Commit Message

Commit Message Generation

Read the staged diff, decide every field yourself using the rubrics below, and surface one assembled message for a single yes/no confirmation. Don't prompt field-by-field (a GUI extension can afford that; a chat turn can't), and don't short-circuit to a bare git commit -m "fix stuff" — if this skill loaded, run the full flow and never bypass hooks.

Repo defaults

Format:           ():  
Emoji style:      Unicode glyph (e.g. 🐛 not :bug:)
Scope default:    none (include only if the diff points clearly at one)
Co-Authored-By:   off (this repo's history doesn't use the trailer)
Body default:     skip unless the diff is non-trivial (>~10 lines, multi-file, or non-obvious why)
Footer default:   skip; reserve for `BREAKING CHANGE:` or `Closes #N`
Subject limits:   warn at >50 chars; hard cap at 72
Hooks:            gitleaks runs pre-commit; do not bypass on failure

These are bootstrap defaults from this repo's history. In a different repo, re-detect during preflight (Phase 1 step 5) and adjust silently — observed in-repo history wins.

When to ask the user

Only stop and ask in these cases — otherwise decide and continue:

1. Nothing staged. Offer to stage by filename (never git add -A/-u/.).
2. On master, main, or detached HEAD. Offer to create a new branch, move the staged changes there, then resume on that branch. Refuse to commit directly to master/main.
3. Suspicious staged content (.env*, *.key, *.pem, files ≥1 MB, secrets in diff). Show the offending file/line, ask whether to unstage or proceed.
4. Genuinely ambiguous type or emoji choice — i.e., two options are equally defensible from the rubric and the choice changes how a reader will interpret the commit (e.g., feat vs fix when the change adds a new code path that also corrects bad behavior). State the options and the tradeoff in one line, then wait. If the rubric picks a clear winner, do not ask.
5. Final assembled message. Always show the complete commit message in a fenced block and wait for explicit confirmation before running git commit.

If the user's invoking message unambiguously specifies the subject ("commit this as a fix to the OAuth timeout"), step 5 may be skipped — otherwise still confirm.

Phase 1 — Preflight (silent unless something fails)

Run these checks in parallel where possible. Surface results to the user only if one fails or trips an "ask" condition above.

1. Staged changes. git diff --cached --stat. If empty, follow ask-condition #1.
2. Branch. git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD. If master, main, or HEAD (detached), follow ask-condition #2. Any other branch name is fine — feature/, fix/, chore/, bare names, prefixed names, all acceptable.
3. Stage summary. git diff --cached --name-status + --stat. Flag suspicious paths per ask-condition #3.
4. Sensitive-content sniff. Scan the whole staged diff for likely-live credentials, not just the top:

``bash git diff --cached | grep -E -i \ '(password|secret|api[_-]?key|BEGIN [A-Z ]*PRIVATE KEY|AKIA[0-9A-Z]{16}|aws_secret_access_key)[[:space:]]*[=:]' \ | head -20 ``

Any hit → follow ask-condition #3. The [=:] anchor avoids false positives on the bare word "password" appearing in prose or comments.

1. Repo-convention sniff. git log --pretty=%s -20 and git log -20 --format=%B:

• Count Unicode glyphs vs :code: in subjects → output emoji style.
• Count (scope) parens → scope-default on/off.
• Look for Co-Authored-By: → trailer default.

If detected defaults differ from the "Repo defaults" block above, prefer the detected ones; note the mismatch in the final-confirmation summary but don't block on it.

Moving off master/main

If the branch check trips, propose a branch name derived from the staged diff (e.g., from the most-changed top-level dir, or the subject about to be drafted). Confirm the name, then:

git stash --keep-index   # preserve staged set, set aside any unstaged work
git switch -c 
git stash pop || true    # restore unstaged work onto the new branch

Then resume preflight on the new branch. Don't commit on the original branch under any circumstances.

Phase 2 — Decide every field

Work through these in order using the rubrics below and produce a single assembled commit message. No per-field prompts.

Type rubric

Paths below are illustrative — match on the signal (only tests touched, mostly renames, new behavior), not the exact paths, so this generalizes across repos.

| signal in diff | type | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------| | Only test files touched (e.g., tests/**, **/*_test.go, **/*.spec.ts) | test | | Only **/*.md, doc/**, and the file is genuinely docs (not operational instructions) | docs | | Only CI config (.github/workflows/**, .gitlab-ci.yml, .circleci/**) | ci | | Only build configs, dependency manifests (pyproject.toml, package.json, Dockerfile), or setup scripts | build | | Mostly R status (renames/moves) in git diff --cached --name-status | refactor (emoji 🚚) | | New file with new behavior; new template/role/module; new agent/skill definition | feat | | Modifies existing behavior to fix wrong output, error, regression | fix | | Reorganization without behavior change | refactor | | Speed / resource-use improvement with no behavior change | perf | | git revert-style change (HEAD~1 is a "Revert ..." or message starts with revert:) | revert | | Whitespace / formatting only | style | | Catch-all | chore |

Operational .md files (skills, agent instructions, runbook-style READMEs) lean feat/chore, not docs. The docs type is reserved for genuine documentation of something else (READMEs about code, architecture notes, charter docs).

Scope rubric

Default: omit. Include a scope only if all the staged paths cluster under one directory that maps to an obvious name. Spans multiple top-level dirs → no scope. If repo history overwhelmingly skips scope (detected in Phase 1 step 5), only include if the diff really demands it.

Emoji rubric

Pick the contextual emoji if one fits, else the type default:

• feat ✨ — alternates: 🎉 (initial commit), 🚸 (UX), 🏗️ (architecture), 🧑‍💻 (DX tooling / .claude/ changes)
• fix 🐛 — alternates: 🚑️ (critical hotfix), 🩹 (non-critical/one-liner), 🔒️ (security: auth, secrets, CVE)
• docs 📝 — alternates: 💡 (in-code comments), 📄 (license)
• style 🎨 — alternates: ✏️ (typo)
• refactor ♻️ — alternates: 🚚 (mostly R renames/moves), 🔥 (deleted code dominates), ⚰️ (dead code removal)
• perf ⚡️
• test ✅ — alternates: 🧪 (failing test added), 📸 (snapshots)
• build 👷 — alternates: 📦️ (compiled output), ⬆️/⬇️/➕/➖/📌 (only lockfile/manifest changes)
• ci 💚 — alternates: 👷 (build system)
• chore 🔧 — alternates: 🔨 (dev scripts), 🙈 (.gitignore), 🏷️ (types)
• revert ⏪️

For the full glyph list and :code: mapping (used if the repo-convention sniff in Phase 1 detects :code: style, or if the user requests a different emoji by name), see references/gitmoji.md.

Emoji glyph integrity: several glyphs include a U+FE0F variation selector that forces emoji-style rendering (🚑️, 🔒️, ♻️, ⚡️, ✏️, ⏪️, 🏷️, 📦️, 🗑️, 🔍️). Copy the glyph as-is — do not strip the variation selector or these will render as monochrome text on some clients.

Subject rules

• Imperative mood ("Add X", not "Added X").
• No trailing period.
• Capitalize the first word.
• Do not repeat the type ("Add X", not "feat: Add X").
• Target ≤50 chars. Warn (in the final summary) at 50, hard-refuse at 72.
• The diff is the source of truth — describe the change, not the motivation.

Body rules

Include a body only if:

• Diff is ≥10 lines changed, or
• Spans multiple files, or
• The why is non-obvious from the diff (constraint, prior incident, ticket context).

When included: 1–3 sentences, wrapped at 72 cols, focused on why, not what.

Footer rules

Include only when:

• Diff includes a breaking change (public API change, schema/migration, removed config key) → BREAKING CHANGE: .
• User mentioned a ticket number in conversation → Closes #N or Refs #N.

Phase 3 — Confirm and commit

1. Assemble:

```text {type}({scope}): {emoji} {subject}

{body}

{footer} ```

Drop (scope) if no scope. Single space between emoji and subject. Blank line before body and before footer; omit either block entirely if empty. No Co-Authored-By: trailer unless repo-convention sniff demanded it.

1. Show the full message in a fenced code block. Note any caveats inline: "subject is 58 chars (over 50 warn line)", "convention sniff disagrees with repo defaults — using detected style". Ask once: confirm or revise?

1. On confirm, commit via heredoc:

```bash git commit -m "$(cat ():

EOF )" ```

Single git commit call. Do not stage anything new at this step.

1. Verify with git log -1 --format=%B so the user sees what actually landed (including any hook-injected trailers).

1. If the user revises something on the confirmation step, apply the change and re-show the full message. Don't restart the flow.

Failure modes

Nothing staged, on master/main, and suspicious staged content are decision gates — handle them per When to ask the user. The rest:

• Hook failure (gitleaks etc.). The commit did not land. Surface the hook output verbatim. Don't retry with --no-verify and don't --amend (nothing to amend) — the user fixes the root cause, re-stages, and re-invokes for a fresh commit.
• User abandons mid-flow ("never mind", "cancel"). Stop without committing; leave staging untouched.
• User asks for --amend. This skill only creates new commits. Direct them to git commit --amend manually, or git reset --soft HEAD~1 + re-invoke.
• Subject exceeds 72 chars. Hard refuse. Trim or move detail to the body before confirming.
• Multi-line subject pasted. Treat the first line as the subject; move everything after it into the body.

Out of scope

No commitlint integration (no config in this repo — the rubrics here are the contract; revisit if .commitlintrc* lands). No persistent scope cache — re-derive from the diff each time. No [skip ci], no interactive git add -p (stage first), no amend/rebase, and no bypass flags (--no-verify, --no-gpg-sign, -n).

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: netopsengineer
• Source: netopsengineer/axiom
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.