Mastering Git: How to Write Effective Conventional Commit Messages

Commit Message Formats

<type>(<optional scope>): <description>
empty separator line
<optional body>
empty separator line
<optional footer>

Inital Commit

chore: init

Types

• API relevant changes

  • feat Commits, that adds or remove a new feature

  • fix Commits, that fixes a bug

• refactor Commits, that rewrite/restructure your code, however does not change any API behaviour

  • perf Commits are special refactor commits, that improve performance

• style Commits, that do not affect the meaning (white-space, formatting, missing semi-colons, etc)

• test Commits, that add missing tests or correcting existing tests

• docs Commits, that affect documentation only

• build Commits, that affect build components like build tool, ci pipeline, dependencies, project version, ...

• ops Commits, that affect operational components like infrastructure, deployment, backup, recovery, ...

• chore Miscellaneous commits e.g. modifying .gitignore

Scopes

The scope provides additional contextual information.

• Is an optional part of the format

• Allowed Scopes depends on the specific project

• Don't use issue identifiers as scopes

Breaking Changes Indicator

Breaking changes should be indicated by an ! before the : in the subject line e.g. feat(api)!: remove status endpoint

• Is an optional part of the format

Description

The description contains a concise description of the change.

• Is a mandatory part of the format

• Use the imperative, present tense: "change" not "changed" nor "changes"

  • Think of This commit will... or This commit should...

• Don't capitalize the first letter

• No dot (.) at the end

Body

The body should include the motivation for the change and contrast this with previous behavior.

• Is an optional part of the format

• Use the imperative, present tense: "change" not "changed" nor "changes"

• This is the place to mention issue identifiers and their relations

Footer

The footer should contain any information about Breaking Changes and is also the place to reference Issues that this commit refers to.

• Is an optional part of the format

• optionally reference an issue by its id.

• Breaking Changes should start with the word BREAKING CHANGES: followed by space or two newlines. The rest of the commit message is then used for this.

Examples

feat: an amazing button

fix: prevent racing of requests

feat(api): send an email to the customer when a product is shipped

feat!: allow provided config object to extend other configs

BREAKING CHANGE: `extends` key in config file is now used for extending other config files

docs: correct spelling of CHANGELOG

test: test case for amazing button.

chore!: drop support for Node 6

BREAKING CHANGE: use JavaScript features not available in Node 6.

perf: decrease memory footprint for determine uniqe visitors by using HyperLogLog

build: update dependencies

style: remove empty line