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. Answer from mrbmi513 on reddit.com
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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 - On a personal note looking back at my old commits, I found a message from May 21st, 2024. Press enter or click to view image in full size · https://github.com/theurikarue/ It simply said ‘Tweaked a few things’ — not exactly helpful! I mean, who says that in this time and age?
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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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GitHub
gist.github.com › joshbuchea › 6f47e86d2510bce28f8e7f42ae84c716
Semantic Commit Messages · GitHub
COMMIT_MSG_FILE=$1 # Ignore automatic commit messages containing ' into ' or 'Merge'. if grep --quiet --extended-regexp " into |^Merge " "$COMMIT_MSG_FILE"; then exit 0 fi # Read the commit message from the file.
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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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GitHub
gist.github.com › robertpainsi › b632364184e70900af4ab688decf6f53
Commit message guidelines · GitHub
Save robertpainsi/b632364184e70900af4ab688decf6f53 to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop. ... Short (72 chars or less) summary More detailed explanatory text. Wrap it to 72 characters. The blank line separating the summary from the body is critical (unless you omit the body entirely). Write your commit message in the imperative: "Fix bug" and not "Fixed bug" or "Fixes bug."
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GitHub
gist.github.com › qoomon › 5dfcdf8eec66a051ecd85625518cfd13
Conventional Commits Cheatsheet · GitHub
Remember that commit messages are supposed to be written in the imperative, present tense (which is the git standard). So this should be: "rename all .yml file extensions to .yaml".
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cbeams
cbea.ms › git-commit
How to Write a Git Commit Message
May 27, 2023 - For example, the default message created when using git merge reads: ... Revert "Add the thing with the stuff" This reverts commit cc87791524aedd593cff5a74532befe7ab69ce9d. Or when clicking the “Merge” button on a GitHub pull request:
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GitHub
github.com › michaeljones › on-commit-messages
GitHub - michaeljones/on-commit-messages · GitHub
Review the diff whilst writing the message. You can make sure that you understand and are happy with the changes you see and that your commit message covers anything that might not be clear. This might include references to sources of information, eg.
Author   michaeljones
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GitHub
gist.github.com › lisawolderiksen › a7b99d94c92c6671181611be1641c733
Use a Git commit message template to write better commit messages · GitHub
No need to remember everything - or really much at all, except to not use git commit -m "Commit message", as this means I won't see the template I made. NOTE: This kind of "template", strictly speaking consisting only of "commented out" stuff, ...
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Hacker News
news.ycombinator.com › item
My team uses a git commit message convention that helps us read fast and also is... | Hacker News
March 22, 2017 - We agree on a short list of leading active verbs: · Add = Create a capability e.g. feature, test, dependency
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GitHub
gist.github.com › julienbourdeau › e605e4b8b47da97c249a0f72598529c8
The seven rules of a great git commit message · GitHub
The seven rules of a great git commit message. GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.
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DEV Community
dev.to › mrshawnhum › git-commit-message-simply-explained-162g
Simply Explained: Git Commit Message - DEV Community
August 1, 2020 - If you are new to GitHub, click here to understand the basics. A commit in GitHub is described as a saved change. A commit message explains what change did you perform to your project.
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DataCamp
datacamp.com › tutorial › git-commit-message
Git Commit Message: The Rules, Examples, and Conventions | DataCamp
January 27, 2026 - The Fixes #247 at the bottom tells GitHub to auto-close the issue when this commits merges. All examples follow the same pattern: start with what changed, explain why, add context that helps future readers, and reference related issues when relevant. Conventional commits is a popular format that adds structure to commit messages through a simple prefix pattern.
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Git
git-scm.com › docs › git-cherry-pick
Git - git-cherry-pick Documentation
With this option, git cherry-pick will let you edit the commit message prior to committing.
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GitHub
gist.github.com › HyoJeong1019 › 19b8b17fe75b6084d20ffaa45a7ad6d3
RFC: Git Commit Message Guidelines · GitHub
The first line of a commit message should not be longer than 72 characters, and all the other lines should have a maximum of 100 characters! This allows the message to be easier to read on Github as well as in various git tools.
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Medium
blog.fossnsbm.org › how-to-write-a-good-git-commit-message-12caf1c31ff0
How to Write a Good Git Commit Message. | FOSS Community of NSBM
September 11, 2023 - This is the way how to write a proper Git commit message for everyone. Git conventional commit messages are mostly used in software engineering industry. In that case this story will help you to write a good git commit
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Gitmoji
gitmoji.dev
gitmoji | An emoji guide for your commit messages
Gitmoji is an emoji guide for your commit messages. Aims to be a standarization cheatsheet for using emojis on GitHub's commit messages.
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Medium
medium.com › @utkarshshukla.author › crafting-effective-github-commit-messages-best-practices-and-examples-6e2829fa8270
Crafting Effective GitHub Commit Messages: Best Practices and Examples | by Utkarsh Shukla | Medium
May 16, 2024 - 5. Reference Issues or Tickets: If the commit resolves an open issue or ticket, reference it in the commit message. Fix issue with user registration form validation Fixes #456 · 6. Use Present Tense for Subject Line: Write the subject line in the present tense. Update npm packages to fix security vulnerabilities · 7. Keep Line Lengths Reasonable: Maintain a reasonable line length for the subject line. Optimize database queries for faster loading times ... Conclusion: Crafting effective GitHub commit messages is crucial for maintaining a well-documented and understandable project history.