holocron/plugins/git/.apm/skills/git-commits/references/conventional-commits-spec.md

source_keys

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conventional-commits-spec commitlint-config-conventional

Conventional Commits Specification (v1.0.0)

Conventional Commits is a lightweight convention on top of commit messages that provides a set of rules for creating an explicit commit history. It enables automated tooling (CHANGELOG generation, semantic version bumping) and structured filtering.

Message Format

<type>[optional scope]: <description>

[optional body]

[optional footer(s)]

Each section is separated by a blank line. The header is the only required part.

Rules

Element	Rule
type	Required. Lowercase noun.
scope	Optional. Noun in parentheses directly after type: feat(api):.
description	Required. Immediately follows type/scope: . Imperative mood, no trailing period.
body	Optional. Begins one blank line after description. Free-form prose, multiple paragraphs allowed. Lines max 100 characters.
footer(s)	Optional. Begins one blank line after body (or description). <token>: <value> format. Lines max 100 characters.
BREAKING CHANGE	Must be uppercase. Either a footer token or signalled by ! before the colon.

Standard Types

The spec itself mandates only feat and fix. The 11-type set below is the de-facto standard from @commitlint/config-conventional (Angular commit message guidelines), not a spec requirement — but it is what this skill validates against.

11-type set (commitlint/config-conventional)

Type	Meaning	SemVer impact	Appears in CHANGELOG
feat	New user-visible feature	MINOR	Yes
fix	Bug fix	PATCH	Yes
perf	Performance improvement, no API change	PATCH	Yes
revert	Reverts a previous commit	PATCH	Yes
docs	Documentation only	none	No
style	Formatting, whitespace — no logic change	none	No
refactor	Code restructuring — no feature or fix	none	No
test	Adding or fixing tests	none	No
build	Build system or external dependency changes	none	No
ci	CI configuration and scripts	none	No
chore	Anything not fitting above	none	No

A BREAKING CHANGE footer or ! on any type always triggers a MAJOR bump.

Breaking Changes

Two equivalent notations:

! in header (preferred — visible in git log --oneline):

feat!: drop support for Node 6
feat(api)!: remove deprecated endpoint

BREAKING CHANGE footer (machine-readable body):

feat: allow config to extend other configs

BREAKING CHANGE: `extends` key now used for extending config files

Both together (most explicit):

feat!: drop support for Node 6

BREAKING CHANGE: use JavaScript features not available in Node 6.

Rules:

• BREAKING CHANGE must be all caps.
• BREAKING-CHANGE (hyphenated) is an accepted synonym.
• Any type can carry a breaking change, not just feat.
• The footer value must describe what broke.

Footer Token Rules

<token>: <value>
<token> #<value>    # for issue references

• Tokens use hyphens for word separation: Reviewed-by, Co-authored-by, Refs.
• Exception: BREAKING CHANGE (space allowed, uppercase).
• Multiple footers allowed, one per line.
• Blank line required before the footer block.

Valid footer examples:

Reviewed-by: Z
Refs: #123
Co-authored-by: Alice <alice@example.com>
BREAKING CHANGE: the `--format` flag now requires a value

Examples

Minimal — no body, no footer:

docs: correct spelling of CHANGELOG

With scope:

feat(lang): add Polish language

Breaking change via !:

feat!: send an email to the customer when a product is shipped

Breaking change via footer:

feat: allow provided config object to extend other configs

BREAKING CHANGE: `extends` key in config file is now used for extending other config files

Multi-paragraph body with multiple footers:

fix: prevent racing of requests

Introduce a request id and a reference to latest request. Dismiss
incoming responses other than from latest request.

Remove timeouts which were used to mitigate the racing issue but are
obsolete now.

Reviewed-by: Z
Refs: #123

Revert:

revert: let us never again speak of the noodle incident

Refs: 676104e, a215868

commitlint Constraints (config-conventional)

Constraint	Value
Header max length	100 characters
Subject must not end with .	enforced
Subject must be lowercase (not sentence-case or UPPER-CASE)	enforced
Body / footer line max length	100 characters
Type must be one of the 11 standard types	error if not
Blank line before body	warning
Blank line before footer	warning

SemVer Mapping Summary

Condition	SemVer bump
fix, perf, revert	PATCH
feat	MINOR
Any type with BREAKING CHANGE or !	MAJOR
All other types (docs, style, refactor, test, build, ci, chore)	none