Commit work
Goal
Make commits that are easy to review and safe to ship:
- only intended changes are included
- commits are logically scoped (split when needed)
- commit messages describe what changed and why
Inputs to ask for (if missing)
- Single commit or multiple commits? (If unsure: default to multiple small commits when there are unrelated changes.)
- Commit style: Conventional Commits are required.
- Any rules: max subject length, required scopes.
Workflow (checklist)
1) Inspect the working tree before staging
git statusgit diff(unstaged)- If many changes:
git diff --stat
2) Decide commit boundaries (split if needed)
- Split by: feature vs refactor, backend vs frontend, formatting vs logic, tests vs prod code, dependency bumps vs behavior changes.
- If changes are mixed in one file, plan to use patch staging.
3) Stage only what belongs in the next commit
- Prefer patch staging for mixed changes:
git add -p - To unstage a hunk/file:
git restore --staged -porgit restore --staged <path>
4) Review what will actually be committed
git diff --cached- Sanity checks:
- no secrets or tokens
- no accidental debug logging
- no unrelated formatting churn
5) Describe the staged change in 1-2 sentences (before writing the message)
- "What changed?" + "Why?"
- If you cannot describe it cleanly, the commit is probably too big or mixed; go back to step 2.
6) Write the commit message
- Use Conventional Commits (required):
type(scope): short summary- blank line
- body (what/why, not implementation diary)
- footer (BREAKING CHANGE) if needed
- Prefer an editor for multi-line messages:
git commit -v - Use
references/commit-message-template.mdif helpful.
7) Run the smallest relevant verification
- Run the repo's fastest meaningful check (unit tests, lint, or build) before moving on.
8) Repeat for the next commit until the working tree is clean
Deliverable
Provide:
- the final commit message(s)
- a short summary per commit (what/why)
- the commands used to stage/review (at minimum:
git diff --cached, plus any tests run)
