🪦 Digital Graveyard

Git Commit Messages Guideline

2 min read

A good Git commit message helps you and others understand what changed and why. Here’s a practical guide to writing clear, consist

Git Commit Messages Guideline

Write your post here in Markdown.

📌 Notes

  • Change draft: true to false when you’re ready to publish.
  • Use standard Hugo front matter fields. ent, and useful commit messages.

🔧 Standard Git Commit Message Structure

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

<body>

<footer>

✅ 1. Types (What kind of change is this?)

TypeDescription
featA new feature
fixA bug fix
docsDocumentation changes only
styleFormatting, missing semi-colons, etc.
refactorCode change that neither fixes nor adds
testAdding or updating tests
choreChanges to build process or tooling
perfPerformance improvement
ciContinuous integration changes

✅ 2. Scope (Optional but recommended)

  • Scope is a specific part of the codebase: e.g., api, ui, auth, login-form, etc.

Example:

feat(login-form): add validation for empty fields

✅ 3. Subject Line (Short summary)

  • Use imperative mood (e.g., “fix”, not “fixed” or “fixes”)

  • Limit to ~50 characters

  • No period at the end

Example:

fix(auth): prevent login with expired token

✅ 4. Body (Optional but useful)

  • Explain what and why, not just how

  • Wrap lines at 72 characters

  • Use bullet points or paragraphs for clarity

Example:

- Added a check for expired tokens before login
- This prevents users from being logged in with stale sessions

✅ 5. Footer (Optional)

Used for:

  • Breaking changes (BREAKING CHANGE:)

  • Related issues (Closes #123)

Example:

BREAKING CHANGE: login endpoint now requires reCAPTCHA
Closes #456

🔁 Examples

feat(ui): add dark mode toggle
fix(api): handle null user ID in request payload
docs(readme): update installation instructions
style: reformat code with Prettier
chore(deps): bump axios from 0.21 to 0.24

🛠️ Tips

  • Make commits small and focused.

  • Avoid generic messages like “update” or “fix bug”.

  • Use tools like commitlint if you want to enforce rules automatically.

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