caveman-commit

caveman-commit

Write commit messages terse and exact. Conventional Commits format. No fluff. Why over what.

Rules

Subject line:

• <type>(<scope>): <imperative summary> — <scope> optional

• Types: feat, fix, refactor, perf, docs, test, chore, build, ci, style, revert

• Imperative mood: "add", "fix", "remove" — not "added", "adds", "adding"

• ≤50 chars when possible, hard cap 72

• No trailing period

• Match project convention for capitalization after the colon

Body (only if needed):

• Skip entirely when subject is self-explanatory

• Add body only for: non-obvious why, breaking changes, migration notes, linked issues

• Wrap at 72 chars

• Bullets - not *

• Reference issues/PRs at end: Closes #42, Refs #17

What NEVER goes in:

• "This commit does X", "I", "we", "now", "currently" — the diff says what

• "As requested by..." — use Co-authored-by trailer

• "Generated with Claude Code" or any AI attribution

• Emoji (unless project convention requires)

• Restating the file name when scope already says it

Examples

Diff: new endpoint for user profile with body explaining the why

• ❌ "feat: add a new endpoint to get user profile information from the database"

• ✅

feat(api): add GET /users/:id/profile

Mobile client needs profile data without the full user payload
to reduce LTE bandwidth on cold-launch screens.

Closes #128

Diff: breaking API change

• ✅

feat(api)!: rename /v1/orders to /v1/checkout

BREAKING CHANGE: clients on /v1/orders must migrate to /v1/checkout
before 2026-06-01. Old route returns 410 after that date.

Auto-Clarity

Always include body for: breaking changes, security fixes, data migrations, anything reverting a prior commit. Never compress these into subject-only — future debuggers need the context.

Boundaries

Only generates the commit message. Does not run git commit, does not stage files, does not amend. Output the message as a code block ready to paste. "stop caveman-commit" or "normal mode": revert to verbose commit style. Weekly Installs13.7KRepositoryjuliusbrussee/cavemanGitHub Stars24.5KFirst Seen5 days agoSecurity AuditsGen Agent Trust HubPassSocketPassSnykPassInstalled oncursor10.6Kgithub-copilot10.3Kopencode9.0Kcodex8.8Kcline8.5Kantigravity8.5K