Configure Attribution Settings

Purpose

Manage Claude Code's attribution settings for git commits and pull requests. Configure the Co-Authored-By git trailer and PR description attribution in .claude/settings.local.json. Handle customization of Claude's name, model information, and complete removal of attribution while preserving other settings.

When to Use

Activate when users want to:

•Change Claude's name in commit attribution
•Add or remove model information from attribution
•Customize PR description attribution
•Remove attribution entirely
•Reset attribution to defaults

Configuration Workflow

Follow this safe, confirmable workflow for all attribution changes:

1. Understand User Intent

Parse the user's request to determine:

•Name changes: "Change Claude's name to X" → Update name in attribution
•Remove attribution: "Remove co-authored by", "stop adding attribution" → Clear attribution
•PR attribution: "Change PR attribution to X" → Update PR description
•Model information: Mentions of model version → Ask if they want to include/exclude it
•Partial updates: Only commit or only PR mentioned → Preserve the other

2. Read Existing Configuration

Always check current settings before making changes:

bash

# Check if .claude directory exists
if [ ! -d ".claude" ]; then
    mkdir -p .claude
fi

# Read existing settings if present
if [ -f ".claude/settings.local.json" ]; then
    cat .claude/settings.local.json
fi

Extract current attribution values if they exist:

bash

# Get current commit attribution
CURRENT_COMMIT=$(jq -r '.attribution.commit // empty' .claude/settings.local.json 2>/dev/null)

# Get current PR attribution
CURRENT_PR=$(jq -r '.attribution.pr // empty' .claude/settings.local.json 2>/dev/null)

3. Create Backup

Before any modifications, create backup with .backup extension:

bash

if [ -f ".claude/settings.local.json" ]; then
    cp .claude/settings.local.json .claude/settings.local.json.backup
fi

4. Validate Existing File

If settings file exists, verify it contains valid JSON:

bash

if [ -f ".claude/settings.local.json" ]; then
    if ! jq empty .claude/settings.local.json 2>/dev/null; then
        echo "ERROR: .claude/settings.local.json contains invalid JSON"
        exit 1
    fi
fi

On validation failure: Abort and ask user to fix the malformed JSON before proceeding.

5. Handle Name Changes

When user requests name changes, determine model handling:

User says: "Change Claude's name to Big Dawg"

Ask user:

code

I'll update Claude's name to "Big Dawg" in the commit attribution.

Do you want to:
1. Keep the model name (e.g., "Big Dawg Sonnet 4.5")
2. Remove the model name (e.g., "Big Dawg")

What would you prefer?

Parse existing format to understand current structure:

code

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
                [NAME] [MODEL]      [EMAIL]

Preserve email address unless user explicitly requests changing it.

6. Handle Removal Requests

When user requests removing attribution, confirm scope:

User says: "Remove the co-authored by"

If user specified only commit attribution:

code

I'll remove the commit attribution. Do you also want me to remove the PR attribution?

Current PR attribution: "🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)"

Wait for user response before proceeding.

If user says remove both or confirms:

•Set commit to ""
•Set pr to ""

If user says keep PR attribution:

•Set commit to ""
•Preserve existing pr value

7. Build New Configuration

Create the new attribution configuration based on user request:

Preserve other settings: Only modify the attribution object, preserve everything else.

Example merge logic:

bash

# Read existing settings or create empty object
EXISTING=$(cat .claude/settings.local.json 2>/dev/null || echo '{}')

# Merge with new attribution (example: change name)
echo "$EXISTING" | jq '. + {
  "attribution": {
    "commit": "Co-Authored-By: Big Dawg Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>",
    "pr": (.attribution.pr // "🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)")
  }
}' > .claude/settings.local.json

Critical: When updating one field (commit or pr), explicitly preserve the other using (.attribution.commit // "default") or (.attribution.pr // "default").

8. Write New Configuration

Write the updated .claude/settings.local.json:

bash

# If settings doesn't exist, create it
if [ ! -f ".claude/settings.local.json" ]; then
    echo '{}' > .claude/settings.local.json
fi

# Use jq to merge attribution settings
jq '. + {
  "attribution": {
    "commit": "...",
    "pr": "..."
  }
}' .claude/settings.local.json > .claude/settings.local.json.tmp
mv .claude/settings.local.json.tmp .claude/settings.local.json

9. Confirm with User

After writing new configuration, show what changed:

code

I've updated your attribution settings:

Commit attribution:
OLD: Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
NEW: Co-Authored-By: Big Dawg <noreply@anthropic.com>

PR attribution: (unchanged)
🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Do the changes work as expected?

10. Cleanup Based on Response

If user confirms changes work:

bash

rm -f .claude/settings.local.json.backup

If user says changes don't work or wants to revert:

bash

if [ -f ".claude/settings.local.json.backup" ]; then
    mv .claude/settings.local.json.backup .claude/settings.local.json
fi
rm -f .claude/settings.local.json.backup

Always ensure backup file is removed regardless of outcome.

Attribution Format Reference

Commit Attribution

Git commit attribution uses git trailers format:

Standard format:

code

Co-Authored-By: Name <email@example.com>

With model:

code

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

Custom name:

code

Co-Authored-By: Big Dawg <noreply@anthropic.com>

With custom message:

code

Generated with AI

Co-Authored-By: AI Assistant <ai@example.com>

Empty (no attribution):

code

""

Notes:

•Can include multiple lines
•First lines can be custom text
•Trailer lines follow git-interpret-trailers format
•Empty string hides commit attribution entirely

PR Attribution

Pull request attribution is plain text in PR descriptions:

Standard format:

code

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Custom message:

code

🤖 Generated with ✨ Style ✨ and [Big Dawg](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Simple text:

code

Created with Claude Code

Empty (no attribution):

code

""

Notes:

•Supports markdown formatting
•Can include emojis, links, etc.
•Empty string hides PR attribution entirely

Parsing User Requests

Common Request Patterns

Name changes:

•"Change Claude's name to Big Dawg" → Update name, ask about model
•"Remove the model from Co-Authored-By" → Keep name, remove model portion
•"Change Claude's name to match the commit attribution" → Extract name from commit, use in PR

Attribution removal:

•"Remove co-authored by" → Confirm if both commit and PR should be removed
•"Stop adding the co-authored by" → Same as above
•"Remove commit attribution" → Clear commit, confirm about PR
•"Remove PR attribution" → Clear PR, preserve commit

Customization:

•"Change the PR attribution to say it's generated with style" → Update PR text
•"Update Claude's name to Big Dawg in the Co-Authored-By" → Name change with model question
•"Show that Claude is helping write these commits" → Ensure attribution is visible

Partial updates:

•If user only mentions commit → Preserve PR attribution
•If user only mentions PR → Preserve commit attribution
•Always confirm scope when removing attribution

Validation Logic

Before writing configuration, validate:

•Email format: If custom email provided, verify it's valid format
•Trailer format: Commit attribution with trailers must follow git format
•JSON validity: Ensure resulting JSON is valid
•Preservation check: Verify other settings aren't accidentally removed

On validation failure: Inform user of issue and suggest corrections.

Preserving Existing Settings

Critical principle: Only modify attribution object, preserve everything else.

Settings.local.json Preservation

When updating .claude/settings.local.json:

•Only modify the attribution object
•Preserve all other keys (statusLine, model, hooks, etc.)
•When updating only commit, preserve existing pr
•When updating only pr, preserve existing commit
•Use jq to merge rather than overwrite

Example merging logic (update commit only):

bash

jq --arg newCommit "Co-Authored-By: Big Dawg <noreply@anthropic.com>" \
   '. + {
     "attribution": {
       "commit": $newCommit,
       "pr": (.attribution.pr // "🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)")
     }
   }' .claude/settings.local.json

Attribution Field Preservation

When user updates one field:

•Updating commit → Preserve PR (use existing value or default)
•Updating PR → Preserve commit (use existing value or default)
•Both specified → Update both

Default values if field doesn't exist:

•Commit: "Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>"
•PR: "🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)"

Examples

See examples/ directory for complete working examples:

•examples/name-change.json - Changing Claude's name
•examples/remove-model.json - Removing model from attribution
•examples/custom-pr.json - Custom PR attribution
•examples/remove-all.json - Removing all attribution
•examples/partial-update.json - Updating only one field

Additional Resources

Reference Files

For detailed information:

•references/attribution-formats.md - Complete attribution format guide

Error Handling

Directory Creation

If .claude/ doesn't exist, create it automatically:

bash

mkdir -p .claude

File Creation

If settings file doesn't exist, create with empty object:

bash

echo '{}' > .claude/settings.local.json

Malformed JSON

If existing file contains invalid JSON:

•Detect using jq empty
•Abort the operation
•Ask user to fix JSON manually before proceeding
•Do NOT attempt automatic fixes

Backup Recovery

If user wants to revert:

•Restore from backup
•Remove backup file
•Confirm restoration complete

User Confirmation

When removing attribution:

•Always confirm scope (commit only, PR only, or both)
•Show current values being removed
•Wait for explicit confirmation before proceeding

Notes

•Attribution settings take effect on next commit or PR creation
•Empty strings ("") completely hide attribution
•Git trailers appear at end of commit message
•PR attribution appears in PR description
•Use jq for all JSON operations to ensure validity
•Always preserve settings the user didn't explicitly request to change
•When in doubt about model inclusion, ask the user
•Backup workflow provides safety without cluttering workspace