# Git Commit Message Style Guide
To create a useful revision history, teams should first agree on a commit message convention to use. This also applies to personal projects.
# Message Structure
A commit messages consists of three distinct parts separated by a blank line: the title, an optional body and an optional footer. The layout looks like this:
type: Subject
body
footer
The type is contained within the title and can be one of these types:
- feat: A new feature
- fix: A bug fix
- docs: Changes to documentation
- style: Formatting, missing semi colons, etc; no code change
- refactor: Refactoring production code
- test: Adding tests, refactoring test; no production code change
- chore: Updating build tasks, package manager configs, etc; no production code change
# Subject
Subjects should be no greater than 50 characters, should begin with a capital letter and do not end with a period.
Use an imperative tone to describe what a commit does, rather than what it did. For example, use change; not changed or changes.
# Body
Not all commits are complex enough to warrant a body, therefore it is optional and only used when a commit requires a bit of explanation and context. Use the body to explain the what and why of a commit, not the how.
When writing a body, the blank line between the title and the body is required and you should limit the length of each line to no more than 72 characters.
# Footer
The footer is optional and is used to reference issue tracker IDs.
# Examples
- Commit message with description and breaking change footer
docs: Edit README.md to include New Features Use-Cases
feat: Allow provided config object to extend other configs
BREAKING CHANGE: `extends` key in config file is now used for extending other config files
- Commit message with ! to draw attention to breaking change
refactor!: Drop support for Node 6
- Commit message with both ! and BREAKING CHANGE footer
refactor!: Drop support for Node 6
BREAKING CHANGE: Refactor to use JavaScript features not available in Node 6.
- Commit message with no body
docs: Correct spelling of CHANGELOG
- Commit message with scope
feat(lang): Add polish language
- Commit message with multi-paragraph body and multiple footers
fix: Correct minor typos in code
see the issue for details
on typos fixed.
Reviewed-by: Z
Refs #133
# References
Udacity Git Commit Message Style Guide (opens new window)
How to Write Good Commit Messages: A Practical Git Guide (opens new window)