lang/rescript/pull/XXXX";
+export const trailingPrLinks = new RegExp(
+  `${prLink.source}(?:\\s+${prLink.source})*$`,
+);
+
+export function parseFragment(name, content) {
+  const match = /^([a-z0-9][a-z0-9-]*)\.([a-z]+)\.md$/.exec(name);
+  if (!match || !Object.hasOwn(categories, match[2])) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `${name}: expected <description>.<category>.md; allowed categories: ${Object.keys(categories).join(", ")}`,
+    );
+  }
+  const text = content.trim();
+  if (text.includes(placeholderLink)) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `${name}: replace the placeholder ${placeholderLink} with the PR link`,
+    );
+  }
+  const bullets = text.split(/\n(?=- )/);
+  const invalid = bullets.some(
+    bullet =>
+      !/^- \S/.test(bullet) ||
+      bullet
+        .split("\n")
+        .slice(1)
+        .some(line => line && !/^ {2}\S/.test(line)),
+  );
+  if (!text || invalid) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `${name}: expected Markdown bullets (indent continuation lines by two spaces)`,
+    );
+  }
+  const links = [...text.matchAll(new RegExp(prLink, "g"))].map(link =>
+    Number(link[1]),
+  );
+  // A bullet without a link gets the link of the pull request that added the
+  // fragment when the release is prepared.
+  const unlinked = bullets.some(bullet => !trailingPrLinks.test(bullet));
+  const pr = links.length ? Math.max(...links) : null;
+  return { name, category: match[2], text, pr, unlinked };
+}
diff --git a/scripts/commitRecords.js b/scripts/commitRecords.js
index 6ac055c354..d0d3390967 100644
--- a/scripts/commitRecords.js
+++ b/scripts/commitRecords.js
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 
 import { execFileSync } from "node:child_process";
 import { readFileSync, writeFileSync } from "node:fs";
-import { categories, parseFragment } from "./changelog.js";
+import { categories, parseFragment } from "./changelogFragments.js";
 import { commentMarkdown } from "./recordMarkdown.js";
 import { CSS, esc, pageBody, pageTitle, parseRecord } from "./recordRender.js";
 
diff --git a/scripts/commitRecords.test.js b/scripts/commitRecords.test.js
index 72160b78fa..69399910db 100644
--- a/scripts/commitRecords.test.js
+++ b/scripts/commitRecords.test.js
@@ -114,6 +114,28 @@ Review: Does a PPX still see the extension? Yes: the v0 bridge maps it back,
 ${SIGNED}
 `;
 
+test("the renderer imports no packages: the workflow runs it without node_modules", async () => {
+  const seen = new Set();
+  /** @param {string} file */
+  const visit = async file => {
+    if (seen.has(file)) return;
+    seen.add(file);
+    const source = await fs.readFile(file, "utf8");
+    for (const [, spec] of source.matchAll(
+      /^(?:import|export)\b[^"'`;]*?\bfrom\s+["']([^"']+)["']/gm,
+    )) {
+      assert.ok(
+        spec.startsWith("./") || spec.startsWith("node:"),
+        `${path.basename(file)} imports ${spec}`,
+      );
+      if (spec.startsWith("./"))
+        await visit(path.resolve(path.dirname(file), spec));
+    }
+  };
+  await visit(script);
+  assert.ok(seen.size > 3, [...seen].join(", "));
+});
+
 test("a minimal record draws its identity and subject", async () => {
   const html = await render(
     async (git, dir) => {