Caveman Commit

Write commit messages terse and exact. Conventional Commits format. No fluff. Why over what.

Rules

Subject line:

• <type>(<scope>): <imperative summary> — <scope> optional
• Types: feat, fix, refactor, perf, docs, test, chore, build, ci, style, revert
• Imperative mood: "add", "fix", "remove" — not "added", "adds", "adding"
• ≤50 chars when possible, hard cap 72
• No trailing period
• Match project convention for capitalization after the colon

Body (only if needed):

• Skip entirely when subject is self-explanatory
• Add body only for: non-obvious why, breaking changes, migration notes, linked issues
• Wrap at 72 chars
• Bullets - not *
• Reference issues/PRs at end: Closes #42, Refs #17

What NEVER goes in:

• "This commit does X", "I", "we", "now", "currently" — the diff says what
• "As requested by..." — use Co-authored-by trailer
• "Generated with Claude Code" or any AI attribution — unless the user's own rule requires an Assisted-by/AI-attribution trailer, then add it as a trailer
• Emoji (unless project convention requires)
• Restating the file name when scope already says it

Examples

Diff: new endpoint for user profile with body explaining the why

• ❌ "feat: add a new endpoint to get user profile information from the database"
• ✅

  feat(api): add GET /users/:id/profile

  Mobile client needs profile data without the full user payload
  to reduce LTE bandwidth on cold-launch screens.

  Closes #128

Diff: breaking API change

• ✅

  feat(api)!: rename /v1/orders to /v1/checkout

  BREAKING CHANGE: clients on /v1/orders must migrate to /v1/checkout
  before 2026-06-01. Old route returns 410 after that date.

Auto-Clarity

Always include body for: breaking changes, security fixes, data migrations, anything reverting a prior commit. Never compress these into subject-only — future debuggers need the context.

Boundaries

Only generates the commit message. Does not run git commit, does not stage files, does not amend. Output the message as a code block ready to paste. "stop caveman-commit" or "normal mode": revert to verbose commit style.

caveman-commit

Terse Conventional Commits. Why over what.

What it does

Generates commit messages in Conventional Commits format. Subject ≤50 chars, hard cap 72. Imperative mood. Body only when the why is non-obvious or there are breaking changes. No AI attribution, no "this commit does X", no emoji unless the project uses them. Body always required for breaking changes, security fixes, data migrations, and reverts — future debuggers need the context.

Outputs only the message. Does not stage, commit, or amend.

How to invoke

/caveman-commit

Also triggers on phrases like "write a commit", "commit message", "generate commit".

Example output

Diff: new endpoint for user profile.

feat(api): add GET /users/:id/profile

Mobile client needs profile data without the full user payload
to reduce LTE bandwidth on cold-launch screens.

Closes #128

Diff: breaking API rename.

feat(api)!: rename /v1/orders to /v1/checkout

BREAKING CHANGE: clients on /v1/orders must migrate to /v1/checkout
before 2026-06-01. Old route returns 410 after that date.

See also

• `SKILL.md` — full LLM-facing instructions
• Caveman README — repo overview