Patterns for Writing Better Git Commit Messages

It's an opinionated guide I keep with me to consult every time I catch myself in doubt if I'm writing nice commit messages with context of what I'm delivering.

A good commit should complete the following sentence

A properly formed Git commit subject line should always be able to complete the following sentence: If applied, this commit <will your subject line here>

Commit Sample

See an example of commit below:

[type](optional scope): [subject]

[optional body]

[optional footer]

Types

Must be one of the following:

build - Build related changes
ci - CI related changes
chore - Build process or auxiliary tool changes
docs - Documentation only changes
feat - A new feature
fix - A bug fix
perf - A code change that improves performance
refactor - A code change that neither fixes a bug or adds a feature
revert - Reverting things
style - Markup, white-space, formatting, missing semi-colons...
test - Adding missing tests

Scope

A scope may be provided to a commit’s type, to provide additional contextual information and is contained within parenthesis, e.g., feat(parser): add the ability to parse arrays.

Subject

The subject contains a succinct description of the change:

Use the imperative, present tense: "change" not "changed" nor "changes"
No dot (.) at the end.

Body

Just as in the subject, use the imperative, present tense: "change" not "changed" nor "changes". The body should include the motivation for the change and contrast this with previous behavior.

The 7 rules of a great commit message:

Separate subject from the body with a blank line
Limit the subject line to 50 characters
Summary in the present tense. Not capitalized.
Do not end the subject line with a period
Use the imperative mood in the subject line
Wrap the body at 72 characters
Use the body to explain what and why vs. how

Commit Template

Go to my git commit template