Commit Message Templates

We set something up on a recent project that I really liked.

In the midst of writing a bunch of tests, I realized I was starting every commit message with Test, followed by a description of the feature. Test login, Test that bots are redirected, etc. Typing the same word over and over is redundant, and it adds up quickly.

We paused and set up a commit template for the project.

Here's the file we made (~/.git_commit_template):

Test 

And the command in the project directory:

$ git config commit.template ~/.git_commit_template

Our next commit message started with Test, so we just used CTRL-A to jump to the end of the sentence and start filling it in.

This does more than just save keystrokes. It reminds us that we have a format we want to stick to, and helps keep our commit message more uniform.

This could also be set globally, if you have a format you prefer to use on every project.

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