My approach is simple: use the simplest instruction you would give someone else to do what you did in that commit. If that doesn't work, you can always fall back to the classic: https://xkcd.com/1296/ Answer from shadowdance55 on reddit.com
Medium
medium.com › @iambonitheuri › the-art-of-writing-meaningful-git-commit-messages-a56887a4cb49
The Art of Writing Meaningful Git Commit Messages | by theurikarue | Medium
August 14, 2024 - I challenge you to open up a personal project, or any repository for that matter, and run git log to view a list of old commit messages. (Btw, that’s how I’ve gotten to find my commit message from May 21st, 2024.) You’ll get to realize that six months later, you definitely cannot remember what the few things you tweaked were.
Reddit
reddit.com › r/git › what is a proper git commit message?
r/git on Reddit: What is a proper git commit message?
July 5, 2025 -
I'm certain that this conversation has been had multiple times in this community, but I wanted to bring it up again. I have been working as a freelance web developer for roughly 5 years now, and the entirety of the projects I have worked on have been solo projects where I have been the sole owner of the repo, leading to some very bullshit commit messages like the generic "bug fixes" or whatever copilopt recommends, which in team based settings would not provide any sort of information for anyone else working on the project. Yesterday, I accepted a contract to work on a project, which was a team setting, and now I have to write proper messages when pushing.
I read a couple of articles that mentioned using keywords such as feat: when referring to new features or fix: when referring to a bug fix, followed by a list of all the changes. Honestly, maybe it might be because I am used to the aforementioned "bad" commit messages that these common methods seem very unorthodox and long to me, but I would appreciate it if you guys had any tips and recommendations for future commits.
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My approach is simple: use the simplest instruction you would give someone else to do what you did in that commit. If that doesn't work, you can always fall back to the classic: https://xkcd.com/1296/
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We use modified/simplified version of https://www.conventionalcommits.org/en/v1.0.0/ We write ticket first, define context, and then short description. Then after empty line the author explains what he did and why. Also choosing our convention I checked some popular repositories with many contributors on github (like linux kernel, llvm).
git - How to commit a change with both "message" and "description" from the command line? - Stack Overflow
I can push commits to GitHub via git (on the command line, not the Mac app). When I push commits directly from the GitHub web interface (e.g. quickly fixing a typo), I have the chance to "comm... More on stackoverflow.com
What is right way to write commit message.
There's no one right way. Every company is going to have a preferred format, and you'll develop one of your own. Messages like "create readme" come from one popular format of finishing the phrase "When you apply these changes, this commit will..." My personal style is to prefix with a one to two word summary of what area of the project was touched, then a short description of what changed. For example, "Backend: Trim input before comparing to db value" Including a ticket or issue number is also common practice. GitHub will automatically link everything too if you do that. More on reddit.com
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May 10, 2024What makes a good/bad commit (message)
I had a coworker a couple years ago where every single commit message was nothing but “more”. So the history was simply more more more More more More more more More on reddit.com
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June 27, 2022How do you write the best commit messages?
A proper git message headline is written in the imperative mood, and correctly finishes this prompt: "If applied to the codebase, this commit will ${commit_message}". Examples: "Upgrade Log4J For CVE-2021-44228" "Fix thread allocation" "Add A/B testing for new feature" Commit messages should never just be a headline though. Headline, blank line, then expand on the issue as necessary. Explain choices you made to achieve the thing stated in the headline, & add any helpful documentation that may otherwise be lost (its harder to lose relevant SOs/guidance/etc from a commit message than a comment that may later be cleaned up). Helpful to use a Problem/Solution/Testing template if you're on a team. Example: Upgrade Log4J For CVE-2021-44228 [Problem] Extreme vulnerability found in Log4J which makes RCE possible Link to CVE [Solution] Upgrade to patch version Link to guidance from vendor [Testing] works on my machine More on reddit.com
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December 29, 2022Videos
10:47
Git commit message conventions and best practices | TheServerSide
02:51
Master Git Commit Messages with Conventional Commits - YouTube
03:43
Writing Good Commit Messages Explained: Best Practices for Beginners ...
04:15
Git Commit Best Practices | How to Write a Good Commit Message ...
10:47
How to Write a Git Commit Message: Conventions & Best Practices ...
31:37
How to Commit Code Changes and Write Good Commit Messages | Git ...
Conventional Commits
conventionalcommits.org › en › v1.0.0
Conventional Commits
A specification for adding human and machine readable meaning to commit messages
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There is also another straight and more clear way
git commit -m "Title" -m "Description...";
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Use the git commit command without any flags. The configured editor will open (Vim in this case):
To start typing press the INSERT key on your keyboard, then in insert mode create a better commit with description how do you want. For example:
Once you have written all that you need, to returns to git, first you should exit insert mode, for that press ESC. Now close the Vim editor with save changes by typing on the keyboard :wq (w - write, q - quit):
and press ENTER.
On GitHub this commit will looks like this:
As a commit editor you can use VS Code:
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"
From VS Code docs website: VS Code as Git editor
Gif demonstration: 
Git
git-scm.com › docs › git-commit
Git - git-commit Documentation
Neither "fixup!" nor "amend!" commits change authorship of <commit> when applied by git rebase --autosquash. See git-rebase[1] for details. ... Construct a commit message for use with git rebase --autosquash. The commit message title is taken from the specified commit with a prefix of "squash!
cbeams
cbea.ms › git-commit
How to Write a Git Commit Message
May 27, 2023 - Commit messages can do exactly that and as a result, a commit message shows whether a developer is a good collaborator. If you haven’t given much thought to what makes a great Git commit message, it may be the case that you haven’t spent much time using git log and related tools.
GitHub
github.com › RomuloOliveira › commit-messages-guide › blob › master › README_ru-RU.md
commit-messages-guide/README_ru-RU.md at master · RomuloOliveira/commit-messages-guide
Этот шаблон, который изначально описан Тимом Поупом (Tim Pope), также упоминается в Pro Git Book. Summarize changes in around 50 characters or less More detailed explanatory text, if necessary. Wrap it to about 72 characters or so. In some contexts, the first line is treated as the subject of the commit and the rest of the text as the body.
Author RomuloOliveira
LeanIX Engineering
engineering.leanix.net › blog › essence-of-git-commit-message
The Power of Commit Messages, Why Small Details Matter | LeanIX Engineering
February 13, 2025 - Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD): In automated CI/CD pipelines, good commit messages can trigger specific actions or provide useful information for release notes. GitLab and GitHub allow responding to certain specific keywords in your commit messages.
Tbaggery
tbaggery.com › 2008 › 04 › 19 › a-note-about-git-commit-messages.html
tbaggery - A Note About Git Commit Messages
April 19, 2008 - This first line should be a concise summary of the changes introduced by the commit; if there are any technical details that cannot be expressed in these strict size constraints, put them in the body instead. The subject line is used all over Git, oftentimes in truncated form if too long of a message was used.
Simple Thread
simplethread.com › home › blog › writing a good git commit message
Writing a Good Git Commit Message | How to write a commit message your future self will appreciate. - Simple Thread
July 9, 2021 - I want the message to tell me what this commit does, not what you did to accomplish it. I can see what you did by looking at the code diffs. Keeping the message in the present tense encourages a focus on intent. I also think it makes for a more pleasant git log in general, though that’s clearly subjective.
freeCodeCamp
freecodecamp.org › news › how-to-write-better-git-commit-messages
How to Write Better Git Commit Messages – A Step-By-Step Guide
January 4, 2022 - This plugin will list the person who made the change, the date of the changes, as well as the commit message commented inline. Imagine how useful this could be in troubleshooting a bug or back-tracing changes made. Other honorable mentions to see Git historical information are Git History and GitLens.
GitHub
github.com › michaeljones › on-commit-messages
GitHub - michaeljones/on-commit-messages · GitHub
You can add a commit message to a commit using the -m flag. As follows: git commit -m "Support parsing operators in 'exposing' lists"
Author michaeljones
GitKraken
gitkraken.com › home › learn › best practices › writing a good git commit message
How to Write a Good Git Commit Message | Git Best Practices
November 14, 2022 - When this happens, many developers turn to the commit history to learn about the project and identify recent updates. In that light, writing meaningful and easy to understand commit messages becomes even more important. There are two main components of a Git commit message: the title or summary, and the description.
Atlassian
atlassian.com › git › tutorials › saving-changes › git-commit
Git Commit | Atlassian Git Tutorial
Git doesn't require commit messages to follow any specific formatting constraints, but the canonical format is to summarize the entire commit on the first line in less than 50 characters, leave a blank line, then a detailed explanation of what’s been changed.
Karma-runner
karma-runner.github.io › 6.4 › dev › git-commit-msg.html
Karma - Git Commit Msg
Such commit will trigger a release bumping a PATCH version. ... The <scope> can be empty (e.g. if the change is a global or difficult to assign to a single component), in which case the parentheses are omitted. In smaller projects such as Karma plugins, the <scope> is empty. Just as in the <subject>, use the imperative, present tense: "change" not "changed" nor "changes". Message body should include motivation for the change and contrasts with previous behavior.
Block 81
block81.com › home › blog › git commit messages
Git Commit Messages | Block 81
November 13, 2025 - @angieherrera Hey Angie, a friend of mine turned me on to Conventional Commits a few years ago and it's a way to prefix commit messages to help you search and filter them later. Also, if you're pushing a lot of granular commits it's helpful as a way to essentially document all of the changes you’re making when you look back through your commit history.
Price $
Address Portland, US
OpenStack
wiki.openstack.org › wiki › GitCommitMessages
GitCommitMessages - OpenStack
The commit message should have a clear statement as to what the original problem is. The bug is merely interesting historical background on /how/ the problem was identified. It should be possible to review a proposed patch for correctness without needing to read the bug ticket. Do not assume the reviewer has access to external web services/site. In 6 months time when someone is on a train/plane/coach/beach/pub troubleshooting a problem & browsing Git history, there is no guarantee they will have access to the online bug tracker, or online blueprint documents.
The Odin Project
theodinproject.com › lessons › foundations-commit-messages
Commit Messages | The Odin Project
Up until now, you’ve been told to commit with git commit -m <message>. To make a commit with subject and body in message, the simplest way is to type git commit without the -m flag and message argument.
GitHub
gist.github.com › lisawolderiksen › a7b99d94c92c6671181611be1641c733
Use a Git commit message template to write better commit messages · GitHub
Lines starting # with '#' will be ignored, and an empty message aborts the commit. # # On branch master # Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'. # # Changes to be committed: # new file: installation.md # What I see consists of two parts; first my own template, then Git's standard message asking me to "Please enter the commit message".
Reddit
reddit.com › r/github › what is right way to write commit message.
r/github on Reddit: What is right way to write commit message.
May 10, 2024 -
I saw many people adding commit message like "create readme.md" but according to english grammar it should be "added readme.md" cuz they done in past. any idea how this works?
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Follow conventional commits, even enforce the standard in branch protection rules https://www.conventionalcommits.org/en/v1.0.0/#summary
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There's no one right way. Every company is going to have a preferred format, and you'll develop one of your own. Messages like "create readme" come from one popular format of finishing the phrase "When you apply these changes, this commit will..." My personal style is to prefix with a one to two word summary of what area of the project was touched, then a short description of what changed. For example, "Backend: Trim input before comparing to db value" Including a ticket or issue number is also common practice. GitHub will automatically link everything too if you do that.