ABOUTME: Git conventional commit format and version control best practices

ABOUTME: Commit message standards, branch strategies, workflow patterns

Source Control

Quick Reference

bash

git commit -m "feat: add user authentication"
git checkout -b feat/user-auth
git fetch origin && git rebase origin/main
git stash && git stash pop

Conventional Commits

Format: <type>(<scope>): <subject> (scope/body/footer optional)

Type	Use
`feat`	New feature
`fix`	Bug fix
`docs`	Documentation
`style`	Formatting
`refactor`	Code restructure
`perf`	Performance
`test`	Tests
`chore`	Maintenance
`ci`	CI/CD
`build`	Build system
`revert`	Revert commit

Rules: Imperative mood, present tense, lowercase, no period, max 50 chars

bash

# Good
git commit -m "feat(auth): add JWT validation"
git commit -m "fix: resolve race condition"

# Bad
git commit -m "Fixed stuff"      # Not conventional
git commit -m "Feat: Add thing"  # Capital letter

Commit Process

•

Check state:

bash

git status && git diff HEAD && git branch --show-current && git log --oneline -5

•
Verify NOT on main/master (abort if so, unless authorized)
•
Stage specific files (never git add -A):
bash
```
git add <specific-files>
```

•

Commit with conventional format:

bash

git commit -m "<type>(<scope>): <subject>"

Branch Naming

Type	Pattern
Feature	`feat/user-auth`, `feature/dashboard`
Fix	`fix/login-bug`, `bugfix/api-error`
Hotfix	`hotfix/security-patch`
Chore	`chore/update-deps`

Workflow

bash

# Start feature
git checkout main && git pull origin main
git checkout -b feat/user-auth

# Keep up to date
git fetch origin && git rebase origin/main

# After PR merged
git checkout main && git pull
git branch -d feat/user-auth

Use	When
Rebase	Keep feature branch current, clean linear history
Merge	Integrate to main (via PR), preserve history

Recovery

Situation	Command
Undo last commit (keep changes)	`git reset --soft HEAD~1`
Undo staged files	`git reset HEAD <file>`
Discard file changes	`git checkout -- <file>`
Recover deleted branch	`git reflog` then `git checkout -b <branch> <sha>`
Amend last commit	`git commit --amend -m "new message"`
Revert pushed commit	`git revert <sha>`

Conflicts

Resolve: git status to see conflicts, edit files to remove markers, git add <resolved>, then git rebase --continue (or git merge --continue). Use git rebase --abort to bail out.

Hooks

Pre-commit: .git/hooks/pre-commit -- run linters, formatters, tests per language.

Commit-msg: Validate conventional format (commitlint, husky, lefthook).

Best Practices

DO	DON'T
Conventional commits	Generic messages ("fix", "update")
Small, logical commits	Huge unrelated changes
Run tests before commit	Push broken code
Use branches	Commit to main directly
`--force-with-lease`	`--force` on shared branches

Resources

•https://www.conventionalcommits.org/
•https://git-scm.com/doc
•Tools: commitlint, husky, lefthook