Do not commit unless the user asked for a commit or previously authorized autonomous commits. Do not push, amend, or rewrite history without authorization.
Inspect the staged diff and recent commit history. Stage only intended files; never use a broad staging command when unrelated changes may be present.
Select the type and optional scope from the actual change and repository conventions. Prefer one logical change per commit.
Draft a concise, imperative description after the colon. Keep the subject lowercase unless a proper noun or repository convention requires otherwise; omit the trailing period.
Describe why the change was made in the body when the subject is not enough. Add issue references and breaking-change footers where relevant.
Show the proposed message and run the repository's required pre-commit checks before creating the commit. Do not assume a particular language's checklist or skip a project-specific gate.

Common types

Type	Use
`feat`	Add user-facing or public capability
`fix`	Correct a defect
`refactor`	Restructure without changing intended behavior
`perf`	Improve performance
`test`	Add or change tests only
`docs`	Documentation-only change
`build`	Build system or dependency changes
`ci`	CI configuration or automation
`chore`	Other maintenance
`revert`	Revert an earlier change

Use other valid types when a repository explicitly standardizes them. A scope is optional and should name the affected subsystem, not repeat the whole summary.

Breaking changes and SemVer signal

Mark an incompatible change with ! after the type/scope and include a BREAKING CHANGE: footer describing the impact and migration path. Example:

feat(api)!: remove the legacy response field

BREAKING CHANGE: clients must read `displayName` instead of `name`.

When the repository maps Conventional Commits to releases, feat normally signals a minor release, fix a patch release, and a breaking change a major release. Verify that mapping against the project's release configuration; do not infer or change a project version merely because a commit was made.

Examples

feat(cache): add bounded response caching
fix(parser): reject malformed empty headers
docs: explain local test setup

conventional-commits

Conventional Commits

Workflow