Git Commit Guardian

Enforces professional commit message standards with Conventional Commits format and prevents AI attribution pollution.

Core Mission

This skill ensures every commit follows industry best practices while eliminating Claude Code's default commit pollution (co-author lines, generated-by footers). Commits should be clean, professional, and follow the Conventional Commits specification.

Problem Solved: Claude Code by default adds "Generated with Claude Code" footers and "Co-Authored-By: Claude" lines to every commit. This pollutes git history and exposes AI usage unnecessarily. This skill blocks such patterns and enforces clean commits.

Instructions

1. Intercept Commit Intent

Detect when user wants to commit:

•Direct: "commit", "git commit", "commit changes"
•Indirect: "push this", "save changes to git", "create a commit"
•After completing work: "done, commit it"

Immediately activate and validate before any commit action.

2. Analyze Staged Changes

Before crafting commit message:

bash

# View staged files
git diff --cached --name-only

# View actual changes
git diff --cached

# Check for sensitive files (BLOCK if found)
git diff --cached --name-only | grep -E '\.(env|pem|key|credentials)$'

Determine appropriate commit type from changes:

•New files with features → feat
•Bug fixes → fix
•Only docs/comments → docs
•Only formatting → style
•Code restructure, no behavior change → refactor
•Performance improvements → perf
•Test additions/fixes → test
•Build system changes → build
•CI configuration → ci
•Maintenance/chores → chore

3. Validate Commit Message Format

Required format (Conventional Commits):

code

<type>[(scope)][!]: <description>

[optional body]

[optional footer]

Validation checklist:

• Type is valid: feat|fix|docs|style|refactor|perf|test|build|ci|chore|revert
• Subject line ≤72 characters
• Subject does NOT end with period
• Subject uses imperative mood ("add" not "added", "fix" not "fixed")
• Blank line between subject and body (if body exists)
• Body lines wrapped at 80 characters
• Breaking changes marked with ! or BREAKING CHANGE: footer

If validation fails:

code

COMMIT BLOCKED - Format Error

Subject line exceeds 72 characters (currently: 85)
Fix: Shorten to: "feat(compiler): add generic type support"

Original: "feat(compiler): add generic type parameter support for class-level generics in IR generation"

4. BLOCK Forbidden Patterns (CRITICAL)

These patterns MUST NEVER appear in commits:

code

FORBIDDEN PATTERNS - ALWAYS BLOCK

1. AI Attribution Footer:
   "Generated with [Claude Code]"
   "Generated with Claude Code"
   "Generated by Claude"
   "Generated by AI"

2. Co-Author Lines (any variation):
   "Co-Authored-By: Claude"
   "Co-authored-by: Claude"
   "Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus"
   "Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet"
   "Co-authored-by:.*Claude"
   "Co-authored-by:.*Anthropic"
   "Co-Authored-By:.*noreply@anthropic.com"

3. Emoji AI Markers:
   Lines starting with robot emoji followed by "Generated"

If forbidden pattern detected:

code

COMMIT BLOCKED - AI Attribution Detected

Found forbidden pattern in commit message:
  Line 5: "Co-Authored-By: Claude <noreply@anthropic.com>"

This project requires clean commits without AI attribution.
Remove the offending lines and retry.

Allowed footers: Closes #123, Fixes #456, BREAKING CHANGE:

This is NON-NEGOTIABLE. Always strip these before committing.

5. Craft Clean Commit Message

Message structure:

code

<type>(<scope>): <imperative description>

<optional body explaining what and why>

<optional footer: Closes #123, BREAKING CHANGE:, etc.>

Good examples:

code

feat(compiler): add generic type parameter support

Implements class-level generic handling in IR generation.
Method-level generics use identity function pattern.

Closes #42

code

fix(fir): resolve annotation detection for nested interfaces

The FIR phase was not traversing nested interface declarations.
Added recursive visitor pattern to detect @Fake at all levels.

code

refactor(generation): extract factory generation to dedicated class

Separates concerns between implementation and factory generation
for better maintainability and testing.

code

docs: update installation guide for Gradle 8.x

Bad examples (NEVER produce these):

code

Add generic type parameter support

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

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

code

Updated some stuff

code

fix bug.

6. Execute Commit

Only after all validations pass:

bash

git commit -m "$(cat <<'EOF'
<validated commit message here>
EOF
)"

Verify commit succeeded:

bash

git log -1 --format="%H %s"

Output confirmation:

code

COMMIT SUCCESSFUL

Commit: a1b2c3d
Message: feat(compiler): add generic type parameter support

All validations passed:
- Conventional Commits format
- Subject: 47/72 characters
- No forbidden patterns
- Clean commit history maintained

7. Handle Edge Cases

Multiple logical changes:

code

Recommend splitting into multiple commits:
1. refactor(types): extract TypeResolver to separate file
2. feat(types): add variance handling for generic bounds
3. test(types): add unit tests for TypeResolver

Use: git add -p (patch mode) to stage selectively

Breaking changes:

code

feat(api)!: change factory function signature

BREAKING CHANGE: fakeXxx() now requires explicit configuration.
Migration: fakeXxx() → fakeXxx {}

Reverting commits:

code

revert: feat(compiler): add generic type parameter support

This reverts commit a1b2c3d.
Reason: Causing compilation errors in multi-module projects.

Supporting Files

Progressive disclosure for detailed documentation:

•resources/conventional-commits-reference.md - Full Conventional Commits specification
•resources/commit-message-patterns.md - Project-specific good/bad examples

Related Skills

This skill composes with:

•bdd-test-runner - Run tests before committing
•compilation-validator - Validate code compiles before committing

This skill enables:

•Clean git history
•Professional commit messages
•Automated changelog generation (from conventional commits)
•Semantic versioning automation

Best Practices

•One logical change per commit - Don't bundle unrelated changes
•Write for future readers - Explain why, not just what
•Use imperative mood - "add feature" not "added feature"
•Keep subject concise - 72 chars max, aim for 50
•Never include AI attribution - Clean, professional commits only
•Reference issues when relevant - Closes #123, Fixes #456
•Mark breaking changes explicitly - Use ! or BREAKING CHANGE: footer

Commit Type Reference

Type	When to Use	Example
`feat`	New feature for users	`feat(dsl): add configure block for behaviors`
`fix`	Bug fix for users	`fix(ir): resolve null pointer in type resolution`
`docs`	Documentation only	`docs: add KMP setup guide`
`style`	Formatting, no logic change	`style: apply ktfmt formatting`
`refactor`	Code restructure, same behavior	`refactor: extract visitor to separate class`
`perf`	Performance improvement	`perf(analysis): cache interface metadata`
`test`	Adding/fixing tests	`test: add generic bounds test cases`
`build`	Build system, dependencies	`build: upgrade Kotlin to 2.1.0`
`ci`	CI configuration	`ci: add KMP matrix to GitHub Actions`
`chore`	Maintenance, tooling	`chore: update .gitignore patterns`
`revert`	Reverting previous commit	`revert: feat(api): change return type`

Error Messages

Invalid Type

code

COMMIT BLOCKED - Invalid Commit Type

"update" is not a valid Conventional Commits type.

Valid types: feat, fix, docs, style, refactor, perf, test, build, ci, chore, revert

Suggested fix: "feat: ..." or "fix: ..." depending on change nature

Subject Too Long

code

COMMIT BLOCKED - Subject Exceeds 72 Characters

Current: 89 characters
Limit: 72 characters

Original: "feat(compiler): implement comprehensive generic type parameter support for all interface variations"

Suggested: "feat(compiler): add generic type parameter support"

AI Attribution Detected

code

COMMIT BLOCKED - AI Attribution Detected

Line 4: "Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>"

This project maintains clean commits without AI attribution.
Remove this line to proceed.

Known Limitations

•Skill activates on keyword detection; may miss indirect commit references
•Cannot enforce rules if user bypasses skill and runs raw git commands
•Body line wrapping is advisory (80 chars) not strictly enforced

References

•Conventional Commits Spec: https://www.conventionalcommits.org/
•Git Best Practices: https://cbea.ms/git-commit/
•Angular Commit Guidelines: https://github.com/angular/angular/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#commit