Git Commit with Conventional Commits

Make Git commits that follow the Conventional Commits 1.0.0 specification. Get the type, the scope, and the summary from the diff.

Message Format

<type>(<scope>): <summary>

<body>

<footer>

• The scope, the body, and the footer are optional. Without a scope, write <type>: <summary>.
• Write the summary in the imperative mood: "add", not "added" or "adds".
• Keep the first line at 72 characters or less. Do not put a period at the end.
• In the body, tell what changed and why.
• Write each footer as Token: value or Token #value, for example Refs: #456 or Closes #123. Conventional Commits accepts the two forms, but Git reads only Token: value as a trailer. In a token, use - in place of a space.

Types

Conventional Commits defines only feat and fix. The other types come from the Angular convention (@commitlint/config-conventional). If the repository has its own list, use that list.

Breaking Changes

Put ! before the colon, or add a BREAKING CHANGE: footer. Write the token in uppercase. BREAKING-CHANGE: is also correct.

feat(api)!: remove the v1 endpoints

BREAKING CHANGE: Clients must use the v2 endpoints.

Workflow

1. Read the repository rules

Find the commit rules before you write a message:

• A commitlint configuration, for example commitlint.config.js or .commitlintrc.json.
• CONTRIBUTING.md.
• The recent messages: git log --oneline -10.

If a repository rule is different from this skill, use the repository rule.

2. Examine the changes

git status --porcelain
git diff --staged
git diff

If there are no changes, tell the user. Do not make an empty commit.

3. Stage the files

Put one logical change in each commit. If the staged files contain more than one change, first unstage the files of the other changes. Then stage the files for this change:

git reset -q -- path/to/other-file1 path/to/other-file2
git add -- path/to/file1 path/to/file2
git add -- '*.test.*'
git add -- src/components/

• Put a glob in quotes. Without quotes, the shell expands the glob and does not find the files in subdirectories.
• Do not use git add -p or git add -i. These commands wait for input from a person.
• After you resolve a merge conflict, use git add --resolved. This command stages only the resolved files. If a file still has conflict markers, the command stops.
• Examine the list of staged files with git diff --staged --name-only. Do not commit secrets, for example .env files, credentials.json, or private keys.

4. Write the message

Get each part from the diff:

• Type: The kind of change.
• Scope: The module or the area that the change affects.
• Summary: What changed, in one line.

5. Commit

Give each paragraph with a different -m option. Git puts a blank line between the paragraphs. This command works in Bash, PowerShell, and other shells.

git commit -m "feat(auth): add token refresh"
git commit -m "fix(parser): accept empty input" -m "An empty file caused a crash." -m "Closes: #123"

For a long message, write the message to a temporary file. Then run git commit -F <file>.

6. Make sure that the commit is correct

git log -1 --stat
git status --porcelain

Safety Rules

• Do not change the Git configuration.
• Do not use --no-verify unless the user tells you to. Hooks can be in .git/hooks or in the Git configuration.
• If a hook fails, Git does not make the commit. Fix the problem, stage the files again, and run the same git commit command again. Do not use --amend, because it changes the previous commit.
• Do not change the commit history unless the user tells you to. Do not use git reset --hard, git rebase, or the experimental git history command.
• Do not push unless the user tells you to. Do not force push to the default branch.